Balachaung

Balachaung

What the hell is that I hear you say well... For those that dont know me or might know me but not know the following (Hope that makes sense !) I am half Burmese, the good half my Mum would say and you must of guessed that to be a Palace Fan then my Dad and Grandad must of "made" me. Same as we will do to Max. Balachaung is a Burmese condiment that goes very well with Rice and can be dry or wet, I used to get it from Mum who got it from a place in South London (Just up the road from the Palace) but the person that makes it died. Now whilst I am sad about someone dying I never knew them and it does mean that I can not get any Balachaung anymore so I did a few searches on the web last night and managed to get a recipe and have recreated it this afternoon after going to a Chinese supermarket for some bits. Turned out all right even if I say so myself so I will be getting my mum to taste and see if it compares.

The picture above is taken on the built in isight so not great quality.
The receipe I based mine on is here in full but I used the following:

100g dried shrimp
10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 cup crisp-fried sliced shallots
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/2 cup sesame oil
1 Tbs ground dried chillies
2 teaspoons salt
2 cm/1 in square of dried shrimp paste
1/2 cup vinegar (I used Rice)
"chunk" of ginger blended in the processor or grated will do.

Put the dried shrimp into a food processor and process, I gave them a good "cutting" down.
Fried the fresh garlic,until golden and drained on a kitchen towel. It then starts to crisp up. Dont over do them as they will go black and horrible. I tested a couple before placing them all in. I used a wok and wire drainer.

Pour off 1 cup of oil.

Reheat remaining oil and fry the dried prawn for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, goes a bit frothy but keep stiring. Add the Ginger, Add chillies mixed with the vinegar, salt and shrimp paste. Fry until crisp, stirring constantly. Allow to cool completely before mixing in the fried onion and garlic, stirring to distribute evenly.

I then gave it another blitz in the processor to cut it down a bit more.

It stunk the kitchen out but was worth it.

Silent Knight, Not great to be honest it just does not seem to work so will take it back this week after 2 nights.

Palace - Come on, Now in the playoffs. Thats it for me though for a month or so :-( so I will be sending my season ticket to my brother. Have already bought my ticket for next year though :-)