Indonesian · sauce/condiment

Sambal Roa (Manado Smoked Garfish Sambal)

Sambal Roa (Manado Smoked Garfish Sambal) reads sourness 5.6, citrus 5.5 and richness 4.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Indonesian sauce/condiment, about 1 hr 26 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 4.7 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 4.6 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 7.3 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 3.4 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 5.5 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.9 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sourness 5.6 · Citrus 5.5 · Richness 4.8 · Allium 4.4 · Sweetness 4.1 · Salinity 4.0 · Umami 4.0 · Heat 3.3 · Smoke 3.2 · Nutty 2.5 · Marine & Briny 2.1 · Fruity 1.9 · Warm Spice 1.4 · Herbaceous 1.1 · Bitterness 0.9 · Earthy 0.8 · Funk & Ferment 0.5

What's in it (10)

• ikan roa — 200 g
• long red chili peppers — 250 g
• red bird's eye chillies — 35 g
• shallots — 160 g
• garlic — 20 g
• tomatoes — 200 g
• coconut oil — 110 g
• lime juice — 30 g
• brown sugar — 13 g
• salt — 5 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 26 min (56 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 129.8 kcal, 1.2 g protein, 11 g fat, 7.3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (6 steps)

1. Toast the smoked garfish in a dry pan over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes a side until it is brittle and smells strongly of woodsmoke. Cool, then pull it apart and grind it in a mortar or processor to a coarse, fluffy floss. Go through it with your fingers and pick out every bone you find; garfish have a lot of fine ones. Ikan roa is a specific smoked halfbeak from North Sulawesi, sold vacuum-packed at Indonesian grocers, and no other smoked fish gives quite the same dry, sooty intensity.
2. Coarsely blend or pound the large chillies, bird's eye chillies, shallots and garlic. Leave visible flecks; sambal roa is not a purée.
3. Heat the coconut oil in a wok over medium heat and fry the chilli paste for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until the raw green smell is gone, the colour has deepened to brick and the oil sits clear and red at the edges.
4. Add the tomato and cook 8 minutes more, mashing it down, until it has collapsed and the mixture has tightened again.
5. Stir in the fish floss, palm sugar and salt and fry 8 to 10 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly so the fish does not catch. It will drink up the oil and then release it again, and the sambal will go from wet to dense and almost dry.
6. Off the heat, stir in the lime juice. Taste: smoke first, then heat, then a small sweet-sour finish. Cool completely and store in a jar under a film of oil in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Manadonese cooks eat it with rice, with fried bananas, and on plain porridge for breakfast.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Cajun Blackened Salmon with Remoulade — Cajun/Creole · Cajun
• Solomon Gundy — Jamaican
• Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup — Tex-Mex
• Seafood Boil — Cajun/Creole
• Frango a Zambeziana — Mozambican

Keep reading: what sourness, citrus, richness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.