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Sambal Terasi

A fragrant Indonesian chili paste made by frying chilies, aromatics, tomato, and shrimp paste before grinding them together.

25 minEasyServes 835 cal/serving

IndonesianSauceStovetopPescatarianLow CarbHalal-friendlyGluten-FreeDairy-FreeNut-FreeEgg-FreeSoy-FreePork-FreeLow-SodiumAlcohol-Free

Ingredients

  • 4 oz red chili peppers, sliced
  • 6 shallots, peeled
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 plum tomato, chopped
  • 1 tsp terasi shrimp paste, crumbled
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp palm sugar, grated
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp lime juice

Instructions

  1. 1

    Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. 2

    Add 4 oz sliced red chili peppers, 6 peeled shallots, 4 peeled garlic cloves, 1 chopped plum tomato, and 1 tsp crumbled terasi shrimp paste to the skillet and cook for 6 minutes until softened.

  3. 3

    Transfer the mixture to a mortar or food processor and grind into a coarse paste.

  4. 4

    Stir in 2 tsp grated palm sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and 2 tsp lime juice until fully mixed.

Questions

How long does Sambal Terasi keep?

Refrigerated in a sealed jar, it keeps four to five days. It also freezes flat in a bag for up to three months.

Can I halve or double Sambal Terasi?

Yes. As written it serves 8. Every ingredient in this entry carries precomputed half and double quantities, and the app's batch dial rewrites them inside each step. When doubling on the stovetop, use your widest pan or work in two batches so the food sears instead of steaming.

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