Pork Chop with Sambal Terasi & Green Tomato Salad

Chili oils are prevalent in most parts of Asia. Though they differ from region to region, these oils add a bright, bitingly spicy note to meals.

This is my take on Sambal Terasi, an Indonesian chili sauce.

Like any other original Asian chili paste, Sambal Terasi is traditionally made using a stone mortar and pestle to mash together red bird’s eye chili peppers with garlic, shallots, salt, sugar, lime juice and terasi, or Indonesian shrimp paste. Shrimp paste is the very pungent blocks of sun dried, fermented dried, small shrimp. Indonesians usually dry-roast or quickly sauté the shrimp paste in hot oil to briefly cook it before adding to the mortar and pestle mixture. Sambal Terasi is commonly used as a condiment to nearly any meal in Indonesia, particularly served with an assortment of raw vegetables. Indonesia also exports ready to use Sambal Terasi that is packaged in short glass bottles, available in many Asian markets in the West.

For my take on this classic, try this:

1/2 Cup Canola oil

1/2 Sesame oil

1 tbsp. Dried shrimp paste

6-10 cloves of garlic depending on preference

1/2 tsp salt

1tsp palm sugar

6 Birds eye chilis

Zest of 1 lemon

1 red onion, diced

1 knob of ginger, diced

2 sticks of lemongrass

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 bell pepper, diced

1 bunch of thyme

Method

• Heat the oil in a small pot to a high heat.

• Add the dried shrimp paste to the oil. Cook the paste for 45 seconds to 1 minute, mashing it down completely, until it becomes vary fragrant.

• Pour oil mixture over the combines remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

• Stir in the lime juice or lemon juice and use immediately.

We added a 3.5mg/mL infused into olive oil with Banana Cream by Potluck to finish this off. The strain is a lovely, mellow high , great for everyday use and relaxed nights with friends.