Can you handle spicy food?
If not, it’s not a big deal, because in Indonesia, there are hundreds of kinds of sambal. Sambal is basically an Indonesian chili sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chili peppers with secondary ingredients such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, tomatoes, or just about anything that you feel like adding. Sambal is an Indonesian loanword of Javanese origin.
Most people think that spiciness is a must for sambal. In fact, it is not! Talking about hundreds of kinds of sambal from all around Indonesia, of course, some of them can be less spicy than the common ones. Not to forget that Indonesia has more than 300 ethnic groups scattered all around 17,000 islands. As far as I know, there’s no place or ethnic group in Indonesia that does not have sambal on their menu.
Each sambal has a very unique taste representing the culture and rich natural resources from different ethnic groups. It is even said that you can travel the Indonesian archipelago by indulging your taste buds (eating sambal) from somewhere else. That’s how unique they are!
If you’re interested, I will be writing more about specific sambal and, if possible, share the recipe after finishing making it.
