Author: Alia Ali

There are hundreds of versions of sambal in Southeast Asia. The chile paste is flavored with various aromatics depending on the type, and can be served cooked or raw. The word “sambal” itself is Javanese in origin; it was borrowed by Indonesians at large and brought to Malaysia long before the complicated borders of Southeast Asia existed. There are hundreds of versions of sambal around the region, with sambal oelek from Indonesia being the most popular version available in the West.

With the exception of sambal tumis, Malaysian-style sambals tend to be raw and are generally prepared by pounding together a small set of ingredients. The most famous and ubiquitous of all is sambal belacan, made with chiles, fermented shrimp paste, and a squeeze of lime, eaten as a spicy-savory condiment to amp up the heat of any meal. The spiciness of sambal belacan can range from tame to knock-your-socks-off, depending on the type and amount of chiles used. When I was a kid, my mother was mildly alarmed at my love for the condiment. Other kids would hoard candy or chips. Me? I’d sneak down at three in the morning to eat sambal belacan with rice. Now that I’m older, my obsession for it has cooled slightly—but if it’s rice for lunch, you’re almost never going to find me without sambal belacan on my plate.

Belacan is the Malaysian version of fermented shrimp paste, which leans a little saltier than other Southeast Asian versions and is firmer in texture. Sambal belacan is so popular in Malaysia that many non-native Malay speakers refer to it simply as “belacan,” and truly do not know that belacan is a component of sambal and not the paste itself.

Sambal belacan has also been adopted into many local cuisines, and is adaptable to a wide range of applications outside of Malay or Indonesian food. This is exciting to think about as there are endless possibilities of what to pair sambal belacan with, like a crisp, flaky beef wellington, some macaroni and cheese, or even as part of a chaser for a smoky whiskey or mezcal cocktail.

How to Serve and Eat Sambal Belacan

In many rice-eating cultures, especially in Southeast Asia, mealtimes often involve various dishes that accompany plain white rice. In a traditional Malay meal, there’s usually a curry, a fried protein, raw or blanched vegetables, and a small bowl of sambal. You pile these different dishes onto your plate, then use your hands to mix and match the different components as you make your way through the meal. Including a smidge of sambal belacan in every scoop of rice provides a fiery lift to each bite.

How to Make Sambal Belacan

My formidable maternal grandmother was among the first generation of her Javanese family born on Malayan soil, and her parents brought with them their palates and cooking techniques. My mother and aunts have all made sambal belacan throughout their lives, and each have honed in on their own personal styles. One of my aunts makes a sambal belacan so powerfully spicy that her siblings refer to it affectionately as “racun,” or poison. Thankfully, my mother’s sambal belacan isn’t as potent—which means I can eat more of it—and is the version I’m introducing below as a starting point. 

You could make sambal belacan in a blender or food processor—and many do, since it’s a great way of preparing large batches—but most would agree that making the paste in a mortar and pestle is ideal. The chiles bruise and fray and their cells burst as you pound the belacan into them, which ensures a more unified, robust flavor and a smoother texture.

Experienced cooks know that the mechanics of the blades of blenders and food processors chop and mix the sambal in a way that is very different from pounding them in a mortar and pestle. With that said, using a mortar and pestle to make sambal belacan can be a pretty messy and exhausting affair for the uninitiated, and knowing how to properly hold the pestle is necessary to prevent wearing yourself out and splattering sambal everywhere.

Chile Options

Curiously, for all our love of sambal and chiles, there isn’t a large variety of chiles commercially available in Malaysia. Whether in cities or the rural interior, chile varieties are generally only known by color, like “cili merah” for red chile or “cili hijau” for green chile, and by size, like “cili besar” for big chile or “cili padi” for small chile. The smaller and/or redder the chile, the spicier it tends to be.

Arrange them on a matrix, if you will:

There are then two main criteria that decide what chiles you use: color and size. An all-red sambal belacan is not necessarily spicy as it could just be made with cili merah besar (big red chiles). At the same time, an all-green sambal belacan is usually made with just cili padi hijau (small green chiles), packing a pretty decent punch of heat.

