One of my favourite condiments used in rice dish is sambal, and the best sambal is actually homemade. Something about that torturing heat in red hot paste is extremely indulging and addictive.
Sambal is a chili base condiment popular used in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. They are different types of sambal depending upon people’s preferences but the main character of the dish is always chili… red hot chili.
There are a lot of ready-made sambal sauce and paste available in supermarket, but to get that super luxury custom-made deliciousness, we need to get our hand in that fiery red chili ourselves.
Sambal gives a plain rice dish a face-lift. It can be used as condiment along with your regular meal or serving along side Nasi Lemak. It gives a vibrant and robust flavour in stir fry dishes and may be used as curry paste. Sambal has a beautiful, smooth and creamy texture, it is very irresistible with that pungent aroma swirling over the surface. Homemade sambal can be stored in refrigerator up to 2 weeks, but considering the way we lard it over our hot rice, it can’t be that long.
Usually fresh red chili is used in sambal recipe, but I used what’s available to me… dried red chili. I deseeded the chilies and soaked them in hot water until soft before grinding them along with shallots and garlic.
My eyes, nose and mouth was burning. My kitchen was labeled “Danger Zone”. My husband and son were sneezing and complaining in the living room while the whole house was clouded with chili fragrance. My husband didn’t understand why would I got into so much of trouble to make a tiny jar of chili paste, but once he tasted it he knew it’s simply a part of life.
Homemade Sambal
Ingredients:
20 dried red chilies- deseeded and soaked in hot water
8 shallots- peeled
1 whole garlic- peeled
2 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp palm sugar
2 tbsp salt
4 tbsp oil
Preparation
- Grind soaked dried red chili, shallots, and garlic in food processor. You can also use mortar if you have one.
- Heat the oil in the pan over the medium-high heat. Add chili-garlic-shallot paste and stir fry for few minutes.
- Add tamarind paste, palm sugar, and salt. Stir fry further until the oil rise to the surface. Remove from the heat and store in the clean jar.
*** It can be store in refrigerator upto 2 weeks.
Have a wonderful day,
Tes
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Goodness Tess, My saliva is dripping looking at the sambal, another one of those we will drool, in fact we can have sambal everyday although ours is with some belacan/shrimp paste added inside.
YUM,,,I can eat hot jasmine rice with that sambal,that all i don’t need side dish,,,sound good to me, definitely I will make this sambal
I love the aroma of frying red hot chillies…and the ics are to die for ..Can imagine the taste just by looking at the picture
deepa
Tes, what a wonderful versatile sambal.
Mandy
Have a happy week.
Love that last photo, Tes…beautiful!
Yay, a recipe for sambal! Thanks, Tes. I use sambal regularly to make dishes more spicy. It only takes a very small amount, or my mouth burns.
At my previous work, an Indonesian lady working in the canteen used to make her own sambal and sell it to the workers. It was very popular!
This looks so good. Love spicy condiments to brighten up dishes.
home-made sambal- yummmmm ! and without shrimp– that has my happy hoots !!
This looks wonderful! I love all the flavors!
What a fantastic sambal….beautiful:)
LOVE IT! I’m addicted to red chile sauce, but with this recipe, I might become addicted to sambal! It sounds and of course – Looks wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!
Absolutely mouthwatering
Guess what .. i never had sambal or may be I did in restaurant without knowing. I am saving this to give a try. This is my kinda recipe .. spicy
I always wanted to learn how to make Sambal… What a great post!
That looks very tasty! I’ve never tasted sambal before but I’m loving these flavors! Buzzed
This sounds amazing, but it would have to be a bit more mild for me. But how beautiful! Buzzed!
I don’t know why I’ve never thought about making homemade sambal considering how much we love it. Thanks for the recipe! You make it look amazing
totally making this…we make a sambal too but it is different from this one! it is addictive, so i believe you!!
I love your blog Tes. I can’t always eat everything on it but the wonderful blend of food, family, culture and insight is fully devoured.
Always know you are loved and supported and keep on posting!
[…] some boil eggs. If you don’t like spicy, don’t be discourage to try, just be easy on the chili. Check out another type of sambal here, if you need more mouth watering […]