Sambal Hae Bee (Spicy Dried Shrimp)

Sambal Hae Bee, or Hae Bee Hiam, is a very versatile condiment that can be eaten with rice, noodles or used as a stuffing. But more of that later!

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

sambal hae bee, spicy dried shrimp condiment in a white bowl with kaffir lime leaf
Sambal Hae Bee

What’s in a Name?

The name of today’s recipe is a wonderful reflection of our population and the mixed languages that we commonly use.

Here, we have Malay and Hokkien in play. The latter is a Chinese dialect, the most widely spoken dialect in Singapore and Malaysia (as opposed to Mandarin, the standard form of Chinese).

  • Sambal = this Malay/Indonesian word we’ve done a gazillion times before, right? There is no direct translation but it usually refers to something spicy and can be a condiment (like today’s recipe) or a side dish.
  • Hae Bee – means dried shrimp in Hokkien
  • Hiam = spicy

So Sambal Hae Bee or Hae Bee Hiam is dried shrimp sambal, or spicy dried shrimp (aka dried prawns), take your pick.

It bears a very, very strong resemblance to the Burmese Balachung, in terms of ingredients and flavour. It differs mainly in the ratio of the ingredients. Click here to get the Burmese Balachung recipe on LinsFood, image below.

And in Indonesia, this is spelt Sambal Hebi.

Burmese Balachaung

Sambal Hae Bee Recipe

How to cook Hae Bee Hiam from scratch? Is it easy? Yep, absolutely.

This is what we’ll be doing.

1. Soak

We start off cooking sambal hae bee with soaking the dried chillies, and traditionally, also the dried shrimp. But I’ve long dispensed with soaking dried shrimp unless I’m using them without cooking.

2. Pound, Chop, Blend

Next step is the pounding and the chopping of the ingredients. Traditionally, everything would have been done with a pestle and mortar. And if you prefer to do that, then by all means, go ahead, bearing in mind that it will take a little time to pound everything up.

But you know me. I love my food choppers and processors. My granny was using them in the 70s despite having a batu lesung (pestle and mortar) and batu giling (millstone) that we’d use fairly often too. It depended on what we were cooking and how much of it.

So I use the chopper for the dried shrimp and the blender for the aromatics, as you’ll see in the recipe card below.

3. Fry

We then stir-fry everything until our spicy mixture is fairly dry. The longer you fry it, the drier it will be.

How dry you cook your sambal hae bee is a matter of preference. I like mine moist, not quite as dry as serunding.

That’s it. You then let it cool to room temperature and store it in a clean jar in the fridge.

Ingredients

As with any well loved recipe, you’ll find the odd difference in ingredients, depending on cook, family and region. Some will add candlenuts, use Kaffir lime leaves, omit the shrimp paste, just to name a few.

Let’s take a look at the big players in cooking up today’s recipe. I’ve given the Malay names in brackets.

Dried Shrimp (Udang Kering)

There is no getting away from this. You need them to cook up today’s recipe. You can read up more about dried shrimp here, and check out my YouTube video, talking about them and how to use them.

Dried shrimp and prawns that have been air dried and are reduced in size with an aroma and flavour that pack a punch. They scream of the sea, are full of umami and have a briny and sweet flavour.

Any Chinese, Japanese or Korean shop will stock them. Otherwise go online. Here are my global Amazon affiliate links for the usual brand of dried shrimp I use:

I like to use 2 kinds of dried shrimp when making Sambal Hae Bee, the “standard” variety used in South East Asian kitchens and the really tiny ones as you can see in my video.

But you don’t have to. In fact, I’ve never seen another soul doing it. I like a little texture in mine, and that’s what the tiny shrimp give me. They are also sweeter that the bigger ones. You could also just process your dried shrimp to a semi fine state for the same effect.

dried shrimp in tiny black bowl
Dried shrimp (Udang Kering)

Shrimp Paste (Belacan)

Click here to read more about shrimp paste, one of my favourite ingredients ever. This is complete optional, your sambal will be perfectly delicious without it.

I use it to add a little more depth and umami to today’s Nyonya sambal.

