Sambal with Chives

Beb Vuyk has a wonderful collection of freshly made sambals in her book. I’ve almost tried them all. Some are quite complex with many different ingredients some are super easy and fast, like this sambal with chives.

I always try to have enough chili peppers in the house. Normally I use regular red chili peppers. But if friends come over who can handle some spiciness I go for rawit; a smaller but much spicier kind of chili.

Sambal with Chives # 24 translated from Beb Vuyk Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page

Ingredients

5 chili peppers
1/2 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon terasi (shrimp paste)
1 tablespoon of chopped chives
few drops of lemon juice

Make a sambal terasi with garlic and mix the chives through without rubbing. Finish the sambal with a few drops of lemon juice. This sambal, even in the refrigerator, is not long-lasting.

In the preface of her sambal chapter, Beb explains how convenient it is to have a jar of sambal ulek and trassi ready.

Basic Sambal

Sambal ulek is the start or the basis of all sambals. It is just a few chili peppers rubbed together with some salt. To make different sambals you just add all sort of ingredients.

Beb advises to always have a jar of sambal ulek ready in your refrigerator. It keeps astonishingly long. I usually have a jam jar in the fridge that I use for 2 weeks.

Sambal Trassi

Sambal trassi is also a basic sambal. That’s actually sambal ulek rubbed with shrimp pasta (trassi). These are fermented shrimps. This shrimp paste is also used in Thai cuisine as well and you can buy it in any Asian food store.

Sambal with chives

This sambal with chives is nothing else than a sambal trassi with garlic, lemon juice, and chives. Do not rub the chives, just scoop them through at the end.

This sambal is delicious. You can taste the freshness really well. The lemon juice makes it bright and the chives are crisp. Nice to try this sambal with different peppers or a mix of them.

Want to try more homemade chili salsas? Look here.