But what if baking a from-scratch cake could be almost as simple as eating it?

He grew to love it so much that he helped organize a local chile festival starting in 2010, which today features 156 different sambal, some of them semi-mythical, like one from Bali's Payangan district made with grilled eel bones.I searched for it but never found it.. "That kind of sambal is not in the market," Djelantik said.

"It's only in the family.".In Ubud, Bali, I found a shop called Hot Mama Sambal that sold sauces from all over the country, including a West Javanese one with tiny anchovies.In the rugged but placid mountains near the northeastern tip of Sulawesi, I tasted a sambal cakalang of chiles, shallots, garlic, tomatoes, and smoked skipjack tuna, all deep-fried together, ground, and then refried to absorb the oil.

It was so full of flavor—heat, sweetness, meaty depth—that I would've been happy just to eat it on plain rice (with krupuk, of course)..In North Sumatra, I sampled a sambal that upended everything I thought I'd learned.

It was just green chiles, salt, and andaliman, the juicy green local relative of numbing Szechuan peppercorns, pounded together.

This sambal was powerful and almost overwhelmingly refreshing—an ideal complement to a fatty marinated pork dish beloved by North Sumatra's Batak tribes.In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil.

Add the veal and cook over moderately high heat until browned all over, about 12 minutes.Transfer the veal to a plate.. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of oil to the casserole.

Stir in the onion, garlic, coriander and fennel and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.Add the wine and boil until reduced to 1/3 cup, 5 minutes.