Sambal Terasi and DC

Wherever I go, I always have to bring one condiment that most Indonesian treasured, chili sauce or sambal in Indonesian. I do not how we Indonesians, can stand the fiery taste of sambal in our food as the tropical weather is enough to heat us up. Just imagine eating super spicy food under super hot sun and high humidity, many of us will be drenched in perspiration from the sambal and from the heat of our climate. And yet, this uncomfortable condition does not deter us from eating less spicy food.
For us, Indonesians, sambal is “a must” on the dining table. Many fast food restaurants acknowledge it and so instead of having just ketchup, they provide us with sambal sauce. Sambal ranged from mild to super hot and for people who are used to eating super hot sambal, they will add some bird’s eye chilies to step up a notch of the burning sensation.
Nowadays, we can find ready-to-eat sambal in many Chinese grocery stores. There are sambal from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, China and of course, Indonesia. My favorite is chili sauce made with belacan or terasi in Indonesian or shrimp paste in English. It is called Sambal terasi. This kind of sambal can be made at home provided you have all the ingredients. I live in a city that does not have any exotic/Chinese grocery stores, I have to find substitute for most of the ingredients.



Recipe for Sambal terasi/ belacan/shrimp paste

Ingredients :

10 Thai chili peppers
3 bird’s eye chili peppers
2 tomatoes
1 tbsp of cooked belacan/shrimp paste (you can buy it at most Chinese grocery stores)
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of Javanese brown sugar/dark brown sugar or just use granulated sugar
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Directions :

Put all chili peppers and tomatoes in a blender or a food processor; add in a little bit of water. Blend them until they look like juice. Heat the frying pan, pour in the mixture from the blender/food processor, add in belacan/shrimp paste, salt, sugar and lemon juice. Stir until the liquid is a bit dry. Pour the sambal in a clean jar and keep in the fridge.
source : Seri Resep Asli: 40 Selera Sambal Indonesia
Speaking about Indonesian food reminded me of our trip to Washington DC last week. It was a nice break for us from the Erie's snow. DC was cold but there was no snow which was a blessing for us because we had to commute from our hotel in Rockville,Maryland to DC. The food in DC was everywhere. Cafes were abundant, in one area alone, I could spot more than five cafes.


One of the most important places we went to was Chinatown however the wind and the cold stopped us from finding a unique restaurant so we went to a restaurant we knew from our previous visit to DC. This restaurant made its own noodles. I do not remember the name of the restaurant but I am sure this is the only restaurant that made its own noodles. We also found an Indonesian restaurant called Singapore Bistro. I know it sounded strange, Indonesian food in a Singapore Bistro?. Well, it had some Indonesian foods in the menu and most of the waiters there were Indonesians thus making its Indonesian food quite authentic. I got to taste its splendid sambal terasi and Amanda got to have lots of Indonesian shrimp crackers.
We also went to the zoo, the museum of natural history and aerospace museum. Amanda was thrilled to see everything inside the museums.
I really enjoy the trip to DC and wish to be there again in the summer when the weather is warm and sunny.