The Food Of Hell From Indonesia
Famous as one of the best tropical countries, Indonesia provides tons of uniqueness and excitement. Its nature, culture, and art always bring millions of tourist each year. However, this time we are going to talk about one thing, Indonesia’s cuisine, in particular Sambal.
Sambal or sambel is infamous among tourist as the food of hell for its undeniable ability to make the consumer produces tears and sweat when eating. Produced using chili as its main ingredient, sambal is indeed taste extremely spicy.
Sambal is made by grinding ‘cabai’ or chili, along with several complements such as onion, cherry, tomato, ‘terasi’, sugar, and salt. The ingredients are grinded using traditional tool made usually from wood or plastic. Sambal can be served raw or cooked. The texture is smooth with a vibrant color of green and red, depending on which chili you use.
Infamous among tourists for its spiciness, many tourists avoid it. However, some of them are challenged and try to eat it. Those who dare to try usually will get stomach ache or turn very red and sweaty in the face. Though super spicy, locals eat it in almost daily basis as their main meal.
In the Indonesian archipelago, there are as many as 300 varieties of sambal. The intensity ranges from mild to very hot. Some varieties include:
- Sambal andaliman
- Similar to sambal lado mudo but with the addition of andaliman pepper.
- Sambal asam
- This is similar to sambal terasi with an addition of tamarind concentrate. Asam means tamarind or sour in Indonesian.
- Sambal bajak (badjak)
- Banten sambal. Chili (or another kind of red pepper) fried with oil, shallot, garlic, terasi, candlenuts, palm sugar and other condiments. This is darker and richer in flavor than sambal asam.
- Sambal balado
- Minangkabau style sambal. Chili pepper or green chili is blended together with garlic, shallot, red or green tomato, salt and lemon or lime juice, then sauteed with oil.
- Sambal buah
- (lit: fruit sambal) specialty of Palembang, made from the mixture of chili, shrimp paste, kemang (a type of mango) and pineapple.
That was just little part of sambal variation from Indonesia, there are many more of sambal variation and tastes. Here's the nutrition facts of 1 serving sambal.
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving (5g)
Calories from Fat 0.3
Calories 1
% Daily Value*
Polyunsaturated Fat 0ggrams
Monounsaturated Fat 0ggrams
0%
Cholesterol 0mgmilligrams
4%
Sodium 102mgmilligrams
1%
Potassium 27mgmilligrams
0%
Total Carbohydrates 0.2ggrams
Sugars 0.1ggrams
Protein 0ggrams
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Source: https://www.nutritionix.com/food/sambal
en.wikipedia.org
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Some incorrect information:
1. 'Cherry' should be erased because cherry is not
a complements that fits with sambal. (3rd paragraph)
2. 'Plastic' should be changed with stone. (3rd paragraph)
3. 'Main meal' should be chaged with dining companion. (4th paragraph)
