Burmese Cookbookမြန်မာ့မီးဖိုချောင် · The Myanmar Kitchen

Balachaung, the Crispy Shrimp Relish

ဘာလချောင်

The crackling dried-shrimp and shallot relish of Rangoon tables — fried until it shatters, balanced with tamarind and ngapi, rescuer of plain rice.

By Burmese Cookbook Kitchen · June 3, 2026

ရန်ကုန် Yangon & Lower BurmaBritish Burma, 1826–1948

Balachaung, the Crispy Shrimp Relish၁
Prep
15 min
Cook
25 min
Serves
12
Level
Beginner

Balachaung is the jar that explains Burmese eating to outsiders faster than any essay: dried shrimp, shallots, and garlic fried to a crisp russet tangle, seasoned with ngapi — fermented shrimp paste — and pulled back from the edge by tamarind. It is salty, sour, hot, faintly sweet, and above all crunchy, and a single spoonful can turn a bowl of plain rice into dinner.

The name is a borrowing — from the Bengali-Muslim balachao that arrived in Rangoon's crowded port during the colonial era — and the dish as Burma knows it grew up in that mixed city, in Anglo-Burmese and Indian-Burmese kitchens that prized condiments sturdy enough to travel in a tiffin carrier or a steamer trunk. Expatriate memoirs of old Rangoon mention balachaung the way they mention the heat: constantly. Today it is simply Burmese, the standard answer to what should I bring back from Yangon.

Success is a matter of dryness. The shrimp must be pounded to a floss and fried until the sizzle — the sound of water leaving — goes quiet, and the ngapi must be fried in the oil until it smells toasty rather than raw. Cool it completely before it touches a jar. Do that and balachaung keeps for a month at room temperature, getting no worse and somehow, like most things in this chapter, making everything around it better.

Balachaung should rustle when you spoon it. If yours is damp the day after frying, the shrimp floss went into the oil too coarse or came out too soon — fry it until the sizzle goes quiet.

မီးဖိုချောင်စကား · A word from the kitchen

Ingredientsပါဝင်ပစ္စည်း

Serves 12

For the crisp fry

  • 150 gdried shrimp — the small orange kind — pounded or pulsed to a rough floss
  • 6shallots — sliced into thin, even rings
  • 8 clovesgarlic — sliced thin as coins
  • 250 mlpeanut oil
  • 1 tspturmeric

For the seasoning

  • 1 tbspngapi (shrimp paste) — or 2 tsp extra fish sauce for a milder jar
  • 2 tbsptamarind — pulp, soaked in 3 tbsp hot water and pressed through a sieve
  • 2 tbspdried chili flakes — adjust freely — Rangoon jars run from polite to punishing
  • 1 tsppalm sugar (jaggery) — optional; it rounds the tamarind's edge

Methodချက်နည်း

  1. Step 1: Make the shrimp floss

    Pound the dried shrimp in a mortar, or pulse in a food processor, until they break into a light, fluffy floss — airy shreds, not powder. Coarse chunks stay chewy no matter how long they fry; powder burns. The floss is what gives balachaung its signature shatter.

  2. Step 2: Fry the shallots, then the garlic

    Heat the oil with the turmeric in a wok over medium heat. Fry the shallot rings until pale gold, lift them out onto paper, then fry the garlic coins until barely golden and lift them out too. They fry separately because they finish at different speeds, and both keep darkening out of the oil.

  3. Step 3: Fry the shrimp floss

    Add the shrimp floss to the same oil with the chili flakes and fry, stirring constantly, until the loud sizzle fades to a whisper and the floss turns a deep russet — 6 to 8 minutes. That quieting means the moisture is gone, and dryness is what keeps the jar crisp for weeks.

  4. Step 4: Season the pan

    Push the floss to one side, drop the ngapi into the oil, and mash it for thirty seconds until it smells toasty rather than raw. Add the tamarind water and palm sugar and stir everything together — the pan will hiss and tighten as the liquid cooks off. Fry until the mixture is dry again and the oil re-emerges at the edges.

  5. Step 5: Recombine and cool completely

    Off the heat, crumble the fried shallots and garlic back in and toss well. Spread the balachaung on a tray to cool completely — jarring it warm traps steam and ruins the crunch. It keeps in an airtight jar at room temperature for a month, and it never lasts that long.

ခွက်ယောက် · The tools

Equipment

All kitchen tools →

  • Carbon-steel wok

    ဒယ်အိုး

    The dai-oh — for si pyan curries, fritters, and every fried-noodle dish here. Carbon steel, seasoned dark, nothing fancy.

    Shop on Amazon →

  • Rice cooker

    ထမင်းအိုး

    Consistent long-grain rice with zero attention — and in a Burmese kitchen the rice is never optional.

    Shop on Amazon →

  • Stone mortar & pestle

    ဆုံ

    For garlic-ginger paste, pounded dried shrimp fluff, and crushed peanuts — the blender lies about texture; the stone doesn’t.

    Shop on Amazon →

  • Fine sieve / muslin

    စစ်ခွက်

    For straining tamarind, pressing broth clear, and sifting flours — line it with muslin for the cleanest pour.

    Shop on Amazon →

Equipment links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you. Disclosure.

Questions from the kitchen

What do I actually eat this with?

Plain hot rice, first and forever — a spoonful of balachaung and a wedge of cucumber is a legitimate Burmese meal. Beyond that, it goes over fried rice, into sandwiches, alongside coconut noodles, and onto sliced tomatoes. It is the jar that rescues every underwhelming plate.

My balachaung tastes harsh and fishy. What went wrong?

Raw ngapi. The paste must hit the hot oil directly and fry until its smell turns from sharp to toasty — stirred in at the end, it stays aggressive. The tamarind matters too; without its sourness the shrimp and ngapi have nothing pulling against them.

Can I make it without ngapi?

You can, and some Anglo-Burmese versions always did — use an extra couple of teaspoons of fish sauce, added with the tamarind. The jar loses some low-end depth but keeps its crunch and its sour-hot balance. Vegetarian versions swap fried soybean flakes for the shrimp entirely, which is a different, likeable thing.

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