Sambal Goreng - Fried Chili Paste
With a large batch of sambal goreng (fried chili paste) at home, you can quickly whip up sambal goreng dishes with fish, chicken, eggs, and even potatoes.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 45 min
- Yield
- 16 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 60 gram dried red chilies (use Thai chilies for hot version, and Chinese chilies for a slightly milder version)
- 100 gram garlic
- 200 gram shallots
- 300 gram onion
- 30 gram shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malaysian: belacan), toasted
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 10 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
- 200 gram sugar
- 40 gram salt
- 20 gram tamarind + 4 tablespoon water, massaged into thick paste, strained
Instructions
- 1
Remove seeds from the dried red chilies, then soak in hot water for 15 minutes to soften the chilies.
- 2
In a food processor/blender, grind together chilies, garlic, shallots, onion, toasted shrimp paste, and water into a fine paste.
- 3
Transfer the paste to a wok/frying pan. Cook the chili paste on medium-high until the paste becomes thicker and drier, i.e. we want to evaporate the water as much as possible before adding oil to prevent splattering. Stir every so often.
- 4
Add in the oil and kaffir lime leaves. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir to mix well.
- 5
Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for another 20 minutes, or until the oil starts to separate from the chili paste. Stir every so often.
- 6
Add sugar, salt, and tamarind juice. Cook until everything has been incorporated into the chili paste. You can adjust salt and sugar to taste.
- 7
Turn off heat. Let the chili paste cool, then transfer to glass jars to store. Since this recipe makes 4 cups of chili paste, it is best if you can store in multiple glass jars. Any unopened jar can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 months. Any opened jar should be used within 1 week.