Sambal Brandal – Spicy Chili Salsa

by Pauline Chavannes de Senerpont Domis · Published June 14, 2019 · Updated June 23, 2019

Brandal means in Indonesian bandit or rascal. This naughty chili salsa, sambal brandal, lives up to its name, because according to Beb it is ‘very’ spicy. Depending on the type of chili pepper you can make this sambal brandal as hot as you want of course. Moreover, the amount of peppers (10!) plays the leading role in this salsa.

Sambal Brandal # 28 translated from Beb Vuyk Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 62.

Ingredients

10 chopped lomboks (chili peppers)
3 kemiris (candle nuts)
1 teaspoon trassi (fermented shrimp paste)
2 jeruk purut leaves (kaffir lime leaves)
piece of asem (tamarind) the size of a walnut
2 tablespoons oil
salt

Roast the kemiri and grind them fine.
Grind lomboks, terasi and salt together with the kemiris.
Mix 3 tablespoons of water into the asem.
Fry the rubbed herbs and add the asem water.
This sambal is very spicy.

Beb does not state in its recipe when the jeruk purut leaves should be added. I add them when I start cooking the sambal.

I use kemiri paste today. If you use fresh nuts, they must be roasted before use, otherwise, they are slightly toxic. Kemiri paste can be used immediately. 1 teaspoon equals 2 nuts.

I buy tamarind (asem) in a jar already filtered. Trassi (terasi) is fermented shrimp paste.

First I grind my peppers, trassi and salt together, then I add the kemiri paste.

This sambal must be stir-fried in a few tablespoons of oil. Now I add the kaffir lime leaves and the asem water.

Add asem water to the sambal to give at slightly acidic flavor.

Let it simmer well until that the sambal has reduced. Keep stirring well.

Preserve

Because I want to keep my sambal brandal longer, I add my still hot sambal (directly from the wok) into a few super clean jam jars. I immediately close the lid and let cool on the counter. The jars become a vacuum, so they can be stored for a long time (at least a month) in a cool, dark place.