Balado (food) facts for kids
Udang balado prawns in spicy balado sauce
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| Alternative names | Sambal goreng, sambal lado |
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| Course | Main course |
| Place of origin | Indonesia |
| Region or state | West Sumatra |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Egg, chicken, meat, or seafood in hot and spicy spice mixture with a large amount of red chili pepper |
Balado is a super tasty and spicy sauce from West Sumatra, Indonesia. It's a special kind of bumbu, which means a mix of spices. This amazing sauce is very popular in Indonesia and has even spread to Malaysia.
To make balado, cooks stir-fry ground red chili peppers with other yummy spices. These spices include garlic, shallots, tomatoes, and kaffir lime leaves. They cook it all in coconut or palm oil.
Balado is a lot like sambal, another popular chili paste. But there's a cool difference! Sambal is usually a dipping sauce you add to your food. Balado, however, is cooked right into the dish. It mixes with the main ingredients like fried prawns, fish, chicken, or eggs. This makes the whole dish spicy and flavorful!
Sometimes, people use the words balado and sambal goreng (which means "fried sambal") to mean the same thing. But balado usually refers to the cooking style from the Minang people in West Sumatra. Sambal goreng is a more general term for fried chili dishes across Indonesia.
What is Balado?
The word balado comes from the Minang dialect. It literally means "with chili" or "in chili." This is because lado means "chili pepper" in their language. When you see a dish name with "balado" after it, it means that dish is made with this spicy sauce.
Types of Balado Dishes
Many different foods can be made with balado sauce. Here are some popular examples:
- Ayam balado: This is chicken cooked with balado sauce.
- Bada balado: This dish uses anchovies, which are small fish.
- Baluik balado: This is eel cooked in the spicy balado sauce.
- Cumi balado: This dish features squid.
- Dendeng balado: This is thinly sliced, dry-fried beef mixed with balado.
- Kantang balado: This is a delicious potato dish.
- Talua balado: This means eggs cooked with balado.
- Taruang balado: This dish uses eggplant.
- Teri Kacang Balado: This is a mix of peanuts and anchovies with balado.
- Tuna balado: This uses tuna fish.
- Udang balado: This is a popular dish with prawns or shrimp.
- Sambalado: This is a pre-cooked balado sauce. People make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge to use later for cooking.
Balado in Pop Culture
Balado is so popular that it even inspired a song! A famous Indonesian singer named Ayu Tingting sang a popular dangdut song called "Sambalado." It's all about this hot and spicy sauce!
Gallery
- Balado variants
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Bada (anchovy) balado
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Baluik (eel) balado
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Dendeng (dried beef) balado
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Talua (egg) balado
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Taruang (eggplant) balado
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Udang (prawn) balado
