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Sambal Bajak - Multi Chili Relish
Sambal bajak is slightly sweeter and milder compared to sambal terasi. This delicious Indonesian chili sauce has great flavors and is great with fried dishes.
Sambal bajak (or badjak) is an Indonesian chili sauce (sambal) from the province of Banten, which is the westernmost province of the Java island.
When you order fried chicken in an Indonesian restaurant, such as ayam ungkep or ayam goreng kremes, they are almost always served with a side of sambal bajak.
Sambal bajak is one of Indonesian chili sauce that is so popular you can find them sold wildly in bottled jars across the country. I have even spotted sambal bajak in many Asian markets in the US.
Of course, fresh sambal is always better than the bottled version. So if you are a true sambal lover, you may want to give my sambal bajak recipe a try.
What are the ingredients in sambal bajak?
As always, each family will probably have their own interpretation of how to make a specific kind of sambal, and you will probably end up with hundreds of variations to make something as crazily common as sambal bajak.
For me, a proper sambal bajak should be made with multiple chilies (red Thai chilies, green Thai chilies, and red cayenne peppers), blended together with salt, coconut palm sugar, toasted shrimp paste, shallot, garlic, candlenuts, and kaffir lime leaves.
If you prefer milder sambal, feel free to add some tomatoes or tamarind to your sambal. For this particular recipe, you can add up to 75 gram of tomatoes, or about 4 tablespoons of tamarind juice (1 tablespoon tamarind paste + 3 tablespoon water).
How to cook sambal bajak?
First, dry frying the chilies, tomatoes (if using), shallots, garlic, candlenuts, and toasted shrimp paste on a frying pan until aromatic. Then grind these ingredients into a smooth but slightly coarse paste in a food processor, or a mortar and pestle.
Heat oil in a frying pan, add the chili paste and cook until fragrant, then add salt and coconut palm sugar and continue cooking until the sauce is thick and turns into a darker shade.
Add the sliced kaffir lime leaves and stir until you can smell the citrus aroma and the leaves look wilted.
Turn off heat, let cool, then store the chili relish in a glass jar. This should keep for up to 1 month in a fridge. Always return to room temperature prior to consumption.
What is the difference between sambal bajak and sambal terasi?
At a glance, sambal bajak and sambal terasi look almost identical. But when you compare them closely side-by-side, sambal bajak almost always has a darker red color.
A quick taste test will also tell you that sambal bajak is generally milder and also sweeter compared to sambal terasi, making this a more friendly sambal for people with low tolerance to the spicy kick of chilies.
Sambal Bajak - Multi Chili Relish
Ingredients
- 100 gram red cayenne pepper (Indonesian: cabe keriting merah)
- 20 red Thai chilies (Indonesian: cabe rawit merah) (Note 1)
- 10 green Thai chilies (Indonesian: cabe rawit hijau) (Note 1)
- 75 gram tomatoes, optional (Note 2)
- 100 gram shallots (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 50 gram garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih)
- 4 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri), or sub with macadamia
- 1/2 tablespoon shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi), toasted
- 6 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar (Indonesian: gula Jawa), or to taste
- 3 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk), thinly sliced
Instructions
- First, dry frying the chilies, tomatoes (if using), shallots, garlic, candlenuts, and toasted shrimp paste on a frying pan until aromatic. Then grind these ingredients into a smooth but slightly coarse paste in a food processor, or a mortar and pestle.
- Heat oil in a frying pan, add the chili paste and cook until fragrant, then add salt and coconut palm sugar and continue cooking until the sauce is thick and turns into a darker shade.
- Add the sliced kaffir lime leaves and stir until you can smell the citrus aroma and the leaves look wilted.
- Turn off heat, let cool, then store the chili relish in a glass jar. This should keep for up to 1 month in a fridge. Always return to room temperature prior to consumption.
Notes
- (1) I usually remove the seeds from Thai chilies to reduce the spiciness level. You are free to keep the seeds for super spicy sambal.
- (2) If you prefer tamarind instead of tomatoes, prepare 4 tablespoons of tamarind juice from 1 tablespoon of tamarind + 3 tablespoons of water. Add this on step 2 along with salt and coconut palm sugar.
Comments
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe
You are welcome Jehan.
I love any thing spicy and especially sambal. Will try this recipe for sure.
I love things like this that have so many uses. YUM!
This sounds like a great way to add some spice and punchy flavor to dishes - it has such a great color as well. Can't wait to try!
I can't wait to put this on everything!! Great recipe, thanks so much for sharing :)
Indonesian food is something I have little knowledge about so it is always fun to read about recipes from the different regions! Thanks for sharing!
Hello! I wanted to make this sambal to go with the inche kabin.. I might not be able to find the fresh version of red cayenne pepper.. can I use anything else to replace? Thanks!
Hi Grace, you can try the same amount of fresh red Fresno chilies to replace cayenne chilies. You can also try using Chinese dried red chilies, but please soak them in hot water to soften and rehydrate before using.
Thank you for the suggestion! I used the dried chilies to make this sambal bajak and it turns out awesome. I did cut down to 15 red chili padi even though I have high tolerance level of spiciness. My parents and I love it but not sure if my best friends can take this level of spiciness. I can't wait to eat this with inche kabin! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
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