Colo-Colo Sambal Recipe

I’ve gone deep in the rabbit hole of local cuisine, taking classes in Peranakan and Malay cuisine and visiting Tekka Centre Wet Market for the ingredients that are not found in most places. It’s been quite the ride, and I’ve added some cooking techniques and recipes to my repertoire. 

Sambal plays an everyday role in local cuisine, adding umami and zippiness to the dishes. It’s typically grounded in a mortar and pestle and usually made in batches, given how involved the process is. Though not always. We’ve found a few quick recipes that’s just a few quick chops of chilli away. 

When we were in Bintan at this year, one of the condiments along the resort’s buffet line was colo-colo sambal, and I was hooked from the get-go. It was viscous, with an almost molasses-like sweetness from kecap manis, and had a spicy kick from the chopped chilis and shallots. It was meant to be paired with roast meats, but I found myself drizzling it over almost everything. It was especially good with sunny-side ups!

When I returned home, my online searches for colo-colo sambal recipes turned up empty (there’s a condiment from the region of Ambon also called colo-colo, but contained no kecap manis), but I finally found what I wanted at this website. It’s written in Bahasa Indonesia, but ChatGPT got me over the language barrier, and here we are. 

(As an aside, how is AI’s translation prowress not talked about more?! Their translated texts read much more organically than Google Translate despite its late entry, and this competency is just a side-note to its full suite of capabilities.)

Kecap manis is soy sauce that’s cooked with palm sugar to blend the savouriness of dark soy sauce with some sweetness. It isn’t a familiar ingredient to me (nothing new around these parts), but Reddit pointed me in the right direction on which brands of kecap manis to get. Luckily, this is one ingredient that’s readily available even in supermarkets.

Colo-Colo Sambal Recipe
Translated and adapted from this recipe
Serve with grilled fish and vegetables, or with roast meats

Ingredients

- 3 red chillies, roughly sliced 

- 6 shallots, roughly chopped

- 4 tbsp kecap manis

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter (optional) 

- 1 tbsp lime juice (optional)

Steps

1. Combine chillies, shallot and kecap manis. Taste, and add a little oil (to deepen flavours and thicken up the texture) or lime juice (to balance the spiciness) as needed. 

Bonus! Chinese Chilli-Garlic Condiment Recipe

This is another quick recipe, this time from my wife’s side of the family. It’s a lively combination of garlic and chilli, and best accompanied with steamed fish or chicken. 

Ingredients 

1 Birds Eye chili, chopped 

2 cloves of garlic, minced 

2 tbsp light soy sauce 

1/2 tsp sesame oil 

Pinch of sugar (optional)

Steps

1. Combine chilli, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil. Add a pinch of sugar if needed to balance excess spiciness.