Sambal - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sambal is a chili based sauce which is normally used as a condiment

Condiment

A condiment is an edible substance, such as sauce or seasoning, added to food to impart a particular flavor, enhance its flavor, or in some cultures, to complement the dish. Many condiments are available packaged in single-serving sachets , like mustard or ketchup, particularly when supplied with...

. Sambals are popular in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Malaysia, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, the southern Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, as well as in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

and in Suriname

Suriname

Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

through Javanese influence. It is typically made from a variety of chili pepper

Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...

s and is sometimes a substitute for fresh chilis. It can be extremely spicy for the uninitiated. Some ready-made sambals are available at exotic food markets or gourmet departments in supermarkets in many countries.

Sambal is a Javanese

Javanese language

Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...

origin loan-word (sambel) of Indonesian

Indonesian language

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....

and Malay

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

Varieties of chili

The most common kinds of peppers used in sambal are:

Adyuma: Also known as habanero. These are usually yellow and blocky (like a miniature paprika): very hot.
Cayenne pepper
Cayenne pepper
The cayenne pepper—also known as the Guinea spice,cow-horn pepper, aleva, bird pepper,or, especially in its powdered form, red pepper—is a red, hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes and for medicinal purposes. Named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, it is a cultivar of Capsicum annuum...

: These are usually red and blocky (see above). There are a number of similar looking peppers which are much milder. These can be recognized by their shiny appearance.
Madame Jeanette
Madame Jeanette
Madame Jeanette is a chili pepper originally from Suriname.The fruits are shaped like small bell peppers but with Habanero-like heat. The peppers ripen to reddish-yellow but they are larger and not symmetrical. When raw, the taste is of a hot burning, with a very tasty flavor...

: Yellow or light green elongated pepper. They have an irregular shape.
Bird's eye chili: red or green (or combination) approx 10mm diamaeter by 50 mm long, known locally as cabe rawit (Javanese): extremely hot.
Chili pepper
Chili pepper
Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...

s or lombok (Indonesian): These are elongated and have a red or green colour. These are relatively mild, the green ones being milder than the red ones.
Cabe Taliwang- near identical on Scoville scale
Scoville scale
The Scoville scale is a measurement of the spicy heat of a chili pepper. The number of Scoville heat units indicates the amount of capsaicin present. Capsaicin is a chemical compound that stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes.The scale is named after...

as the naga jolokia, though they are unrelated. Legend states it was this wild chili which lent Lombok Island its name: Island of the Chili. Cabe taliwang is approximately twelve times hotter than cabe rawit.

Indonesian sambal

There are nearly 300 varieties of sambal in the Indonesian archipelago. some of the popular varieties are:

Sambal asam: This is similar to sambal terasi with an addition of tamarind

Tamarind

Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...

concentrate. Asam means tamarind or sour in Indonesian.
Sambal bajak (badjak): Chili (or another kind of red pepper) fried with oil, garlic

Garlic

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...

, terasi, candlenut

Candlenut

Aleurites moluccana, the Candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as Candleberry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree, Nuez de la India, Buah keras or Kukui nut tree....

s and other condiments. This is darker and richer in flavor than sambal asam.
Sambal balado: Minangkabau style sambal. Chili pepper or green chili is blended together with garlic, shallot, red or green tomato, salt and lemon or lime juice, then sauteed with oil.
Sambal dabu-dabu: It comes close to the Mexican salsa sauce, it is of Manado

Manado

Manado is the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Manado is located at the Bay of Manado, and is surrounded by a mountainous area. The city has about 405,715 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar...

's origin. It consists of coarsely chopped tomatoes, calamansi or known as lemon cui or jeruk kesturi, shallots, chopped bird's eye chili, basil, vegetable oil, salt.
Sambal durian or Sambal tempoyak: It is made from fermented durian called tempoyak. The fermentation process took 3 to 5 days. The chili and the tempoyak may be readily mixed together or served separately, to cater the individual preference in ratio of chili to tempoyak to determine the scale of hotness. This sambal available in two varieties: raw and cooked. In the cooked variety, pounded chilis, shallots and lemongrass are stir-fried with anchovies, tempoyak and tumeric leaf (for aroma). Petai (Parkia speciosa) and tapioca shoots are also frequently added. The sweet-sour-hot sambal can be found in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), especially in Palembang and Bengkulu.
Sambal gandaria: Freshly ground sambal terasi with shredded gandaria
Bouea macrophylla
Bouea macrophylla is a tropical fruit tree native to Southeast Asia. The tree belongs to the family Anacardiaceae, and is related to the mango.-Description:The evergreen tree grows to height of 25 meters...

