Sambal Goreng Boontjes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wok or wide saute pan
• •Medium saucepan for blanching
• •Sharp knife and cutting board
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Blanch the beans

   Bring a pan of salted water to a brisk boil. Add the trimmed green beans and cook for 3 minutes, just until their colour deepens and they begin to bend. Drain and rinse briefly under cold water. You are not finishing them here; you are setting their colour and giving the final braise less work to do.

2. 2

   Fry the sambal

   Heat the oil in a wok or wide saute pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, chopped chillies, sambal oelek, and trassi if using. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the shallots soften, the raw garlic smell disappears, and the oil takes on a red-orange sheen. Sambal goreng means fried sambal; this is the step that gives the dish its backbone.

   If you use trassi, let it fry properly. It smells fierce at first, for obvious reasons, but in the oil it turns from fishy to deep and savoury.
3. 3

   Build the sauce

   Add the galangal, lemongrass, and daun salam if using. Stir in the crumbled santen and hot water until the coconut cream melts into a smooth sauce. Add the ketjap manis, tamarind or lime juice, sugar, and salt, then let the sauce simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until it thickens slightly and looks glossy.

4. 4

   Braise the beans

   Add the blanched beans and turn them through the sauce until every piece is coated. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beans are tender but still have bite and the sauce clings instead of pooling. If the pan dries too quickly, add a splash of water. If the sauce is loose, cook a minute longer.

   The beans should bend under the spoon without collapsing. Grey, tired beans tell you the pan was left to gossip too long.
5. 5

   Finish the bowl

   Lift out the galangal, lemongrass, and daun salam. Taste for salt, sweetness, sourness, and heat; the dish should be rounded by coconut but still awake from the sambal. Scatter with fried shallots and thin red chilli rings if using. Serve with plain rice, or as one bowl among many on a rijsttafel.

Chef Tips

• •Green beans are best in the Dutch summer, roughly July through September. In winter, a good frozen fine bean is often more honest than a leathery fresh one flown in with no memory of a garden.
• •Santen gives a richer, cleaner sauce than thin coconut milk because it is concentrated coconut cream. If you only have coconut milk, use 200ml and skip the hot water, then simmer a few minutes longer.
• •Ketjap manis is sweet soy sauce, thick and dark, not Japanese soy sauce. If you must improvise, use 2 teaspoons soy sauce with 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar, but buy the real bottle when you next pass a toko.
• •For a vegetarian version, leave out the trassi and add an extra teaspoon of ketjap manis plus a small pinch more salt. Accommodation is the tradition; the table should still have a place for you.

Advance Preparation

• •The beans can be trimmed and blanched up to 1 day ahead; chill them covered, then finish them in the sauce just before serving.
• •The sambal base can be fried 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Rewarm it gently, then add the santen, water, and beans.
• •Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated, though the beans soften. Reheat gently in a pan with a splash of water.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 180g)