Shrimp paste (belacan)

Red Chillies (Cili Merah)

The next big ingredient are the dried chillies we use. The heat level of your chillies will determine how hot your final dish is.

I had a reader recently who used dried scorpions to make this red chilli paste on LinsFood. That’s one of the hottest chillies in the world, so it was just too hot to be consumed. So we toned it down by using tomatoes and sugar.

Any generic, medium heat dried red chillies will work, as long as they are non smoky.

We are also using a few fresh birds eye chillies (cili padi) here, for a little floral lift in our sambal, nad to increase the heat level. Can you use all fresh red chillies? Sure, absolutely. Just give them 15 more minutes of cooking time to deepen the flavour somewhat.

Incidentally, if you are one of my many readers who make the red chilli paste mentioned above, it can be used to make a quick sambal hae bee. Just skip to the step when we add the dried shrimp, Step 2, in “Cooking Sambal Hae Bee”.

Tamarind (Asam Jawa)

Click here to read more about tamarind, a souring agent used in many cuisines around the world.

Tamarind juice just completes the flavour in today’s sambal. If you read the tamarind article, you’ll see that I suggest the clear white vinegar as the best substitute for tamarind.

However, in today’s sambal, lime juice will work perfectly, if you prefer to use it, as the flavour enhances our sambal. In fact, I finish the recipe off with a light squeeze of lime juice.

tamarind pods and tamarind mash
Tamarind pods and pulp

Everything Else

The rest of the ingredients are just your aromatics: onions, garlic, lemongrass and turmeric. I’m using turmeric powder, despite always having fresh turmeric at home. Feel free to use fresh, add it to the blender with the chillies.

How to use Sambal Hae Bee

As mentioned right at the start, hae bee hiam, like many sambals, is very versatile. We can use it as:

A condiment

This would be like we’d use any sambal. This can be with rice, or noodles, whether dry or wet.

An Ingredient

This is where sambal hae bee differs slightly in its use. 

  • it can be used in stir-fries, but that’s nothing new. So whether you’re frying up some rice, noodles or vegetables, this sambal makes a great spice paste.
  • hae bee hiam is also used to fill tiny crispy spring rolls that are a popular savoury festive treat, especially at Chinese New Year. Much like murukku at Diwali and sausage rolls at Christmas. Look out for them here on SMR in the new year, just in time for CNY 2023.
  • many folks also use it to make savoury cookies called hae bee cookies, much like savoury biscuits and shortbread.
  • this spicy dried shrimp is also used as a filling in buns and even an extra special mooncake.
  • it makes a great topping/filling for pulut panggang as well as lemang.
  • sambal hae bee is also great to jazz up omelettes.

Sandwich Spread

One of my favourite ways to use certain sambals and chilli oils is as a sandwich spread. I keep threatening to do a simple article over on LinsFood to address this!

Imagine this:

  1. Two slices of bread (or use a baguette)
  2. top with butter (that’s a given!)
  3. spread some sambal hae bee generously
  4. your choice of filling – egg, meat or keep it vegetarian with avocado slices, providing a great contrast to the hae bee hiam (tuna sandwich with hae bee hiam is awesome!)
  5. add some lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes – done!
sambal hae bee, spicy dried shrimp condiment in a white bowl with kaffir lime leaf
I prefer a moist sambal hae bee

How long will it Keep?

Making your own sambal hae bee is not only easy but it ensures you have a supply of spice whenever you need it. Homemade will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks.

You could also make a big batch and freeze portions. Then, just take what you need and heat it up in the microwave or in a frying pan. Large ice cube trays are perfect for this purpose.

And that’s it. Shall we get cooking?

If you enjoy the recipe and article, drop me a comment and let me know. Feeling like a star? Don’t forget that 5-star rating!😉

If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.

