How to make sambal

Ingredients

• large handful chilli peppers of your choice (we've used bird's eye chilli/rawit)
• 3 small (yellow) madame jaenette (for milder sambal you can use less or no madame jeanette)
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• about 3 cm ginger root
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (or use a different type, or lemon juice)
• large dash of neutral oil (e.g. sunflower oil)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• large pinch of salt

Kitchen equipment needed

• mortar and pestle or blender
• cutting board & chef's knife
• medium-sized skillet
• sterile jar with lid (you can easily boil the pot and lid a few minutes in boiling water)

Making sambal -- 15 minutes

Rinse the chilli peppers and remove the stems. Use a clean kitchen towel to pat them dry. Peel the onion and garlic cloves and add the pepper, onion and garlic to the mortar or blender and create a paste. 

Heat a dash of oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Chop the ginger in chunks, add them to the warm oil, and simmer for a few minutes. This way the oil will absorb the ginger flavour. Remove the ginger and add the pepper, garlic and onion paste to the oil. 

Let it simmer for a few minutes before you also add salt, sugar and vinegar. After another few minutes the sambal is done, transfer it as hot as possible into the sterile jar and put the lid on. The sambal can be kept for at least one month. Enjoy!