, a kind of tropical fruit native to Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

.
Sambal kalasan: Sometimes also called sambal jawa. Similar to sambal tumis, it is stir fried. It uses a heapful of palm sugar (sometimes subtituted with sugar), tomato, spices and chili. The overall flavor is sweet, with mild hints of spices and chili.
Sambal kacang: A mixture of chilli with garlic, shallot, sugar, salt, crushed fried peanuts, and water. Usually used as condiments for nasi uduk, ketan, or otak-otak
Otak-otak
Otak-otak is a cake made of fish meat and spices. It is widely known across Southeast Asia, where it is traditionally served fresh, wrapped inside a banana leaf, as well as in many Asian stores internationally - being sold as frozen food and even canned food.-Distribution:Otak-otak is found in...

. The simple version only employ cabe rawit chilli, crushed fried peanuts and water.
Sambal kecap manis: Indonesian sweet soy sauce, chili, tomatoes bits, shallot

Shallot

The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...

s and lime

Lime (fruit)

Lime is a term referring to a number of different citrus fruits, both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, and containing sour and acidic pulp. Limes are a good source of vitamin C. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and...

it has a chiefly sweet taste, as said by the Indonesian word manis which means 'sweet'.
Sambal kemiri: This is similar to sambal terasi with an addition of candlenuts.
Sambal lado ijo: (Minangkabau

Minangkabau language

The Minangkabau language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi, also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau, who often trade or have a restaurant...

for green sambal): a Padang, (West Sumatra) speciality- sambal is green (not the usual red)- made using green tomatoes, green chili, shallot, and spices. The sambal is stir fried.
Sambal matah: Raw shallot & lemongrass sambal of Bali

Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

origin. It contains a lot of finely chopped shallots, chopped bird's eye chili, terasi shrimp paste, with a dash of lemon.

Sambal ulek (oelek): Chili (bright red, thin and sharp tasting). Some types of this variant call for the addition of salt or lime into the red mixture. Oelek is a Dutch spelling which in modern Indonesian spelling has become simply ulek; both have the same pronunciation. Ulek is Indonesian special stoneware derived from common village basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

stone kitchenware still ubiquitous in kitchens, particularly in Java. The Ulekan is a pestle shaped like a hybrid of a dinner and soup-plate with an old, cured bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

root

Root

In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating . Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either...

mortar

Mortar and pestle

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances . The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped object, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone...

(ulek-ulek) employed in an ulek manner: a crushing and twisting motion (like using a screwdriver

Screwdriver

A screwdriver is a tool for driving screws and often rotating other machine elements with the mating drive system. The screwdriver is made up of a head or tip, which engages with a screw, a mechanism to apply torque by rotating the tip, and some way to position and support the screwdriver...

) for crushing lime leaves, chilies, peppers, shallots, peanuts, and other kinds of ingredients.
Sambal petai: A mixture of red chilli, garlic, shallot, and petai green stinky bean as the main ingredients.
Sambal petis: Uses chili, petis

Shrimp paste

Shrimp paste or shrimp sauce, is a common ingredient used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisine. It is known as terasi in Indonesian, ngapi in Burmese, kapi in Thai, Khmer and Lao language, belacan in Malay, mắm ruốc, mắm tép and mắm tôm in...

, peanuts, young banana, herbs and spices. An east Javanese

East Java

East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...

sambal.
Sambal pencit/mangga muda: Freshly ground sambal terasi with shredded young mango

Mango

The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...

. This is a good accompaniment to seafood. Pencit means young mango in Indonesian.
Sambal rica rica: A hot sambal from Manado

Manado

region, it uses ginger, chili,lemon and spices. Suitable for barbecue meats.
Sambal setan: A very hot sambal with Madame Jeanette peppers (red brownish, very sharp). The name literally means "devil's sauce". It is popular in Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

Sambal Taliwang: This variant is native to Taliwang, a village near Mataram

Mataram (city)

Mataram is the capital of the Province of West Nusa Tenggara . The city is situated within Lombok Barat Regency and lies on the western side of the island of Lombok, Indonesia...

, Lombok Island

Lombok

Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east...

, and is made from naga jolokia pepper grown specially in Lombok

Lombok

, garlic and Lombok

Lombok

shrimp paste. A kilogram of naga jolokia pepper is extracted, ground and pressed. This is mixed with ground garlic and shrimp paste, then cooked with vegetable oil.
Sambal tauco: A Sulawesi

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...

sambal, contains the Chinese tauco

Tauco

Tauco , is a paste made from preserved fermented soybeans in Chinese Indonesian cuisine. The name comes from the pronunciation in the Hokkian dialect and it is originated from China...

, lime juice, chili, brown sugar, and salt.
Sambal terasi: A common Indonesian style of sambal. Similar to the Malaysian belacan, but with a stronger flavor since terasi, is a more fermented shrimp paste

Shrimp paste

than belacan. Red and green peppers, terasi, sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

, salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

, lemon or lime juice (tangy, strong). One version omits the lime juice and has the sambal fried with pounded tomatoes. Popularly eaten raw.
Sambal teri lado: a Padang

Padang, Indonesia

Padang is the capital and largest city of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located on the western coast of Sumatra at . It has an area of and a population of over 833,000 people at the 2010 Census.-History:...

