Exotic Fish Sambal Cintaku

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 8 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 m.-large tomato(s), fully ripe
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, frozen in Asian shops or dried via Amazon
• 4 macadamia nuts
• 40 g desiccated coconut, white, from a fresh coconut
• 2 small onions, red
• 3 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 4 chili peppers, curly, long, thin, red, (cabe keriting merah)
• 5 Pepper, long and red
• 15 g shrimp paste
• 20 g ginger
• 2 lemons, fully ripe, juice
• 100 g coconut milk, creamy
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce, light
• 1 tbsp soy sauce, dark and sweet
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 6 g instant chicken bouillon
• 3 tbsp coconut oil for preserving

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

for a 250 ml screw-top jar, a finely spicy sambal with a pleasant spiciness

Wash the tomatoes, halve them lengthwise, remove the green stems, and quarter each half lengthwise. Quarter these halves crosswise. Remove the stems and the hard middle part of the kaffir lime leaves and cut the leaves into fine strips. Halve the macadamia nuts, split each half lengthwise, and chop them crosswise. Crack open a coconut, collect the water, and use it for another purpose. Break out the flesh and grate off the brown outer part. Use only the white flesh. Coarsely grate 40g of this. Peel the small red onions and garlic and dice them finely. Now put on your household gloves! Wash the red chili pepper, remove the stems, cut them lengthwise, open them up, and scoop out the seeds and membranes. Cut the empty pod lengthwise into four strips and then cut them crosswise into 1cm pieces. Wash the curly red chilies, remove the green stems, and cut the chilies crosswise into 1cm pieces. Feel free to leave the seeds with the chilies. Now you can take off your gloves again. Cut the shrimp paste from the block, weigh it, and cut it into small pieces. If the block is old, you can also crumble it. Wash and peel the ginger, then cut it into small cubes. Squeeze the lemons, using only the juice. Discard the peels, which taste very bitter. Weigh the coconut milk, add the oyster sauce, and the light and dark soy sauces, and mix everything together. Heat a medium-sized pan. Add four tablespoons of the coconut oil, swirl the pan, and when the oil is hot enough (bubbles will form on the bottom of the pan), add the desiccated coconut and cook until light brown. Then add the macadamia nuts, ginger, and onions. After about two minutes, add the garlic, curly chilies, hot peppers, and shrimp paste. After two minutes, add the tomatoes and roast for about 5 minutes. Deglaze with the coconut milk mixture, stir well, and simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes over reduced heat. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle with the palm sugar, sliced ​​kaffir lime leaves, and chicken stock and mix. Allow the sambal to cool slightly. Pour the warm sambal into the blender and blend for 30 seconds at the lowest speed. Season the sambal to taste. Then blend thoroughly for 60 seconds at the highest speed. Heat the pan with the remaining coconut oil, return the sambal to the pan, and thicken slightly. It should have a creamy consistency. Do not thicken too much, as the macadamia nuts will swell overnight and the sambal will become too solid. While hot, pour the sambal into a sterile 250 ml screw-top jar and cover with 3 tablespoons of coconut oil. Close the lid tightly and store in the refrigerator. The sambal will keep unopened for about a month. Note: “Cintaku” translates as “my favorite,” and my friends and I use this sambal immensely. It’s our all-time favorite sambal, for marinating all types of seafood and as a sauce base.