Kitchenesia.com - Amidst endless rows of western food eateries catering your daily gourmet needs while in Bali, you can actually always have a taste of the local cuisine.
And while you decide to enjoy it, why not trying to make one?
While in Bali, we all live the day in a simple way while in Bali. And this, a simple Balinese sambal matah (Matah hot sauce) is no different.
Cliché as it sounds, everyone can prepare it since making sambal matah Bali is effortlessly simple.
Here’s how to make it:
The sambal is made from onions, chilies, shrimp paste, finely sliced lemongrass and then mixed with salt and lime juice.
Then, the sambal is poured with hot cooking oil, filling the room with appetizing aroma.
And why stop there when you’re playing chef?
Without having to watch endless YouTube videos you can still improve the taste by using a slight variations on the ingredients.
1. The trick is using different types of chili
Use curly red chili and red cayenne (that’s cabai merah keriting and rawit merah)
Curly red chili is gorgeously thin so that the cut looks pretty.
It also does not contain much water, unlike a big red chili, and yet it tastes spicy.
Meanwhile, you can use red cayenne because it tastes spicy, more spicy than red chili.
To overcome the hot taste being – well ‘overhot’ - you can choose a young chili because the older ones tend to be stronger.
3. Onward with the onions
Besides chili, the main ingredient of sambal matah is raw onions.
However, if you ask me, raw onions tend to have a very strong scent.
And to get rid of it, first slice it as desired. After that, rinse the sliced onions with cold water.
Cold water will instantly eliminate sulfur gas which causes unpleasant odor so that the shallots will taste good when eaten.
It will still be crispy enough without that strong unpleasant smell.
3. Lemongrass
Usually when using lemongrass in a variety of foods, you only take the bottom part so it does not cause any hassle in stirring or overcrowding the pot when cooking.
However, you should not throw away the long stems because the stems are fragrant and the texture is the most suitable for making sambal.
In fact, it would be unusual if we use the white part of lemongrass.
4. Cooking oil: the hotter the better
If you want to make your sambal matah to the next level, use cooking oil that is still really hot.
The heat of the oil will ripen the onions so that the scent of the smell immediately decreases.
5. That bitter taste
From lime comes bitter. But besides lime, you can use lemon juice.
The taste given is still that sour taste from lime, but the fresh aroma can be more of a pleasant variation.
6. Spices and more spices
It wouldn’t be Indonesian cuisine if you’re not using tons of spices. And sambal matah will be more delicious if you add various aromatic herbs.
Adding slices of kecombrang or slices of orange leaves will do the trick.
