Hot in the kitchen....

firstly Happy New Year, hope everyone had a great celebration, myself I made it till 8.45pm before heading to bed for the night.

2014 is going to be a very busy year, lots going on with VEPA on the conservation front and hopefully reaching some of the targets we have worked on and supported since before VEPA was started. More to come on that later......

Photography wise, 2013 was not my year for photography, shutting down the business and the stress of the previous couple of years, changed how I saw photography, it got to a stage where the photos I did take were snapshots and not to the full potential of neither myself nor the wonderful camera gear I own. 2014, I vow and have already started to rekindle my love of photography and can not wait to share my adventures and pictures through the year.

So, back to the heat in the kitchen...........

I am making more sambal olek, having lived in Indonesia and many other countries that are home to wonderful spicy foods, I have never been able to replicate my favourite, a google search brings up thousands of different recipes and methods to make sambal.

Local bullet chili on the left and bonnet on the right. © Karen Stone

Oooh these are the heat! Use sparingly....

This is the recipe I closely followed because of the fact that I have tried to make sambal before and the recipes I followed all say to boil the chilis, which to me looses a lot of the taste and flavour. I also prefer it being slightly oil based instead of vinegar, to me the oil is smoother tasting. 

Salted and sweating for 2 hours!

I also added garlic and reduced the sugar amount, as we are not sweet chili likers!

The finished product ready to eat!

This is a spicy one!


Always remember when making your own hot sauces, either wear gloves or don't touch your eyes or other sensitive areas for a while!