Generally, you would use more of the less spicy chile to add bulk to the sambal, then add the spicier chile in small increments, tasting after every addition for spice levels. Anaheim or banana peppers do well for the larger, less spicy chiles, and Thai bird’s eye chiles are perfect for the smaller, spicier chiles. The belacan itself is usually toasted before it’s incorporated into the sambal, adding smokiness on top of its savory funk. A squeeze of citrus juice (preferably calamansi, but lime juice works) gives it a sweet-sour finish.

Optional Sambal Belacan Add-Ins

What else can go into a sambal belacan? A little bit of shallot, garlic, or ginger adds aromatic depth. Fresh tomatoes can also be used to stretch the chiles or to tamp down the heat. Some folks insist on mixing a teaspoon of sugar or so into their sambal to add sweetness and round out the heat. While I don’t personally mess with the basic formula much, feel free to make your own sambal belacan a choose-your-own adventure if you’d like.

The Best Mortar and Pestle Techniques for Sambal

There are different ways to hold the pestle. Whichever way you go, always use your dominant hand!

Tips

• Don’t raise the pestle too high in between pounds; that’s the fastest way to get tired. With experience, you will be able to use the pestle to mix the sambal as you pound by angling it as you go, but as you’re starting out, keep a spoon handy to scrape the bits into a workable pile when necessary. 
• Similar to tennis, the fulcrum should be the shoulder instead of the elbow. This too helps stave off fatigue.

Line an 8-inch stainless-steel skillet with aluminum foil, then place the belacan on the foil. Set the skillet over medium heat and toast, flipping the belacan every 30 seconds until darkened slightly, 2 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, if a less spicy final sambal is preferred, split chiles lengthways and discard the seeds and ribs. Cut the chiles into roughly 1-inch pieces, taking care to keep the two types of chile separate.

Place a few pieces of the larger mild red chiles and half the toasted belacan in the mortar (for a food processor or blender, see notes). While shielding the mortar with your non-dominant hand to contain mess and splatter, pound chiles and belacan into a paste. Once paste is formed, add the remaining larger mild red chiles, a few pieces at a time, until pounded into a smooth paste. The sambal at this point should be mildly spicy.

Taste the sambal and increase the spice level to your preference by adding the small hot red chiles, a few at a time and tasting as you go, and pound into a smooth paste. Pound in more of the remaining toasted belacan, a pinch at a time, until desired flavor is achieved.

Stir in calamansi or lime juice, then taste and add more juice and season with salt to taste. Serve as part of a family-style meal with other dishes and rice.

Special Equipment

Mortar and pestle

Notes

We recommend opening your windows and turning on your exhaust while toasting the belacan, otherwise your kitchen will smell like belacan for several days. Alternatively, you could also use a toaster oven and toast the belacan on high heat for the same amount of time.

Avoid adding all the chiles at once when pounding the sambal; it will be much messier and more difficult to pound them into a cohesive paste. 

To prepare this in a food processor or blender, add the preferred amount of chiles and the toasted belacan to the bowl, blitz into a paste, adding small amounts of water if needed to get things moving, and stir in the lime juice after. 

Make-Ahead and Storage

Sambal belacan can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, and can be frozen for up to 6 months; defrost in the refrigerator or at room temperature, do not use heat.

Roti John is essentially an omelette sandwich where the bread has been cooked into the eggs, fusing them together. In Malay, the word roti refers to bread of any kind. But who in the world is "John" and why are we eating his bread?

There are many stories as to its origin, and most can be traced to the time when the British occupied Malaya (the old name for West Malaysia and Singapore—we were once one country). Some speculate that the names of British soldiers were difficult for local Malays to pronounce, so white men were simply referred to as "John." Other versions flip that story, saying that Malay names were hard for British soldiers to pronounce, so they used the name for locals. Either way, the story goes that British soldiers requested these omelette sandwiches using Western-style breads, and the name roti John eventually stuck. 

Roti John is also possibly related to the masala toasts of India, which are toasted sandwiches filled with spiced chopped vegetables and eggs. Before the British colonized Malaya, they were setting up shop in India, so it stands to reason that the predecessor of roti John could have traveled here with the British. Whichever its origins actually are, roti John has now evolved to become a beloved snack of many Malaysian and Singaporean Malays.

The Many (Good and Bad) Faces of Roti John

In Malaysia, roti John is especially popular during Ramadan, where it is sold at evening bazaars along with the whole gamut of Malay cuisine, so that folks can pick up food to break their fast at home. Many stalls sell at least two versions of the sandwich: one with minced beef and the other with chicken. Some vendors sell the sandwich with both those meats combined, or offer other protein options like sliced franks or minced tinned sardines.