, (West Sumatra) speciality, sambal is made using chili pepper, tomato, shallot, spices, and mixed with salted ikan teri (anchovy

Anchovy

Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...

). The sambal is stir fried and similar to Malay "sambal ikan".
Sambal tomat: Similar with sambal tumis but with the addition of crushed tomato and sugar. The tomato is stir fried along with the other ingredients until a paste like consistency. The overall taste is hot and sweet, it is a good mix with lalapan.
Sambal tumis: Chili fried with belacan shrimp paste, onions, garlic, tamarind juice. Tumis means "stir fry". Often the cooking oil is re-mixed with the sambal. It may be mixed with other ingredients to produce dishes such as sambal kangkong
Ipomoea aquatica
Ipomoea aquatica is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. It is known in English as Water Spinach, Water Morning Glory, Water Convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names "Chinese spinach" and "swamp cabbage". It has many other names in other languages, such as "Phak bung" in Thai...

, sambal cumi (squid

Squid

Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...

) and sambal telur (egg

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

Malaysian sambal

Sambal belacan: A Malay style sambal. Fresh chilis are pounded together with toasted shrimp paste (belacan) in a stone mortar to which sugar and lime juice are added. Originally, limau kesturi or calamansi lime

Calamondin

× Citrofortunella microcarpa, the Calamondin or Calamansi, is a fruit tree in the family Rutaceae, commonly called the calamondin, golden lime, panama orange, chinese orange, acid orange, calamonding, or calamandarin in English. It is believed to originate from China and has spread throughout...

, is used but since this is scarce outside of Southeast Asia, normal lime is used as a replacement. Tomatoes are optional ingredients. Sometimes, sweet sour mangoes or equivalent local fruits are also used. It can be eaten with cucumbers or ulam (leafy herbs) in a meal of rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

and other dishes. A Malaysian-Chinese version is to fry belacan with chili.
Sambal jeruk: Green or red pepper with kaffir lime

Kaffir lime

The kaffir lime, Citrus × hystrix, Rutaceae), is also known as combava, kieffer lime, limau purut, jeruk purut or makrut lime,...

. In Malaysia, it is called cili (chili) jeruk (pickle). Sometimes vinegar and sugar are substituted for the lime. Used as a condiment with fried rice and noodle based dishes.
Sambal daging/serunding daging: A Malay style sambal prepared from meat and spices and cooked for more than 4 hours until the meat loses its shape, similar to meat floss.
Sambal tempoyak: This sambal exists in two varieties: raw and cooked. Raw sambal tempoyak is prepared from fresh chilis pounded together with dried anchovies and served with fermented durian (tempoyak). The sambal and the tempoyak may be readily mixed together or served separately, so that the person eating can determine the ratio of sambal to tempoyak that they want (tempoyak has a sweet-sour taste that offsets the hotness of the chili). In the cooked variety, pounded chilis, shallots and lemongrass are stir-fried with anchovies, tempoyak and tumeric leaf (for aroma). Petai (Parkia speciosa) and tapioca shoots are also frequently added.

Dishes

Sambal can also be used as an ingredient to a dish, which uses a large amount of chili peppers. Dishes bearing the word sambal include:

Sambal sotong (with cuttlefish)
Sambal udang kering (with dried prawns), also known in Penang as "Sambal Hae Bee"
Sambal lengkong (with ikan parang/wolf herring
Wolf herring
The wolf herrings are a family of two marine species of ray-finned fish related to the herrings.Both species have elongated bodies and jaws with long sharp teeth that facilitate their ravenous appetites, mostly for other fish. Both species reach a length of 1 m...

).
Sambal goreng teri kacang (with anchovy and peanuts)
Sambal goreng kering tempe (with tempeh
Tempeh
Tempeh , or tempe , is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty...

)
Sambal goreng ati (with cow's liver, potato, and sometimes petai)
Sambal goreng udang (with fresh shrimp)
Sambal radio: Omelette mixed with fried belacan, with lots of anchovies. It is a traditional Malay cuisine of Sarawak.
Sambal ikan: A Malay style dish prepared from fish
Fish (food)
Fish is a food consumed by many species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Fish has been an important source of protein for humans throughout recorded history.-Terminology:...

and spices and cooked until the fish loses its shape. Available in varieties, some are in the shape of dry fish floss known as serunding ikan, and some are moist such as sambal ikan bilis (anchovies) or sambal ikan tongkol (tuna
Tuna
Tuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an...

).

Ikan means fish in Malay.

Varieties of chili

Indonesian sambal

Malaysian sambal

Dishes

See also