Bumbu dasar (Indonesian white, yellow and red spice bases)
Bumbu dasar are the ground spice bases of Indonesian cooking: a white paste of shallot, garlic and salt, with chile added for red and turmeric for yellow, cooked into dishes.
Manado raw chilli and tomato relish
Dabu-dabu · Dabu dabu · Sambal dabu-dabu
Dabu-dabu is a raw North Sulawesi relish of chopped chillies, shallot, scallion and tomato, dressed with salt and lime juice or coconut oil.
A relish that is chopped, not pounded
Dabu-dabu comes from Manado in North Sulawesi. It is a sambal in the broad Indonesian sense, a chilli-based condiment, but it is cut rather than ground: chillies, shallot, scallion and tomato are chopped and left in pieces. The tomato is the difference that stands out beside Bali's sambal matah. It adds juice and a soft, sour body that sliced shallot and lemongrass do not supply.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry's cookbook gives the dressing as salt with either lime juice or coconut oil. The two give different results. Lime juice makes a sharp, wet relish. Coconut oil coats the pieces and carries the aroma of the raw aromatics. The cookbook gives no quantities, so proportions are left to the cook, and none are invented here.
How it differs from sambal matah
The same cookbook treats Balinese sambal matah as a separate preparation. Matah uses thinly sliced shallot, garlic, red chilli, shrimp paste, salt, lemongrass, lime and coconut oil, with the oil heated and poured over the cut ingredients. Dabu-dabu has no lemongrass, shrimp paste or hot-oil step in the cookbook entry, and it includes tomato and scallion. Both are raw-cut sambals, which is why they are often named together, but they are two recipes with two regional labels and should not be read as variants of one formula.
Sources for this section
Keeping and limits of the evidence
No source used here gives a shelf life for freshly chopped dabu-dabu. Lime juice makes the relish tart, but sourness does not show that a raw vegetable mixture is safe to keep, so the sensible reading is to make it in small amounts and serve it fresh. The cookbook entry is a short list of ingredients, not a full recipe, and the page does not establish an earliest date, a seasonal pattern or a complete picture of how households in Manado prepare it.
Sources for this section
History
The cookbook documents dabu-dabu as a present-day Manado preparation. No source used here dates its origin.
Ingredients
Scaling: not applicable
Chillieschopped
Amount not stated
The source gives no quantity.Shallotchopped
Amount not stated
The source gives no quantity.Scallionchopped
Amount not stated
The source gives no quantity.Tomatochopped
Amount not stated
The source gives no quantity.Salt
to taste
Lime juice or coconut oil
Amount not stated
The source names either as the dressing and gives no quantity.Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Perishable raw relish
Chopped raw vegetables dressed with lime juice or oil have no validated shelf life in the sources.
Hazard sourceMake it fresh and in small amounts; the sources give no storage period, so none is claimed. Do not store it at room temperature for later use.
Control sourceNo validated storage period exists for the finished relish. Acidity from lime juice does not establish safety or shelf stability.
- Chop the chillies, shallot, scallion and tomato.
- Combine the chopped ingredients with salt.
- Dress with lime juice or with coconut oil, and serve as an accompaniment.
Places
Manado
Traditional use · Locality evidenceThe Indonesian Foreign Ministry cookbook labels dabu-dabu as a Manado preparation; this does not date it or exclude other places.
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Sources
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and Komunitas Pencinta Gastronomi Indonesia (IGC)Recipe · Geography
Handrawina Adiboga Nusantara pada Jamuan Makan Perwakilan Republik Indonesia di Luar NegeriLists dabu-dabu as a Manado/North Sulawesi preparation of chopped chillies, shallot, scallion and tomato with salt and lime juice or coconut oil (printed page 74).
Describes Balinese sambal matah as a separate preparation of sliced aromatics with hot coconut oil.
Cited in: A relish that is chopped, not pounded; How it differs from sambal matah; Keeping and limits of the evidence
Journal of Ethnic Foods / Springer NatureContext
Diversity of sambals, traditional Indonesian chili pastesPlaces sambal as a broad family of Indonesian chilli preparations, from raw chopped mixtures to pounded and cooked pastes.
Cited in: A relish that is chopped, not pounded