Sambal Peupeuh, Women, and Post-Natal Sundanese Traditions

Kutub,id – Sambal (a kind of Indonesian traditional chili sauce) is not identical to chili. There is a kind of Sambal without any chili at all, and it is called Sambal peupeuh. In Lebak Banten Districts, sambal peupeuh become a mandatory dish for postnatal woman. 

Sambal Peupeuh is believed to help recover them. Banten’s society believed that as a result of giving birth, the nerves broke and body function weakened. 

Giving birth is warlike, it is the matter of dead and alive. In order to give life to a new being, a mother’s life was not saved. Because in Banten, the maternal mortality rate due to childbirth is pathetic. 

Peupeuh itself means mashed. It is named after the way it made, being mashed using lulumpang and halu, a kind of Indonesian traditional mortar made from wood instead of stone. . 

Sambel peupeuh has must been made by wood mortar, because using stone one will broke the texture of the condiments. In a village, there’s a house that stores halu and tutu, an ancestral heritage. The women bequeathed knowledge. 

Banten is a province with a majority of Sundanese people. It is well known that Sundanese people are used to eating fresh vegetables. Lalapan can come from beubetian (spices in the form of tubers).

Beubeutian spices such as galangal, ginger, kencur, temulawak, turmeric and others. Or spices in the form of leaves. Sundanese people know a lot of leaves that can be eaten as lalapan.

For example, papaya leaves, cassava leaves, young cashew leaves, fireweed leaves (kenikir), Jaat (winged bean), yardlong bean leaves, sweet potato leaves and many more.

There are jokes, for example, “Kula mah dibere sangu putih geh, terrace leumpang ka kebon geus bisa dahar (Just give me rice, and I could use anything in the forest as the dish).”

This joke illustrates that the Sundanese have a high level of knowledge about what can be eaten in the garden or forest.

Even though they don’t use chili, sambal peupeuh still tastes spicy. The spicy taste obtained from ginger. Peupeuh sauce raw materials consist of ginger, turmeric, aromatic ginger, Kunci, forest eggplant, shrimp paste, salt and sugar.

Do not use food seasonings such as vetcin, masako or royko. Sambel peupeuh is the ancestral sauce. The ancestors did not need modern seasonings to produce delicious dishes.

Delicious dishes are obtained from the sophistication of blending natural ingredients. Blending ability based on strong knowledge of spices. Knowledge of blending ginger, turmeric, aromatic ginger, Kunci, forest eggplant, shrimp paste into dishes that are worth eating is a high level of knowledge.

If you do not have knowledge of the taste of each ingredient, then the food may not be worth eating. Sambal can be bitter and/or peunghar (stinging). Sambel puepeuh, created and cared for by women.

For example, the forest eggplant, a yellow eggplant that grows in forest, is inedible if eaten raw. You can be drunk by consuming it if it was eaten like the ordinary eggplant, eaten as fresh vegetable or lalapan. It can only be consumed by blending it into Sambal Peupeuh. 

How noble the women’s knowledge of the types of plants. Know when you can eat it when you can’t. Because forest eggplant is generally not available in the market, if you want to get it then you have to go to leweung (forest). Forest eggplant is getting rare, because the forest is not preserved. 

To make sambal peupeuh, generally done in groups, rarely make it individually. Each woman will determine the dose and taste. Sambal peupeuh consists of ingredients that require sharpness of measuring.

If it is a wrong measurement, it is harmful to the taste, it can be unpleasant to eat. Everyone usually has a joint venture of chili ingredients. Making sambal peupeuh is a time for gathering. Sitting while making sambal telling the little things everyday. Sambel peupeuh maintains the tradition of civic bonds.

In the future, Sambal peupeuh may become a legend. Legend is something lost, then slowly forgotten, not remembered at all. From there, the history of women caring for traditions disappeared without a trace. We don’t want that to happen, do we?

The article is translated to English from iqra.id