Indonesian chili sauce, handmade and delicious: the spicy flavor of the Southern Taiwan Sisters' Association

"Chili season is in June, so we make all our chili sauce in the summer. Simmering over low heat takes 2 hours, so you have to pull up a chair and sit by the stove, stirring the whole time so the bottom of the pot doesn't burn." Mama Huifen, who comes from Indonesia, is the driving force behind the Indonesian chili sauce made by the Southern Taiwan Sisters' Association. Enduring the muggy heat and the pungent fumes, she makes the sauce entirely by hand, so that people in Taiwan can also share in the passionate flavors of Indonesia.

"Chili sauce sold in Taiwan is too salty, and it isn't spicy enough either. We're not used to eating it." At first it was because the chili sauce she had brought from Indonesia had run out, and her cousin working in Zhongli also wanted some, so she asked Mama Huifen to make a batch. Mama Huifen said that in order to make her own chili sauce, she made an overseas phone call to ask her father how to make it.

"My father learned from his cousin. She runs a roast meat shop in Jakarta and also sells chili sauce on the side. After my father learned how, he would also make small batches to sell to the neighbors, but after he passed away, the family stopped selling it." Mama Huifen said this chili sauce is the flavor she grew up eating, served with every meal. When she made chili sauce for the first time in Taiwan, Mama Huifen said she was truly moved. Although the flavor was still somewhat different from the chili sauce she ate in Indonesia, at least she had brought the taste of Indonesia to Taiwan.

 
Entirely handmade Indonesian chili sauce

At first, because production was small, they used small chilies they grew themselves. "These chilies came from seeds I brought from Indonesia, but later I learned that Taiwan has very spicy bird's eye chilies, so I switched to using bird's eye chilies." Mama Huifen said these bird's eye chilies were also bought from another sister who married into Taiwan.

The Indonesian chili sauce is made with chilies, soy sauce, sugar and garlic. First the chilies are crushed, then soy sauce and sugar are added, then garlic mashed in a blender is mixed in. After stirring thoroughly and waiting for the sugar to dissolve completely, it is put on the heat to simmer. "While it simmers you have to keep stirring so the bottom of the pot doesn't burn." During the 2-hour simmering process, Mama Huifen cannot leave the stove, and with the hot weather she can only bring over an electric fan. The pungent smell unique to chilies also left Mama Huifen in tears while handling the ingredients and washing the pots.

At first she only made some to sell to her cousin to share, but later in 2006 the Sisters' Association took on a case from the Council of Labor Affairs, and at that time they decided to make some chili sauce to sell, which would also help the Sisters' Association increase its income, and Indonesian chili sauce officially entered the stage of mass production. Mama Huifen said, "But when we first started selling it, many customers said it tasted too sweet and wasn't salty enough. Only after adjustments did it match Taiwanese people's tastes."

Above/ Mama Huifen (first from right) making Indonesian chili sauce with the sisters   Below/ The chili sauce uses small chilies they grew themselves

The next year the Council of Labor Affairs case ended, but Mama Huifen was still interested in continuing to make chili sauce, so the Sisters' Association began making and selling it on its own, and found a friend who does design to help make a cute label. "The little chili on the jar was drawn by that friend." At 180 yuan a jar and sales of 1500 jars a year, it is no small help to the Sisters' Association. Mama Huifen said the income from the chili sauce can almost cover a full-time staff member's salary for an entire year.

Speaking of Indonesian chili sauce, Mama Huifen said it can go with dry noodles, flat rice noodles, dumplings, fried rice and zongzi, and you can even add a little to instant noodles. Or it can be eaten with fruit. "In Indonesia, for example, we eat it with pineapple and peanuts. It's very fragrant and very spicy."

Mama Huifen said they sold 3 thousand jars the first year and 2 thousand jars the second year, and now average 1500 jars a year. "Because the Sisters' Association is very busy, no one has time to specifically promote it, otherwise we should be able to sell more." Also because of the lack of promotion, Indonesian chili sauce remains a dream product known to only a few. Mama Huifen said she hopes more people will be willing to buy it, which would not only support the Sisters' Association but also let people taste the wonderful flavors from Indonesia.

Southern Taiwan Sisters' Association Indonesian chili sauce website