Lin xx

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sambal hae bee, spicy dried shrimp condiment in a white bowl with kaffir lime leaf

Sambal Hae Bee (Spicy Dried Shrimp)

Azlin Bloor
Click here for homemade sambal hae bee, (aka hae bee hiam or dried shrimp sambal). Lasts 2 weeks in the fridge, you can also freeze it.
5 from 6 votes
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Condiments
Cuisine Chinese, Indonesian, Nyonya
Servings 10 (about a heaped Tbsp each)
Calories 169 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

To Blend
  • 200 g dried shrimp
  • 100 g dried red chillies
  • 5-10 red birds eye chillies optional
  • 4 medium shallots about 100g pre peeled weight
  • 5 medium cloves garlic
  • 2 stalks lemongrass
  • ½ Tbsp dried shrimp paste
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
Everything Else

Instructions
 

Soak the Chillies

  • Put the kettle on with about 500ml water (2 cups).
    Using a pair of scissors, cut the dried chillies into 2-3 pieces straight into a bowl.
  • Pour the hot water onto the cut chillies, leaving a little for the tamarind below. Cover with a side plate and leave to soak for 15 minutes, while you get everything else ready.
    Traditionally, the dried shrimp would also be soaked now but I no longer bother soaking dried shrimp unless I'm using them without cooking.

Prep Work – Tamarind

  • Place the tamarind pulp into a small bowl and pour the hot water over it, ensuring that it's covered. Leave it aside until you need it during cooking.
    assam soaking in hot water
  • When it's time to use it, all we're going to do is mash the now soft pulp with our fingers, grab the pulp and seeds and throw them away.
    Then we'll just pour the tamarind juice over the sambal. You could strain it, but it has to be a medium mesh strainer, so you don't miss out on all the good stuff.
    Click here to read up on how to use tamarind.
    tamarind juice in a glass bowl, after straining

Prep Work – Aromatics

Chop and Blend (or Pound)

  • Tip the larger dried shrimp into a food chopper and chop until fine. It will resemble floss. Set aside until later.
    You can also do this with a pestle and mortar, giving you a coarser end result, which is perfect for sambal hae bee.
  • Drain the soaking dried chillies and give them a quick rinse, shaking out the seeds if you want to.
    Tip the drained chillies into a blender.
  • Add the onions, garlic, birds eye chillies, lemongrass, shrimp paste and turmeric to the blender. Pour in the water and blend everything until you get a fine paste. Don't worry too much about the odd piece of unblended chilli.
    Use a little more water if you need it.

Cooking Sambal Hae Bee

  • If using LinsFood's Red Chilli Paste, this is the step to join in.
    Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan on medium heat and fry the blended red chilli paste for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Reduce the heat to medium-low after 2 minutes.
    It's going to splutter. Lowering the heat will reduce this.
  • Tip in both the dried shrimp, sugar and salt and stir well to mix.
    If you have LinsFood's Red Chilli Paste handy, you can use it and start here. About 1 measuring cup's worth will work.
  • Immediately, add the tamarind juice from earlier and lime leaves if using. Use a medium mesh strainer to strain the tamarind juice straight into your wok, if you prefer.
    Mix thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low and cook until your sambal hae bee is a fairly dry mix. Keep stirring from time to time, especially the drier it gets.
    This step could take 10 minutes or it could take 30, depending on how much water you added while blending your chillies earlier. And also on how dry you want your sambal to be.
  • Taste your hae bee hiam and add more salt if you want, and even a little more sugar, if necessary. You'll find that because of the huge amount of dried shrimp, your sambal has a naturally sweet taste anyway, so go easy on the sugar.
    Turn the heat off and squeeze the lime juice all over and mix well.
  • Transfer your sambal to a clean jar. Leave it to cool completely, then store in the fridge. Use within 2 weeks.
    I usually just store it in an airtight container, glass or plastic, it doesn't matter. This is because mine doesn't last more than a week in the fridge.
    sambal hae bee, spicy dried shrimp condiment in a white bowl with kaffir lime leaf

Nutrition

Calories: 169kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 18gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 237mgSodium: 803mgPotassium: 346mgFiber: 4gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 2865IUVitamin C: 37mgCalcium: 102mgIron: 3mg
Keyword belacan, dried shrimp, sambal, shrimp paste, udang kering
Tried this recipe?Mention @azlinbloor or tag #linsfood!
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