Balachaung

A fried shrimp relish with a Myanmar family history

Balachaung is a relish associated with Myanmar. Naomi Duguid’s SBS Food recipe combines dried shrimp, tamarind, peanut oil, turmeric, eschalot, garlic, chilli and ngapi, the shrimp paste. It fries the aromatics and dried shrimp before adding the dissolved paste and tamarind liquid. The result is a concentrated condiment with fried seafood and aromatic texture, rather than the watery consistency of a dip.

The recipe is one documented version, not a standard formula for every household. In a first-person SBS account, Jaclyn Bond writes about the balachaung made by her Myanmar family. She describes a crunchy relish that is dry but slightly sticky, with tiny fried shrimp contributing flavour and texture. Her account gives evidence of family practice and memory; it does not establish one national recipe or a specific place within Myanmar.

A separate historical account from Singapore’s National Library Board discusses ngapi and related shrimp pastes. It recounts historical references to ngapi in Burma, but those references do not date balachaung itself. The relish’s earliest attestation remains unknown in the sources used here, so the history should not be extended from the history of its fermented paste.

How this published version is made

Duguid’s recipe begins by soaking dried shrimp for 15 minutes, draining and drying it, then processing it to a powder. Tamarind paste is soaked separately in hot water; the strained liquid supplies a sour note. Eschalot and garlic are fried separately until golden. The shrimp powder is stirred briefly with oil, turmeric and chilli, then cooked with ngapi, tamarind liquid, water, sugar and salt. The fried aromatics go back into the wok at the end.

The stages build the relish’s texture and flavour. Frying the eschalot and garlic gives them browned, crisp edges. Powdered shrimp disperses through the oil and liquid instead of remaining as whole pieces. Ngapi adds a second layer of fermented seafood flavour, while tamarind gives the mixture a tart counterpoint and sugar rounds it. These are observations about the ingredient combination and the source’s method, not measurements of preservation.

The recipe uses small pieces and visual cues such as golden aromatics, foaming paste and a mixture beginning to dry. It does not give numeric cooking temperatures, a target moisture level or a measured acidity. Those cues describe the cook’s process; they do not demonstrate that the relish is shelf-stable.

Serving, storage and allergen information

Bond’s account emphasizes the relish’s crisp and slightly sticky texture. That makes it a contrasting accompaniment, but the sources here do not establish one required serving combination. The published method yields about one cup and describes storage in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one month. The page provides no validation data for that period, so it is recorded as the source’s recommendation rather than a tested safe life. It gives no basis for room-temperature storage.

The recipe contains shrimp in both dried form and ngapi. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists crustacean shellfish, including shrimp, among major food allergens. Make the ingredients clear to anyone being served the relish.