(photo by wm. christman)
My love affair with spicy food started late in life. In the early 1980's, I remember reading about Hunan-style food and was truly scared by the prospect that eating such food would make me sweat more than a good aikido workout.
But when faced with an invitation to Henry's Hunan Restaurant in San Francisco (back in 1986) from two baseball bleacher-bum friends, who I happened to love hanging out with, I accepted. But I had steeled myself against the prospect of never being able to eat again. Happily, my fear was dead wrong - I loved every single lip-burning minute of it. In fact, I went back to that same restaurant three days later for more.
I only write this to set the stage for the little bottle of Sambal Oelek that is a constant resident on my kitchen counter.
Of all the hot sauces, pastes, and dried peppers of all colors and heat levels in my kitchen, Sambal Oelek is probably my favorite because it has tang and heat and texture that combine the best of a sauce, paste and pepper. (There are many kinds of sambal, from Belacan to Taliwang, but Sambal Oelek is my favorite.)
Sambal Oelek's bright red colour is stunningly beautiful. The yellowish-white red chili seeds and bright red pulp nestled among the field of bright red is like the red and contrasting colored filigree of a traditional Chinese wedding dress, it and conveys the same elegance and power.
counter companion (photo by wm. christman)
The wallop of the sambal's vinegar-scented red chili when opening the bottle is my wake-up call. You cannot completely avoid it nor do you want to. It smells like tending chili pepper plants on a hot summer day, with the sun directly overhead. The thick smell of the peppers, especially the red and orange hot ones on your hands, the sweat running down your face, the dust that you're kicking up - it's earthy, organic, lusty.
You can mix, stir, dollop it into many dishes. You can use the thinnest part of the sambal, put a little spoonful into a small strainer and catch the vinegar component, to add a little dynamic to grilled vegetables or pizzas. Or stir up the "chunky" parts, after straining it, to add a tangy, red pepper burn to sauces for pasta, sauteed fish, or grilled meat. Or just use it as is with some soy sauce as a dip for cold noodles. The extra bonus for me is that it needs no refrigeration so it cannot get "lost" in the far reaches of the third shelf behind the miso in the fridge.
Why wax poetic about Sambal Oelek? It is just one of those ingredients that I look forward to using in new and interesting ways because the tastes it can bring out are constantly surprising. For me, that what cooking is all about.
