SPICY SAMBAL PECAL by Muspau

What is Sambal Pecal?

Sambal Pecal is basically a homemade spicy peanut-based salad dressing.  It’s as traditional as you can get. Usually eaten with fresh green vegetables, the dressing adds a burst of heat, crunch and flavour that will keep you salivating for more. It’s a great way to enjoy fresh vegetables, that’s for sure.  You could even have it with cooked rice on its own.

How to prepare: Either sprinkle it over vegetables for a crunchy meal OR mix with a little warm water to create a thick peanut-based paste that you can drizzle over salads.  Be a rebel and dip a green apple into some spiciness. It’s that simple to create a memorable Malaysian meal. You will keep wanting it over and over again. You could even use it as a sandwich dressing – how’s that for being exotic and Halal.

That’s not all, it is also a protein-packed with a burst of flavour, so it’s healthy to boot.

Click here to discover much more inspiring Malaysian food products.
To learn how to make sambal, click here.

Benefits of Eating Spicy Food

1.  Anti-Inflammatory

The active component of hot peppers, capsaicin, which gives peppers their characteristic heat, have anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce swelling in as effective a manner as ingesting an over-the-counter pill like ibuprofen or aspirin.

In a 2010 German study, joint pain decreased by nearly 50 per cent for people after three weeks of using 0.05 per cent capsaicin cream.

2. Weight Loss

Capsaicin promotes the stimulation of brown fat —aiding in metabolism — which is key to ramp up when attempting to shed unwanted pounds.

From a more humanistic, “want and desire,” point of view, the active compound has also proven to be a major waistline warrior against cravings. Researchers at Purdue University found that consuming red pepper can help manage appetite and burn more calories after a meal, especially for individuals who do not consume the spice regularly.

“This finding should be considered a piece of the puzzle because the idea that one small change will reverse the obesity epidemic is simply not true. However, if a number of small changes are added together, they may be meaningful in terms of weight management,” the researchers said. “Dietary changes that don’t require great effort to implement, like sprinkling red pepper on your meal, maybe sustainable and beneficial in the long run, especially when paired with exercise and healthy eating.”