Balachaung

Burmese dried shrimp fried with a mountain of shallots and garlic until everything is crisp and mahogany

Origin: Mandalay & Myanmar

From the journey of Shallot.

Every Burmese family that has left the country has taken a jar of this with them, and most of them make it rather than buy it. Balachaung is dried shrimp pounded to a floss and fried in a great deal of oil with sliced shallots, garlic, chilli, and often tamarind, until every solid in the pan is crisp and dark and the oil has turned red. It is stored under that oil, keeps for months without refrigeration, and is eaten by the spoonful with plain rice. A Burmese meal without a condiment on the table is considered incomplete, and this is the most common of them. Shallots are the largest fresh ingredient by weight, and the dish is essentially an exercise in frying them properly at scale. The technique is the same as for plain fried shallots: thin even slices, oil that starts cool, patience whilst the water leaves, and the nerve to lift them out before they look finished. Here they go back into the pan with the shrimp and garlic at the end so that everything finishes together. The shrimp is ngapi-adjacent but not the same thing. Burmese cooking rests on a family of fermented and dried seafood products, and dried shrimp pounded fine is the mildest and most versatile of them; the pounding matters because whole dried shrimp fry unevenly and stay chewy. The balance to aim for is salt, heat, sourness, and a deep savoury base, with the sweetness of the shallots underneath holding it together. It is served alongside mohinga, with rice and a soup, and on its own with nothing at all when there is nothing else.

Ingredients

Fried Solids

  • 300 g shallots, thinly sliced
  • 2 whole heads of garlic, cloves peeled and thinly sliced

Shrimp

  • 120 g dried shrimp

Frying

  • 300 ml groundnut oil

Seasoning

  • 2 tbsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 20 g tamarind, soaked in 60 ml warm water
  • 1 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp caster sugar

Method

  1. Soak the dried shrimp in warm water for ten minutes, drain thoroughly, then pound or blitz to a coarse floss.
  2. Slice the shallots and garlic thinly and evenly and pat them dry.
  3. Put the shallots in a wide pan with the cold oil and set over a medium-low heat. Fry gently for 15 to 20 minutes until pale gold, then lift out with a slotted spoon.
  4. Fry the garlic in the same oil for four to five minutes until just golden, then lift out. Watch it constantly.
  5. Add the pounded shrimp to the oil and fry over a medium heat for eight to ten minutes, stirring, until it is dry, crisp, and a shade darker.
  6. Stir in the turmeric and chilli powder and cook for one minute only.
  7. Strain the tamarind and add the tamarind water, fish sauce, salt, and sugar. Cook, stirring, until the liquid has entirely evaporated and the mixture sizzles again in clear oil.
  8. Return the fried shallots and garlic, stir through, and take off the heat immediately.
  9. Cool completely, then pack into a clean jar, pressing down so the solids sit beneath the oil.

Notes

Three hundred grams of shallots and two heads of garlic is correct. This is a shallot condiment with shrimp in it as much as the reverse. Dried shrimp from Southeast Asian grocers vary a great deal in saltiness. Taste one before you start and adjust the added salt accordingly. It keeps for several months in a sealed jar at room temperature provided every trace of moisture has been cooked out. If in doubt, refrigerate. Serve with plain rice, alongside mohinga, or with a simple Burmese soup and vegetables. A spoonful stirred into fried rice or noodles is also excellent. For a vegetarian version, replace the shrimp with an equal weight of fried, crumbled tempeh or with toasted chickpea flour, though it is a genuinely different condiment.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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