Meanwhile, grind Guinea pepper pods in a mortar and pestle; remove grains and discard any pods.
But after he got married, his mother-in-law kept feeding him spicy dishes, and his state of mind shifted: "I said to my wife, 'Why haven't we made any spicy food at home yet?''Because you don't like any spicy food!'"
He grew to love it so much that he helped organize a local chile festival starting in 2010, which today features 156 different sambal, some of them semi-mythical, like one from Bali's Payangan district made with grilled eel bones.I searched for it but never found it.. "That kind of sambal is not in the market," Djelantik said."It's only in the family.".
In Ubud, Bali, I found a shop called Hot Mama Sambal that sold sauces from all over the country, including a West Javanese one with tiny anchovies.In the rugged but placid mountains near the northeastern tip of Sulawesi, I tasted a sambal cakalang of chiles, shallots, garlic, tomatoes, and smoked skipjack tuna, all deep-fried together, ground, and then refried to absorb the oil.
It was so full of flavor—heat, sweetness, meaty depth—that I would've been happy just to eat it on plain rice (with krupuk, of course)..
In North Sumatra, I sampled a sambal that upended everything I thought I'd learned.In a food processor, pulse the cranberries and sugar until finely chopped.
Transfer half of the cranberries to a bowl.Add the lemon zest and juice to the processor; pulse to combine.
Slowly drizzle in the oil.Add the vinaigrette to the bowl; season with salt and pepper.. Make the salad.