This can MAKE or BREAK your meal. It's up to you!

Started eating vegetarian for the love ...

I am not a man, absolutely not… but the fact that I have been eating vegetarian for many years has indeed come from a man. Yes, you read that right. I started eating vegetarian for love. And I will never forget it. The first date, I had invited him over for dinner and believe me, I had already planned an entire dinner. Not knowing that I had invited a vegetarian. One day before dinner I thought it might be useful to ask if there was anything else I had to take into account. Or maybe there were things he didn't like or an allergy or something. After all, you never know.

The answer I got was… “Oh no, I'm not difficult. I eat and like everything, except meat and fish ”. On the spot I got short of Spanish and asked again to be sure, "So you eat vegetarian?". The answer was a loud and clear “YES”. Well there went my dinner idea. And one night before that time I was googling like an idiot what I could cook anyway. Because at that time there were TOO MANY vegetables that I hardly or never ate myself. I always loved meat and fish and based my meals around that.

Well, long story short… I found a vegetarian dinner idea which also appealed to me and was also able to conjure it up very well on the table. Indeed, the man's love turns out to go through the stomach. But with my catch, things changed in my life besides a relationship. I started to eat vegetarian more and more often myself, and in just a month I had turned from a meat and fish eater to a vegetarian. And to this day I have never regretted or missed anything about it.

One of the things I got to know through this man I want to share with you today as a RECIPE FOR ONLY THE STRONG AND TOUGH (WO)MEN. And believe me, this is something you either LOVE or HATE … you have to be able to tolerate heat and then superlatively enjoy the sensation that you feel flowing through your body the moment you taste it.

But what am I talking about?

Yes, I am talking about self-made very hot peppersauce. We always call it SAMBAL!

^{(And now that I explained the word Sambal, I will call it Sambal through this blog, because I like that much much more) ...}

I learned the recipe from a man, and this one recipe has changed the experience of eating spaghetti forever.

Most people are familiar with Sambal Oelek, which you also get when you eat at a Chinese restaurant. Such a small container with red hot sauce that you get. This is usually Sambal Oelek, and if you like that, you should read on. If you find that too hot / spicy, then you may not even need to read on… The Sambal that I am going to describe below goes a bit further in terms of heat. BUT, besides being hot ... it really is also a taste sensation in itself!

What do you need for this Sambal?

HOT Peppers

Of course PEPPERS! Lots of hot peppers. And I don't mean the usual Chili Pepper, but we go for the Madame Jeanette or the Adjuma Pepper. There are more very hot peppers available such as the Bhut Jolokia, California Reaper, Habanero etc… But the Madame Jeanette and the Adjuma Pepper are 2 peppers that, besides being hot, also bring a very nice fresh citrus-like taste. And that is what makes this very hot Sambal so delicious. So remember very carefully, you can make a Sambal from all peppers. But the type of pepper you use also partly determines the taste of your sambal.

Onions, never forget the Onions

Another standard ingredient for the Sambal I made today is Onions. Since we only had 3 onions in the house, I couldn't even make as much Sambal as I would have liked. In any case, those three onions have now also been processed.

Make it better with Garlic

Then we move on to the next ingredient you REALLY need for this Sambal, and that is Garlic. Lots of garlic. Today I finely chopped 2 garlic bulbs to throw in the Sambal. Yes, that's very much garlic!

Olive oil and salt, both to preserve so that the Sambal has a longer shelf life.

Let's just prepare it!

If you have this, you can go either way. You can make a Sambal from all these ingredients raw together in the blender. Then you preferably throw in lemon juice, if you don't have that at home and still want to make Sambal, you can also do fine with Vinegar! Then it is a matter of cranking the blender and blending until you have a sauce. If you make this Sambal you can of course add things to your own insight and taste. I made a portion that included Olives and Capers. I often use Curry Massala to add extra flavor. Tomatoes are also great to use in this and give the Sambal a different taste. But what always remains with this variant is an EXTREME HEAT SENSATION.

But you can also make a fried Sambal. And that's what I did today. What I have used extra now is sweet and salty soy sauce and an ingredient that I don't normally use, but since I was in an experimental mood, I decided to throw Cumin seeds in the Sambal today for extra flavor.

How do you make the fried Sambal?