Regardless of which version of roti John you get, you’ll likely find plenty of fresh vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes and a lot of sauces layered inside. These sauces may include: a sweet and smooth Malaysian-style chile sauce made with fresh chiles; a sweet mayonnaise; another sweet-spicy sauce full of black pepper; and a cheese sauce that tastes like distilled nacho cheese Doritos seasoning. Sometimes, you may even get all of them together. 

I enjoy roti John as a concept, but it usually has so many sauces that the flavors are a muddy tangle of umami. (Frankly, the sheer quantity of condiments can be rather wasteful, since much of it drips out when you’re eating.) The lettuce, tomatoes, and other vegetables are often an afterthought, and generally too delicate to stand up to the heat of a fresh sandwich, which leads to many diners picking the wilted remnants out before taking their first bite. To counter this, some stalls serve their sandwiches with plain, unseasoned grated cabbage and carrot—hardier vegetables that have more textural integrity but lack flavor.

How to Make Great Roti John

Despite my complaints about roti John, there are versions that I love—and most of them are made at home. Though the sandwich can easily be found at Ramadan bazaars and corner stalls, it’s quite easy to make yourself, which allows you to make them to order while customizing the sauces and vegetables as you please. Basically: Prepare an egg mixture as though for an omelette, pour it into a pan, and top it with bread so that it sticks together. Sort of like French toast, but without soaking the bread in the egg beforehand. 

It’s common for hawkers to slap untoasted, squishy buns onto an omelette with too much onion and too little meat, doused in multiple sauces. To fix the saggy buns and for an extra layer of crunch, I toast the bread before placing it on the omelette in the pan.

The omelette component itself is fairly straightforward: You stir cooked minced beef or chicken into the eggs along with a tablespoon of curry powder and thinly sliced scallions, then cook that in the pan. Simply by increasing the amount of minced meat (compared to most roti John stalls) and browning it fully to develop its flavor before adding it to the eggs is enough to make the omelette more delicious and significantly improve the sandwich. 

For the sauces and vegetables, I wanted more thoughtful versions than what’s typically served at the stalls. I'm offering two options here so that the sandwich isn't overloaded with a glut of toppings. The first is tomato and lettuce with chile sauce; the second is a cabbage slaw with tangy mayo. You could honestly squeeze in any sauce you deem appropriate, but either chile sauce or mayo is already enough to flavor and lubricate the sandwich. Plus, you won’t have to head out and get even more condiments (unless that’s your thing, which…is respectable).

Instead of the more delicate coral lettuce common at many roti John vendors, I opted for slightly hardier butterhead lettuce, which holds up much better (though it's not as hardy as, say Romaine, so don't let it sit forever). I also slice my tomatoes more thickly, to give them some heft, which go onto the sandwich with the lettuce and chile sauce. Alternatively, my cabbage option is more than just plain, raw shredded cabbage. I make it more in the style of a crisp slaw with both cabbage and carrots, and accompany it with mayonnaise seasoned with a splash of apple cider vinegar for extra tang. 

Eat the sandwiches immediately after assembling for the freshest bite, or do as I do and let the sandwiches sit for 30 minutes so the flavors and textures relax into one another.

For Topping Option 1: Separate the lettuce leaves and transfer to a salad spinner. Wash leaves in cold water, then drain and spin dry. Set aside.

For Topping Option 2: Using the large holes of a box grater, shred the carrot. Place the cabbage and carrot into a large colander set in the sink and toss with the sugar and salt. Allow vegetables to macerate for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and black pepper.

Rinse the cabbage and carrot under cold running water, then spin dry in a salad spinner. Transfer the vegetables to the large bowl with the mayonnaise dressing and toss to combine. (Note that this makes more slaw than you will need for the roti John; save the remainder to eat separately as desired.)

For the Sandwiches: In a large nonstick skillet, combine 1 tablespoon oil and onion and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onions begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add the ground meat, curry powder, and 1 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until completely cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, crack eggs into a medium bowl and whisk well with black pepper and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Scrape the onion and meat mixture into the eggs, along with scallions and Chinese celery leaves, if using. Stir well to combine and set aside. Wipe out skillet.

