The earthy chilli paste was prepared the night before and just like the mutton stock, it took almost two hours to bring together all the ingredients including red chillies, chilli flakes, ginger and galangal. “This will last for at least five to six days, at most one week,” said Abdullah, gesturing to a bin.
In the second bin was their mouthwatering dry mix that exuded the umami pungency of dried shrimp (hae bee) and dried krill (grago), along with other top secret ground spices and seasonings. Combined with the chilli paste, this formed the fiery heart and hue of the sup tulang merah.
Next in the magical process of turning soup to sauce, a plain flour slurry was added as a thickener, followed by tomato ketchup, sugar, MSG and a little red food colouring. “To make it brighter,” he explained, adding that while the sambal and ketchup gave the dish most of its namesake “merah”, he had to “just touch up a little bit”.
When asked why the food colouring was even necessary, he quipped: “My Malay customers have a saying, ‘tak ada merah, tak ada sedap’”, meaning if it’s not red, it’s not tasty.