What is one thing that unites Indonesia’s diverse cuisines? Sambal. Have you ever wondered how many types there are? Researchers from Gadjah Mada University recently listed 322 different recipes. Fanning the flames of the Ubud Food Festival’s love of all things spicy, this is our weekly #UFF19 Sambal Series featuring our favorite types of sambal from across the archipelago. Fifth in the series is sambal petis from East Java.
The distinctive pungent umami-sweetness of petis is well known to East Javanese, and perhaps now to most people throughout coastal Java. Petis is a by-product of slow boiling fish or shrimp down into a paste, to which salt and caramel from red sugar is added. Petis ikan (fish) is black, while petis udang is dark chocolate in color. The paste features in various dishes, such as tahu tek and lontong balap, and is especially tantalizing when encased in freshly fried tofu. While its cousin terasi (fermented shrimp or fish paste) is known throughout Southeast Asia, petis is unique to Java. Is your mouth watering too? Scroll down for our sambal petis recipe!
Ingredients
6 tablespoons petis udang
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon kecap manis
2 cloves of garlic, fried
3 red bird’s eye chilies
50 ml air
Method
In a mortar and pestle, grind the chilies and garlic until smooth. Add the petis, sugar, salt, and kecap manis, then grind further. Add the water and mix until combined.
