Recipes
sambal tomat
9 cloves garlic
11 purple shallots
23 birds-eye chillies
3 tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp lontar palm sugar
coconut oil for frying
cut the garlic, shallots, chillies, and tomatoes into small chunks; heat a generous glug of oil in a wok or frying pan over medium-high flame; stir-fry garlic, shallots, and chillies until sweated and fragrant, around 60 sec; add tomatoes, stir-fry another 15-30 sec so they lose their rawness; remove from heat, add salt and sugar, cover loosely (for bugs and geckos) and allow to cool; blitz with a stick blender, blender, or mortar and pestle until smooth but still textured; accompanies anything; refrigerate leftovers.
can make a big approx triple batch with one lovin’ handful garlic, two judicious handfuls shallots, three or four reckless handfuls of chillies, 9 tomatoes, etc.
notes:
bawang merah were called purple shallots in the USA but maybe something else in other places; size here is variable around 1-inch.
cabe rawit are called birds-eye chillies elsewhere; the small but plump yellow/orange/red ones have a fruity heat and are better for this than green chillies. don’t skimp on chillies because heat balances sweet; neutralize heat with extra nasi to build tolerance; adjust proportions over time to develop family khas.
don’t skimp on garlic; needs garlic.
locals use ubiquitous plum tomatoes but i prefer small- to medium-sized globe tomatoes, which render best umami with the brief cook time.
gula merah or red sugar from the lontar palm is bought in solid form and grated before use; could sub jaggery or earthy brown sugar; rich and buttery like caramel.
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