Spread butter on cut sides of each bun. Working in batches, toast the buns in the nonstick skillet, butter side down, over medium heat until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.

Wipe out the skillet. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the pan over medium heat. Pour 1/4 of the omelette mixture into the pan and let cook, without stirring, for 10 seconds. Place one bun, toasted side down, into the egg mixture, then press bun lightly but firmly into eggs until egg sticks cohesively to the bun, about 20 seconds, while pushing the egg mixture towards the bread to prevent too much of an overhang. Allow omelette to continue to cook until browned, about 1 minute. Carefully insert a spatula between the egg and pan, then flip the whole thing over; using the spatula, flip any excessively overhanging omelette onto the bun. Toast top side of bun, checking often to prevent burning, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove roti John from the pan and place on a wire rack set in a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining oil, omelette mixture, and toasted buns, wiping out skillet in between each sandwich.

Once all the sandwiches are cooked, top either with lettuce, tomatoes, and chile sauce or about 1/4 cup coleslaw per sandwich (with optional chile sauce, if desired). Close buns and slice each roti John crosswise into 2 to 3 segments. Serve immediately for the freshest bite, or wrap in parchment paper and let stand before consuming within 2 hours (the sandwich and its fillings will soften somewhat but I like how the flavors meld). Reserve remaining coleslaw or chile sauce for another use.

Special Equipment

Large nonstick pan

Notes

Malaysian curry powder tends to be heavy on kashmiri chile powder and fennel seeds; brands like Adabi are available online. That said, your favorite curry powder will also work.

Malaysian chile sauce is made from fresh chiles and is processed into a homogenous texture, unlike the relatively chunky, Thai-style sweet chile sauce. Brands like Maggi Mild Sweet Chili Sauce and Heinz Chili Sauce are available online.

You can mix and match the meat and vegetable fillings. My suggested combos are: 

• Minced beef omelette with lettuce, tomatoes, and chile sauce
• Minced chicken omelette with coleslaw

Make-Ahead and Storage

Roti John can be made ahead up to two hours ahead and wrapped, much like pre-made burgers, allowing the flavors and textures to meld. Refrigeration and freezing are not recommended, as reheating would make it soggy.

Malaysia may be a country with a significant Muslim population, but our drinking culture is particularly strong. I’m referring of course to tea time—not alcoholic drinks. Minum petang, literally "evening drink," is a mid-afternoon break many office workers take at the local mamak shop, where they sip hot drinks and catch up with one another. The word mamak is derived from the Tamil word mama, which means "maternal uncle." Over the years, the term has come to refer to persons of Tamil Muslim descent living in Malaysia and Singapore. A "mamak shop," meanwhile, usually refers to a sundry shop (something akin to a general store) or, more commonly, an eatery operated by Tamil Muslims serving halal South Indian-style food. 

These eateries hold a culturally significant place in our society. Many of them are open 24 hours, and they are where you go to catch up with friends, eat quick, cheap snacks or meals, and watch football. Mamak shops serve many items throughout the day, but teh tarik is possibly the most important of them all. Literally translated, “teh tarik” means “pulled tea,” a nod to how the hot tea is poured back and forth between two different cups to help cool it down and resulting in its signature frothy head of bubbles.

"Teh tarik as a drink is not that old, and there is fairly good documentation on its beginnings,” says Najib ‘Nadge’ Ariffin, a Malaysian cultural historian. People began brewing the beverage around World War Two, when resources were scarce. Boiling water was necessary for killing any germs that might have contaminated it, so hot drinks were the norm for folks rich and poor. Back then, tea was drunk more for its fortifying benefits than for recreation, which made it a good drink to fuel workers. Because both the good tea leaves and the sugar were monopolized by Japanese invaders and the wealthy, workers were left with plain tea made from what was essentially tea dust. Left too without sugar, they began to use cow’s milk, which had enough sweetness from lactose to counter the bitter tannins in the tea.

Why “pull” the tea, though? The answer is a practical one. “Instead of providing every person a teaspoon to stir their drinks with,” Nadge says, “the drinks would be premixed beforehand by pouring the tea and milk back and forth between two steel mugs. No teaspoon needed!”

