Sambal Oelek !!!! I use it exclusively in sauces. Pepperfool.com gives a lot of hot sauce recipes...if you're interested in making your own. From Wikipedia... A sambal is a chili based sauce which is normally used as a condiment. Sambals are popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as in the Netherlands and in Suriname through Indonesian influence. It is typically made from a variety of peppers, although chili peppers are the most common. It is sometimes a substitute for fresh chilis. It can be extremely spicy for the uninitiated. Some ready-made sambals are available at exotic food markets or gourmet departments in supermarkets in many countries. Sambal is a Javanese loan-word (sambel) of Indonesian and Malaysian.[1] Sambal ulek (oelek) Chili (bright red, thin and sharp tasting). Some types of this variant call for the addition of salt or lime into the red mixture. Oelek is a Dutch spelling which in modern Indonesian spelling has become simply ulek; both have the same pronunciation. Ulek is Indonesian special stoneware derived from common village basalt stone kitchenware still ubiquitous in kitchens, particularly in Java. The Ulukan is a pestle shaped like a hybrid of a dinner and soup-plate with an old, cured bamboo root mortar (ulek-ulek) employed in an ulek manner: a crushing and twisting motion (like using a traditional screw-driver to install a wood screw) for crushing lime leaves, chilies, peppers, shallots, peanuts, and other kinds of ingredients.
I am SHOCKED to see this here. Our neighbor across the street from Taiwan years ago gave my wife a recipe for Ma Po Tofu (with ground pork) that uses this sauce. The only way we can identify it is the jar (duh!) and the picture of the lady. It has been difficult to find even out here for the last 3-4 years, especially the sauce with the peanuts (which is what this appears to be). We just discovered again at Ranch 99 (Asian supermarket) about 2 months ago. It is fabulous and the Ma Po Tofu is wonderful. Would be happy to post the recipe if anyone is interested.
I am also shocked to see that someone else recognizes this. It's called "Lao Gan Ma" in case you ever need to ask around for it and it is definitely a must have in any asian household. You can't find it at any walmart or anything, you have to go to an asian market to get it. There was a time where they had some issues with customs so they couldn't ship any over to the US. Those were some sad times indeed. Def worth trying if you haven't. You can find it at the Vinh Phat or Hong Kong Market in Baton Rouge.
