Cobek

A stone mortar and a pestle: sambal that is bruised, not pureed.

Also called cobek and ulekan · From Indonesia

A stone cobek with an ulekan pestle, red sambal, and whole chiles on the rim.

The journey

Indonesian sambal starts in a cobek — a wide, shallow stone — with an ulekan pestle. Chiles, shrimp paste, and tomato are crushed until they become a relish that still shows what it was. A blender makes a different food.

A Thai mortar is taller. The cobek is a plate with a memory.

A botanical plate of rice — the Indonesian table whose sambal still starts in a cobek. — Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Toast the shrimp paste first. Add chile and salt. Work to a coarse paste. Taste for heat before you add more.

The Indonesian volume's sambals assume this stone. Serve the sambal in the cobek if the table is small.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

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