The vessels that are usually used to pull tea in a mamak shop (and widely available for home use as well) is a steel mug locally called a kole. The person making tea would usually not be brewing fresh tea to order, but would draw from a large pot of already-brewed tea, then pulling it between two koles. It is then poured out into a separate glass mug for serving, or sometimes served right in the kole itself.

In addition to mixing the drink properly, the process of pulling also helps cool down the hot tea and creates a delightfully frothy head. When the manufacturing of condensed milk began around the 1950s, the ingredient became the more popular (and shelf-stable) option for sweetening tea.

These days, teh tarik is still made with a range of black teas, from powdered to whole leaf. Some places even make their own tea blends of a few different brands to combine the best qualities of each one. Since the early 2000s, there has been more awareness in Malaysia about sugar consumption, so many today like to order their teh tarik “kurang manis,” or less sweet. While this may generally be a good thing, using less condensed milk also reduces the tea's overall richness.

To counter this, many turn to evaporated creamer—which is creamy but not particularly sweet—for its full-bodied texture. This way, the condensed milk is only really employed as a sweetener. Of course, if you add a lot of condensed milk, the drink does become creamier, but it also becomes unbearably sweet. This combination of evaporated creamer and condensed milk results in a more well-rounded drink: slightly tannic and not too sweet, with a satisfyingly rich mouthfeel.

Since evaporated creamer can be difficult to find in some places, I experimented with a number of substitutions to find the closest match:

• Half & half: The flavor is close but the fatty mouthfeel we want in teh tarik isn't quite there. Much better to use the 38% cream option described below.
• Coffee creamer: This didn't taste much different from regular milk tea. Not quite recommended.
• Evaporated milk: This is perfectly acceptable in texture and flavor. The only difference is there is slightly less of what I'd describe as a deep sweet flavor in proper teh tarik, which likely comes from the caramel-esque notes of evaporated creamer. If you do go this route, I wouldn't recommend adding more condensed milk at the end, as it'd make the drink much too sweet.
• Heavy Cream: This was the best of all. The cream should be at least 38% fat (meaning you should use products labeled in the United States as "heavy cream" or "heavy whipping cream" but not "whipping cream," "light cream," or "half and half." To make up for heavy cream's lack of sweetness, add up to 1/2 tablespoon more condensed milk to the saucepan in step 3.

Do all of these options sound aggressive as far as fat and sugar content? Yes. Teh tarik is the poster drink for diabetes in Malaysia. But it's also a beloved beverage, and from observation, I'd say most folks don't even have one glass of the stuff a week. It's very much a nostalgic type of treat meant to be savored, not a daily beverage.

Pack tea leaves into a tea filter bag or tea ball infuser.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add tea bag and continue to boil until the color of the tea is a rich amber, about 2 minutes.

Pour evaporated creamer (or heavy cream) and 1 tablespoon condensed milk (if using evaporated creamer) or 1 1/2 tablespoons condensed milk (if using heavy cream) into the tea and continue to boil, occasionally swirling the pan gently, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Remove and discard the tea bag. Pour half of the tea into a kole, second saucepan or a large heatproof measuring cup.

Add 1 tablespoon of condensed milk to each mug. Working with one saucepan (or measuring cup) and mug at a time, pour the tea from the saucepan into the mug. Then pour the tea from the mug back into the saucepan. Continue to do this at least three more times, lifting the pouring vessel higher and higher each time to "stretch" or "pull" the tea during each transfer; the tea should become frothy. Finish with the tea in the mug, then repeat the pulling process with the second vessel of tea and mug. Serve hot. (see notes)

Special Equipment

Tea filter bag or tea ball infuser

Notes

The recipe can be scaled if desired, but remember to pull the tea one mug at a time for maximum froth.

Evaporated creamer can be difficult to find in the United States. From our tests, heavy cream (about 38% fat) is the best substitute we could find, but if you use it, you should increase the condensed milk by about 1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) in step 3.

If the drinker prefers their drink sweeter, add another 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of condensed milk to their mug and pull the tea again several times to mix.

The vessels that are usually used to pull tea in a mamak shop (and widely available for home use as well) is a steel mug locally called a kole.  If a kole is unavailable, you can get the same results with a a second saucepan, heatproof measuring cup, regular mug, or combination of.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Teh tarik keeps in the fridge for at least 2 days, though the frothy bubbles will dissipate. You can enjoy it cold from the fridge, or pull the tea again to create the froth before drinking.