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SAMBAL bonanza

Indonesian food is to the Dutch, what Mexican food is to the US, and what curries are to the UK. 

Eating Indonesian is simply something you DO.  It's GOOD EATIN'. The upside of a shameful colonial past ! 

When I lived in the US I had friends and family send care packages with spices and ingredients from back home cause if I can't my Indo grub on I'll fully lose my sh*t. 

Indonesian cuisine relies heavily on coconut, lemon grass, peanut, ginger, and of course chillies.  In abundance, that is. 

Now, sambal, Indonesian chilli paste, is a CRUCIAL side dish that goes with every meal. 

We even put it on peanutbutter sandwiches. 

There are DOZENS of different sambals from mild to fiery hot. They mostly use bird's eyes varieties, lomboks and rawits that are a little bigger than Thai chillies but you could use those too. 

Common ingredients include trassi (shrimp paste), lime or lemon juice, garlic, onion.

Sambal is easy to prep and all you need is a mortar and pestle. 

Here's a webpage (you'll have to run it through a translator) with count 'em, 252 sambal recipes... Something for everyone ! 

http://www.mijnreceptenboek.nl/recepten/sambal/



Oh, feast (your eyes) on this here Dutch colonial RICE TABLE ! That's what I'm talking about baby !!!!!
rijsttafel.jpg








 
 
Huh, man, do you think it was necessary to put that picture??? I am at work now, and because of this picture, I am HUNGRY! What now??? If I will have to leave earlier, you are to be blamed.....
 
Uhh, sorry about that ...

On the lighter side, prepping an Indo feast can take a long, long time, esp. if you make the bumbu's (spice mixes) from scratch..

But lookee here... A Dutch website with Indo recipes in English !

This is a real goldmine ! 

If you can get the right ingredients I strongly suggest you give it a try. You will NOT regret it ! 

http://www.indochef.com/




 
 
Sluggy said:
Uhh, sorry about that ...

 
 
Joking man!
But really I get hungry looking at this picture...
I will try some for sure, I like to try different food from around the world. I already tried some recipes around here :-)  (first one was sriracha).
the only thin is, not always can find the spices or other ingredients.
 
Okay, here is the Balinese "Sambal Mbe" recipe I ganked from Jean-Paul, the chef who won several prizes for "best sambal" at the Dutch festivals. 

I was in the jury and was VERY surprised and impressed with this simple, yet super flavorful sambal.  What you need : 

- 12 small shallots
- 6 cloves garlic
- 10 red rawits (bird's eye chillies)
- 2 teaspoons trassi (shrimp paste, sometimes spelled 'terasi')

1) slice the chillies into very thin rings
cut the shallots + garlic into the thinnest slivers as possible

2) put the trassi inside some aluminum foil, folded into a little envelope or package
fry this package on medium fire, flip over often (to prevent your whole place from smelling like trassi ! The smell is not too good.)

3) Mix the fried trassi with coarse seasalt and grind together. 

4) fry the shallots until golden in a 50-50 mixture of arachide (peanut) oil and coconut oil. Drain on kitchen towel.

5) Next, fry the garlic in the same oil, and drain on kitchen towel

6) do the same with the chillies 

Let everything cool off, then mix it together with the fried trassi

You could add a few more drops of oil to make it a little more pastier if desired. 



 
 
Boo-ya! That picture makes my mouth water. Somebody seriously needs to hurry up and invent a screen that dispenses the food you are looking at online ...
 
Thanks for the sambal links. 
 
i have had a little Indo had a friend i used to work with it very good
 
i really like Lempur!! have not had it in years
 
thats stuff has my tummy growling
 
thanks your friend Joe
 
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