Shallot ( Allium ascolonicum )

Shallots grown in Southeast Asia have a purplish skin which encloses a delicately flavoured interior. They grow in clusters, similar to the much larger brown-skinned European shallot.

Their aromatic flavour makes them an important addition to many seasoning pastes. Rempah in Malaysia and bumbu in Indonesia, for example, use shallots along with other herbs, roots or rhizomes and dried spices.
Shallots are preferred to onions not only for their better flavour but because they contain less moisture.
Spice pastes can thus be fried rather than stewed in oil at the beginning of cooking, a subtle, but important detail.

Shallots are also treated as a seasoning in pickles and salads throughout the region, their mild flavour making them perfectly palatable and easily digestible while sill raw.

Slices of deep-fried shallots are one of the most widely used garnishes in Malay and Indonesian cooking, and are sold pre-cooked in plastic bags in markets.

Botanical Family : Lillaceae
Thai name : Horm lek, horm daeng
Malaysian name : Bawang merah
Indonesian name : Bawang merah
Tagalog name : Sibuyas tagalog

source : Hutton, Wendy; (1997); Tropical Herbs & Spices of Indonesia; Periplus Editions