One of the easiest spicy Indonesian sambal you will ever prepare. You only need 3 ingredients, no cooking required and yet it is delish and potently SPICY!
Even our kids know that we can’t eat without some sort of chili. We call chili “hiam cio” in Hokkien dialect. My 4-year old will ask “Is there any hiam cio in here mama?” because most of the food I cook is spicy or serve with chili on the side. They don’t really eat super spicy, but they can’t tolerate some mild spiciness.
I can’t really remember how I started eating spicy food when I was a kid. My dad couldn’t eat spicy food and my brother can’t eat very spicy food either. My mom is the chili queen in the house. All the women in our family can eat extremely spicy food. Warranted, there’s always some chili in the house. This sambal kecap pedas is one of my most favorites. It’s SUPER easy to make with only 3 ingredients and no cooking is required.
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ANY SPECIAL INGREDIENT?
You DO need one special ingredient though, Indonesian kecap manis and yes, it has to be Indonesian kecap manis, not the other kind. My favorite brand of kecap manis (and many Indonesians will probably tell you the same) is Kecap manis cap Bango. If you can’t get a hold of the Bango brand, you can use kecap manis ABC too. Stick to using either these two though if you can 😉
CAN I USE RED ONIONS INSTEAD OF SHALLOTS IN THIS RECIPE?
Shallots are very commonly used in Indonesian cooking. Since the shallots will be eaten raw in this recipe, I strongly suggest that you stick to shallots instead of onion. Why? It’s less “bitey” compare to onions. Onion, when eaten raw, can be pretty overwhelming to most people, but shallots are much milder and nicer when you eat them raw.
WHAT CAN I USE THIS SAMBAL KECAP PEDAS FOR?
You can use it with pretty much for any rice dishes if you ask me. To give you few examples:
Fried rice such as: Indonesian Nasi goreng, Nasi goreng petai, Roasted chickpeas fried rice, Fried Rice with Shallots
Martabak Mesir
Tahu Tempe Bacem
Sate Ayam Kecap
Tahu Isi Sayur
Sambal Kecap Pedas (Sweet Spicy Shallots Chili Sauce)
Ingredients
- 5 shallots peeled and thinly sliced
- 8 Thai red chili (cabe rawit) stemmed and cut into small pieces
- Indonesian kecap manis
Instructions
- Place the shallots and chili in a bowl and doused with about 4-5 Tbsp of kecap manis
9 comments
Your recipe is a good basic one. As a dipping sauce I think you don’t want a lot of large pieces so instead of using cabe rawit, I used a spoonful of sambal oelek and I minced the shallot very fine. This makes for a smoother dipping sauce.
Thanks for the feedback. In Indonesia, it’s not unusual that this type of sambal kecap is served the “rustic” way, but yes, you can definitely make it smoother if you prefer.
I love this recipe!! I’ve made this so many times, and it made me love kecap manis more and more. Sweet and a little salty, with some distinct taste that is original to kecap manis.
Though I must say, for the sambal, adding a little more sugar and white pepper can make it even tastier later, if you make a lot of it for the whole day, as the kecap manis will suck the moisture out of the shallots and make the whole thing a little watery and not as thick. Or even add a little salt and lime juice for a perfect sweet and spicy grilling sauce. Yum!
I agree with the addition of a little lime juice to add a little acid and brightness to the sauce.
Hi Marvelina,
I typed wrongly, it’s medan lontong that’s being sold in Jalan biruang market?
Love you
Ing
Hi Ing,
I do have this https://whattocooktoday.com/rice-cooker-instant-pot-ketupat-lontong.html and https://whattocooktoday.com/lontong-sayur.html Not sure if this is what you are looking for ?
Love your Medan recipes. Fulfill my cravings for my childhood food. Thank you so much!!! I am so grateful that I can cook myself each time I missed Medan!
Do you know how to make the Medan Chee Cheong fun that is from Jalan biruang pasar? Oh I love that one too!
Hello Marvelina! You’ve been missed in IG. Anyway thanks for this lovely & essential recipe. I’ll make this once I get all the ingredients
Hi Evelyn,
omg!! Thank you so much for visiting. I miss IG too and so glad that you hop by to say hello. I hope you like this sambal kecap pedas