There are so many different kinds of sambal here in Indonesia that as a foreigner, we might have to find it difficult to identify all of them. Or even taste all of them. It is the same when I was living in Korea where there are so many kinds of kimchi. I haven’t tasted all of them and only made one kind of kimchi back when I was living there.
Now that I am living here in Jakarta, I am more inclined to taste more and discover its food culture. Indonesian food is quite popular, especially among world travelers and food enthusiasts. It is very rich and diverse. Its regional cuisines vary in taste and character. What unites them is their sambal. And there are many kinds of these sambals which I am going to try to introduce in this article. Either I am just buying them or making them at home, here’s the list (and I am going to continuously update this post as I go discovering and tasting these sambals).
I first discovered there are many kinds of sambal here in Indonesia when I was asked by I-Juander TV to go search for these here in Jakarta. I got to know there is a restaurant here called SS Wareong that serves thirty-two kinds of sambals. So, I brought home some and tried to taste all of them.
Different Kinds of Sambal
Mangga Sambal
Among all the sambals I tasted from SS Waroeng, I liked the mangga sambal the most. So, this is the first sambal we ever made at home. You can check out the recipe and how we made it in this video:
You can choose to make the mango smaller than how we did it. Ours was just bigger because, well, I like green mangoes a lot!
Sambal Padang Cabe Hijau
There are actually different names for this so I am not sure how is this exactly called. My pembantu (helper) calls this Sambal Cabe Hijau Padang. I found on the internet this is called Sambal Padang Cabe Hijau. It is also called Sambal Ijo Padang. But, I guess they all refer to the same green chili and green tomatoes. You can check how we made it in this video:
Sambal Setan
This is easy to translate. Satan’s sambal. Just the name itself will give you an idea of how spicy this could be. I got to taste this in a restaurant called Sambel Setan Bu Mut. The restaurant only makes this kind. I learned that the restaurant consumes twenty kilos of cabe (chili) every day. But this isn’t very surprising for Indonesians. They consume a lot of chili on a daily basis. When I first tasted this, I thought it wasn’t too spicy. But it is as deceptive as its name. The spiciness gradually made itself felt in my tongue and before I knew it, my tongue was burning! You can see how I handled it in this video shown on I-Juander TV.
It is my goal to make this homemade specialty as I continue living here in Jakarta and I will share this here as I go along discovering how to make each of them.
So, stay tuned!
Yay ito pala ung kind ng sambal . Excited na po ako mgawa nyu nman po ung sambal setan 💞🥰
Thank you for sharing Ms.wendy ♥️
Interesting to know more about this
We pinoy are open to new adventures in terms of food around the world! I am personally wanting to try it too
Thanks for sharing this! Ang daming kinds po pala Ng sambal and sure na masasarap Ang mga ito 🥰👍
Sambal is a chili sauce pala and that’s amazing they have different kinds of it. I wanna try them too!
i actually googled what a sambal is! im not really sure if i understood it well. mukang id love the same as yours the manggo one! ayoko ng super spicy! 😀 but id definitely love to try them someday!
Gusto ko itry yung other types ng sambal! Ang na-try ko palang yung Mangga Sambal nila. May restau. ba here in PH na nag offer ng iba pa pang klase ng sambal?