Sambal Rebon: Dried Tiny-Shrimp Sambal

Sambal rebon is a sambal made of super tiny dried shrimp, or rebon, an ingredient that’s popular in Indonesia but little-known outside of it. Here, rebon is fried with shallots and chillies to give a crunchy, spicy condiment.
Ingredients
- 100 gr dried rebon
- 100 gr shallots, peeled, thinly sliced
- 50 gr bird’s eye chillies, thinly sliced
- Salt to taste (optional)
- Pinch of sugar
- Mushroom stock powder (optional)
- Cooking oil for deep frying
Instructions
- 1
Wash the rebon thoroughly by soaking the rebon in water, then draining at least twice. Then, squeeze out as much water as possible and pat dry.
- 2
Deep fry the rebon until golden (around 8 minutes) over medium heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning it, then set aside. Throw away the excess oil in the frying pan, and clean the pan.
- 3
Put enough oil in a frying pan, and fry the sliced shallots over medium heat until almost golden (around 7-8 minutes).
- 4
Add the sliced chillies, fry for another one minute, then add salt, sugar and mushroom stock powder. Fry for 1 minute.
- 5
Add the fried rebon, mix and and fry further for another 3 minutes.
- 6
Transfer the dish into a serving bowl and enjoy with plenty of steamed rice.
Cook it from the original
This recipe comes from cookmeindonesian.com. Their page has the author’s own photos, notes and tips — the best place to cook it from.
Open the recipe on cookmeindonesian.com