- 4 partsRed chilli
- 2 partsShallot + garlic
- 1 partPalm sugar
- 1 partCandlenut + terasi
- 200g long red chillies, roughly chopped
- 4-6 red bird's eye chillies
- 8 red Asian shallots
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 candlenuts (or macadamias)
- 1 tsp fermented shrimp paste (terasi), toasted
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 3 tbsp grated palm sugar
- 1 tbsp tamarind purée
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup (80ml) neutral oil
- Blend the chillies, shallots, garlic, candlenuts, shrimp paste and tomato to a coarse paste.
- Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat and add the paste and lime leaves. Fry, stirring often, for about 15 minutes until the raw smell is gone and it darkens.
- Add the palm sugar, tamarind and salt and keep frying for 5-10 minutes until thick, glossy and brick red, with the oil separating at the edges.
- Taste and adjust with salt or sugar. Cool and store in a clean jar under its own oil.
Sambal bajak is a cooked Javanese sambal. Fresh red chillies, shallots, garlic and candlenuts are ground with terasi (shrimp paste), then fried slowly with palm sugar and tamarind until dark red, glossy and jammy. It's sweeter and milder than raw sambal and keeps for weeks, which is why many Indonesian kitchens keep a jar of it.
Unlike a raw sambal such as sambal terasi, it is fried, so it is rounder and less sharp. Use long red chillies for colour and a few bird's eye chillies for heat.
Fried chicken, grilled fish, tempeh and tofu, fried eggs, coconut rice and fried rice.
Serve a spoon with ayam goreng, ayam penyet or nasi uduk. Learn about candlenuts and palm sugar.
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