It starts with natural olive oil in the pan, the super finely chopped onions in the pan and you add the super finely chopped garlic. You now have the time to finely chop the peppers. Because you fry the onions and garlic on a very low heat in a generous amount of oil. I do not have measured quantities for this recipe because I make it by feeling and don't weigh or count down anything… but because it is SAMBAL, you should taste the heat of the peppers. So don't be too careful with the peppers you throw in.

When the onions and garlic are nice and light brown, add the finely chopped peppers and fry them until they are light brown. Now it is time to add a little sugar if necessary so that it can caramelize. As soon as you see that the sugar is starting to brown, and thus caramelize, add the soy sauce to taste. I don't like very sweet sambal so I only used a little bit of sweet soy sauce and a lot more of the salty soy sauce. This makes the Sambal very dark in color and that is what you want with a fried Sambal. After all this has been heated, it is time to add the rest of the seasonings. So in my case yesterday only the Cumin seed. But you can use any herb that you want for this. After you have thoroughly stirred all this together, it is time for a little bit of salt for preservation. Then the fire goes off and you let it cool before putting it in a container.

You now have your own fried sambal to enjoy. I think it is really a must to have at home to throw a small teaspoon of sambal on my spaghetti. A small teaspoon is enough to flavor your entire meal ... and to boost your circulation.

Why should you make Sambal?

Well, except that it gives you a wonderful taste and heat sensation while eating. Is it also healthy! Very healthy. There are many benefits to eating sambal.

The ingredients you use to make it, and I'm talking about the standard ingredients for the sambal:

Onions
Garlic
Peppers

All of these ingredients have proven health benefits.

For example, the 8 main health benefits of Onions are

Packed with nutrients
Good for the heart
Packed with antioxidants
Contain anti-cancer substances
Contribute to blood sugar regulation
Can promote bone density
Anti-bacterial properties
May promote digestive health

And in addition to all these health benefits, onions are considered a staple food all over the world and are easy to incorporate into virtually any savory dish.

The proven health benefits of Garlic at a glance.

Garlic contains allicin. And this substance has powerful medicinal properties
It is very nutritious, but contains very few calories
Garlic can fight ailments, including the well-known nasty cold
The active ingredients in garlic can lower blood pressure
Garlic improves cholesterol levels, reducing the risk of heart disease
Garlic contains antioxidants that lower the risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia
It can extend your life
You can improve your sports performance by adding garlic
Garlic can help detoxify heavy metals in your body
Garlic increases estrogen and could therefore help prevent bone loss

And besides these benefits, the same applies to the garlic as to the onions. It is available all over the world as a staple food. And the taste is delicious when you use it in dishes.

And now to the most important ingredient in Sambal… The Peppers.

And here too, a number of important health benefits can certainly be attributed. Peppers are available in many different types. And apart from the fact that all these strains have different tastes, and they all differ in how hot they are, they have one thing in common. All peppers contain ONE same active substance. And that is the substance Capsaicin, and it is precisely this substance that makes a pepper hot. The amount of active Capasaicin in the peppers determines how hot a pepper is. But besides that substance, a pepper has even more to offer.

Here the health benefits of Peppers at a glance!

The capsaicin in the pepper has an analgesic effect
It works for a good resistance because Peppers are real vitamin C bombs
Capsaicin has an antibacterial effect that makes you less susceptible to infections
Eating Peppers has a beneficial effect on the heart and blood vessels
Peppers protect against stomach ulcers due to the capsaicin in the peppers by helping to produce protective digestive juices in the stomach
Peppers contribute to the regulation of blood sugar
Peppers have a positive effect on mental health because the capsaicin in the pepper activates your natural neurotransmitter endorphins
The capsaicin in peppers promotes weight loss. This is stimulated in 2 ways ... by eating hot spicy dishes you are satiated faster, and therefore you eat less. But the capsaicin also gives your combustion system a boost so that you burn calories faster

And finally… a benefit of capsaicin which I found remarkable to discover. In 2012, a scientific study was done at Nottingham University, and it showed that capsaicin destroys cancer cells!

All these ingredients combined in a highly concentrated sauce like Sambal… makes this a tasty plant-based sensational booster for any meal.

Enjoy it, but be careful it's hot!

Wow what a great entry, so much wonderful info on here and wonderfully presented as well. I can handle a little heat, don't know if I could handle this though. I usually add chilli's to chutneys and the like, but I am ever so curious about what this tastes like. It sure looks good xxxxx

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Only for the real TOUGH (wo)men ...