Simple meals are often a good option on busy days at home. This is usually the case after returning from a trip or on weekends, when you’d rather spend your time relaxing than cooking. As a result, you end up preparing simple meals that can derail your diet.
One simple dish you can’t miss at home is this one, known as “Asam kareng.” Literally meaning “sour sambal with sunti and dried anchovies,” this sambal is quite popular and can be considered a specialty of the region where I live. This dish combines anchovies with simple seasonings: onions, sunti acid, and chili peppers. These three ingredients transform the crispy-fried anchovies into something truly delicious.
It may not look fancy, but trust me—it tastes absolutely delicious, especially when enjoyed in the morning or afternoon—it’s incredibly tasty. The blend of spices makes this dish truly delicious. Plus, it’s easy to make and keeps well for a day or two because the sambal is dry. Curious about the steps? Check out the recipe below.
Ingredients
1 large shallot
8 bird’s eye chilies
3 devil’s tongue chilies
¼ teaspoon of salt
5 asam sunti
Preparation Instructions
Rinse the dried anchovies thoroughly—I use small ones—then fry them in hot oil until golden brown.
Next, manually grind the chilies with salt—just grind them coarsely; they don’t need to be completely smooth. Then add the chopped shallot and grind again.
Add the asam sunti and grind again. Here, I prefer a slightly coarse texture, but you can grind it finer if you prefer.
Next, add the anchovies—which have been cooled beforehand so they’re crispy—and immediately coarsely pound them into the spice mixture. Adjust the flavor; if you want more umami, feel free to add mushroom broth.
Result and Serving Suggestions
This dish is usually served with warm white rice and is typically enjoyed when there are no other meals available at home. Usually, this dish is my husband’s and my dinner when other fast-food options aren’t available—I immediately turn to sunti-style sour dried anchovies.
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This dish is indeed prepared with raw spices, but trust me, it tastes amazing. The savory, spicy, and sour flavors are truly delicious, enhanced by the authentic taste of the anchovies, which makes it even more delightful.
Well, for those of you who are curious about this anchovy vinegar, you should make it with fermented belimbing wuluh, just like in the photo of my ingredients, so that it tastes even better and has an extraordinary flavor.
About The Author
Welcome to this blog, I have a real name "Nurul", who comes from Indonesia. I have several hobbies, reading, writing, gardening, I also love food and cooking, even art related. And the most interesting one is spending the whole day traveling. From those hobbies, I will some inspiring content for all of you, I hope you like my blog, please and reblog this post if you like it!.
