[Sca-cooks] Sambal Ulek

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I wrote:
>sambal ulek

and Olwen the Odd asked:
>Oh sweet Anahita, what, pray tell, is this??  Where does one get it?

then an answer was posted to the list:
>This a rather salty, bright red chili paste from Indonesia.
>
>Adamantius, who prefers either sriracha or brown bean paste with
>chili, but doesn't say no to sambal oelek

Hunh? (again) Sambal ulek shouldn't be salty. It must be an
aberration of the brand you get...

Sambal ulek (Dutch spelling: sambal oelek) is a Javanese condiment.
Traditionally, fresh red chilis are ground to a paste - seeds and all
- on a flat volcanic rock kitchen tool, the name of which is escaping
me. It looks rather like a Mexican metate, which is also made of
volcanic rock and shaped into a flat rectangle. The seeds should no
longer be visible, but rather completely ground and fully
incorporated in with the flesh of the chili. Yes, a lot of hand work.

Brands commercially available in the US don't have the seeds ground,
but just floating in the mass of chili flesh puree, which is also not
as finely pureed as the hand made product.

I have found sambal ulek in East Asian and Southeast Asian food
markets. Conimex is a Dutch brand with a bright deep yellow label
that i recommend you NOT buy.

Sriracha is a Thai red chili paste in a squeeze bottle, which i find
to be too sweet, but i use it, too.  There's also a Vietnamese chili
paste that includes lots of garlic. I like that one a lot :-) Depends
on what's available and how much effort i want to put into the hunt.
Both Sriracha and the Vietnamese garlic chili paste are available in
my local huge chain supermarket.

Anahita
You know what they say, "sweets to the sweet..."
I say, "pass me the chili..."