Sambal Badjak

I cannot imagine my life and cooking without sambal. It’s the most-often used condiment in our house. I have a wide array of sambals in my fridge, ranging anywhere from an extremely hot Surinamese to mellow, sweet and flavorful Indonesian sambals.

I add some to most things I cook. Heck, I don’t even think about it, and not just when cooking Indonesian or Surinamese. I use it to liven up stews, meatballs, soups, sandwiches, dips, vegetables and even mashes.

My personal favourite is sambal badjak: a more flavourful than spicy sambal making it perfect for every day use. The sambal is gently fried, really mellowing down the heat. Delicious.

I ran into a new, curried version in the store a few weeks ago and, wow, that stuff is addictive. Why didn’t I think of adding masala? Let’s do it now!

Ingredients:

7 oz/200gr chili peppers
9oz/250gr shallots
4 large garlic cloves
3 tbsp peanut or sunflower oil
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 slice gula djawa (palm sugar) roughly 2oz/50gr
3 or 4 tbsp kecap (sweet soy sauce)
1/4 tsp trassie bakar powder
2 tsp curry masala
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder

Optionally: 3 toasted and mashed kemirie nuts
1 tsp tomato paste

Directions:

This Vol Gas Sambal by lange Frans is what got this posting started in the first place. They mailed me a jar to try to, wow, love the stuff! Thanks Danielle!

This gorgeous cobek was my mother’s day present. I was over the moon! It’s a flat mortar with a special pestle (ulek-ulek) used to make the bumbu (‘wet’ spice mixture) almost every Indonesian dish starts with.

Of course you can use a food processor or immersion blender for this as well, but the result that comes closest to an authentic bumbu made in a cobek is by using a meat grinder with a fine hole plate, heard that from Lonny Gerungan.

That’s the route I’m taking today. No need to complicate things, right?

Peel the shallots and garlic. Give the shallots a rough chop.

You’re in control of the heat. Want it seriously hot? Just leave in the seeds and membranes.

I chose to remove them after washing the peppers. This gives a really pleasant warmth to the dishes but mostly an amazing flavour. Chop the peppers.

Even the trash looks cheerful and happy. Sorry, just couldn’t help noticing it.

Mix it all up. Let’s hit it!

Keep going ’til you run out of ingredients.

The perfect consistency for sambal. Mushy, but with still a little structure.

Whisk well. See? Perfect consistency.

The gula djawa (palm sugar) is big part of the Indonesian kitchen. If you can’t buy it, replace it with dark brown sugar. Finely chop the palm sugar.

Same goes for the trassie bakar powder (fermented ground shrimp) and kecap.

Love what the masala did to the sambal! Mine was Nickerie Masala.

Heat the oil and gently cook the pepper and onion mix for 5 minutes while stirring often.

Add the trassie powder, the ground ginger and coriander, the curry powder and finally the gula djawa. Continue to cook (while stirring often) until the gula djawa has melted.

Pour in the kecap and the lemon juice. Combine well. Add 3 tbsp kecap if you like it less sweet.

Let it simmer over low heat, again, while stirring often.

Let it simmer until the liquid has been mostly evaporated but the mixture is still moist.

Let it cool off and transfer to a sterilized jar. You can keep the sambal in the fridge for about a week, drizzle a little oil on top. Use in stews, pickles, soups, sauces, marinades, dressings, meatballs, burgers, wings and what not.

This is what you need on your dinner table or in your kitchen!

Sambal Badjak is pure, unadulterated love. Highly addictive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

You can use a food processor or immersion blender for this as well, but the result that comes closest to an authentic bumbu made in a cobek is by using a meat grinder with a fine hole plate.

Peel the shallots and garlic. Give the shallots a rough chop. You’re in control of the heat. Want it seriously hot? Just leave in the seeds and membranes. I chose to remove them after washing the peppers. This gives a really pleasant warmth to the dishes but mostly an amazing flavour. Chop the peppers. Mix it up and run it through the meat grinder and whisk well.

Finely mince the gula djawa. Heat the oil and gently cook the pepper mix for 5 minutes while stirring often. Add the trassie bakar powder, curry masala, ground ginger and coriander and the gula djawa. Cook until the sugar has melted. Stir often.

Pour in the kecap (3 tbsp if you like it less sweet) and lemon juice and simmer until the liquid has been mostly evaporated but the mixture is still moist. Let it cool off and transfer to a sterilized jar. You can keep the sambal in the fridge for about a week, drizzle a little oil on top.

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