Sambal belacan

Name: Sambal belacan
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 15 g shrimp paste; 150 g fresh red chilli, roughly chopped; 1 tsp sugar; ¼ tsp salt; 2 tbsp lime juice

Non-vegetarian

Malaysia's pungent table sambal: fresh red chillies pounded with toasted shrimp paste and brightened with lime. Hot, funky and salty — a little goes a long way.

Sambal belacan is a Malaysian condiment, ready in about 20 minutes and made with shrimp paste and fresh red chilli. It serves 12 and is rated easy to cook.

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Prep: 15 min
Cook: 5 min
Total: 20 min
Serves: 12
Level: Easy
Calories: 8

Ingredients

12 servings of 15 g

15 g Shrimp paste (opens in a new tab)Belacan block, sliced thinly.Contains crustaceans
150 g Fresh red chilli (opens in a new tab), roughly choppedLong red chillies with a few bird's eye.
1 tsp (4 g) Sugar (opens in a new tab)
¼ tsp (1.5 g) Salt (opens in a new tab)
2 tbsp (30 g) Lime juice (opens in a new tab)Calamansi (limau kasturi) is traditional; serve extra halves alongside.

Equipment

Method

1
Step 1
Toast the belacan (opens in a new tab) slices in a dry pan, pressing and turning, until dry, crumbly and very aromatic.
- 5 min
- medium-low heat
- Frying pan / skillet (opens in a new tab)
It smells strong — open a window or toast it wrapped in foil.
2
Step 2
Pound the chillies in a mortar until broken down, then add the toasted belacan (opens in a new tab), sugar (opens in a new tab) and salt and pound to a coarse paste.
- 8 min
- Mortar and pestle (opens in a new tab)
How it looks · Photo: https://kaboompics.com/ on Pexels
3
Step 3
Stir in the lime juice (opens in a new tab) just before serving, or keep the paste plain and squeeze lime over at the table.
- 1 min
How it looks · Photo: Gu Ko on Pexels

About this dish

Origin: Malaysia · Commonly attributedEqually at home in Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia (where similar sambal terasi is made).Also popular in Singapore, Brunei, IndonesiaMore food from Malaysia
Dish: Lunch · Dinner · Condiments, chutneys & relishes
Cooking method: Toasted, Raw
Taste: spicy (chilli heat), umami, salty, tangy
Diet: Pescatarian · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · Low-carb
All labels
Pescatarian · Non-vegetarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-carb · Low-fat · DASH-style
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for: Make-ahead
Cook more with: Shrimp paste · Fresh red chilli · Sugar · Lime juice
Techniques: Toasting · Spice roasting (dry-roasting)

Allergens

Contains: Crustaceansfrom shrimp paste

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

8 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 16 g · recipe makes 12

Where the energy comes from

Protein 13%
Carbohydrate 76%
Fat 10%

Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100 g
Energy	8 kcal	48 kcal
Protein	0.3 g	2.1 g
Carbohydrate	1.7 g	10.9 g
Net carbohydrate	1.5 g	9.7 g
Sugars	1.1 g	7.1 g
Added sugars	0.3 g	2.2 g
Fibre	0.2 g	1.2 g
Fat	0.1 g	0.4 g
Saturated fat	0 g	0 g
Trans fat	—	—
Cholesterol	0 mg	0 mg
Sodium	197 mg	1244 mg
Salt equivalent	0.5 g	3.1 g

Vitamins & minerals per serving

Potassium: 49 mg
Calcium: 3 mg
Iron: 0.1 mg
Magnesium: 6 mg
Vitamin A (RAE): 6 µg
Vitamin C: 19 mg
Vitamin D: 0 µg
Vitamin B12: 0 µg
Folate (DFE): 4 µg

How these numbers were made

Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
Shrimp paste: Fish sauce (FDC 174531) at 1.5× as a stand-in salted fermented seafood condiment; protein is understated.
“—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

Toast a larger block of belacan at once — once cooled it keeps for weeks in a sealed jar.

Common mistakes

Using belacan raw — untoasted shrimp paste tastes flat and fishy instead of rich.

Serve with

With rice and fried fish, ulam (raw vegetables) or nasi lemak.
Stir-fry with water spinach for kangkung belacan.

Storage

Refrigerate without the lime juice for up to 1 week.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added 29 Oct 2026 · Updated 8 Nov 2026

Goes with

Kangkung belacan

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

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Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Fresh red chilli, roughly chopped150 g

Used in step 2

Make it milder, swap ingredients for your diet, change the batch size or thickness — the original stays as it is.

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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