Sambal Jeruk (lemon)


This is an easy Indonesian chili salsa called sambal. It is spicy, fresh and sour. In this case, I do not use the cobèk (mortar) but my blender.

This sambal works well with a soto ajam.


Samba jeruk (lemon) #19 translated from Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, Beb Vuyk, page 58.

Ingredients

5 lomboks (red or green peppers)
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 1/4 lemon

Make sambal ulek or terasi and mix in the lemon juice and stir. This sambal is even in the refrigerator, not long lasting.


I’ve made sambal ulek and sambal terasi or trassi before. These are the most simple sambals to make. Check out the links.

For my sambal jeruk, I use 2 lomboks (those small peppers) and 3 big red chili peppers.

The big chili peppers are less hot than the lomboks and the bigger size of the chilies makes it easier to blend into a smooth paste.

The lemon turns the sambal into a bright red color; gorgeous.

Sambal Djeroek (lemon)

Sambal jeruk (lemon) blending it with the immersion blender.

I place a tea towel over the immersion blender while mixing otherwise your kitchen will be spicy too ;-).

The advantage of a mortar is you can make enough for one or two meals. With the blender, you need more peppers to make a smooth paste.

If you have small clean jars you can make presents out of the leftover sambal. Great gift for the end of the evening when the guests leave.

Homemade sambal is not long lasting like supermarket sambal but you can improve its life.

Be sure you always use a clean spoon if you need sambal. If you pour your chili paste in a jar it has to be extremely clean. Best thing to do is to leave the jars for a few minutes in boiling water. Take them out and fill them while hot with your sambal. Close it and it will turn vacuum and can be kept longer.

You can also freeze your freshly made sambal; like this in an old ice cube tray!



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