Colo-colo is an acidic

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separat ...

commonly found in Maluku archipelago,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is believed to have originated in

Ambon Ambon may refer to: Places * Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia ** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province ** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796 * Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...

city, and accordingly is often described as Ambon's

sambal Sambal is an Indonesian chilli sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chilli peppers with secondary ingredients, such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an ...

. Colo-colo is similar to Manado's

dabu-dabu Dabu-dabu is a type of spicy condiment commonly found in Manado cuisine of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Dabu-dabu consists of diced red chili peppers, bird's eye chili, shallots, red and green tomatoes, salt, sugar, and mixed with fresh calamansi ...

, as they both use many chopped red

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

bird's eye chili Bird's eye chili or Thai chili (Thai: ''prik ki nu'', พริกขี้หนู, literally "mouse dung chili" owing to its shape) is a chili pepper, a variety from the species ''Capsicum annuum'' native to Mexico. Cultivated across Southea ...

shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...

s, red and green

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es, and a pinch of salt and sugar, mixed with fresh

calamansi Calamansi (''Citrus'' × ''microcarpa''), also known as calamondin, Philippine lime, or Philippine lemon, is an economically important citrus hybrid predominantly cultivated in the Philippines. It is native to the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, ...

juice or locally known as ''lemon cui'' or ''jeruk kesturi''. (sometimes replaced by

kaffir lime ''Citrus hystrix'', called the kaffir lime or makrut lime, (, ) is a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia. Its fruit and leaves are used in Southeast Asian cuisine, and its essential oil is used in perfumery. Its rind and crushed leav ...

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

juice). The main difference is that colo-colo recipe often includes additional ingredients, such as chopped

lemon basil Lemon basil, hoary basil, Thai lemon basil, or Lao basil,Dorothy Culloty (''Ocimum'' × ''africanum'') is a hybrid between basil ('' Ocimum basilicum'') and American basil ('' Ocimum americanum''). The herb is grown primarily in northeastern ...

, '' kenari'' nut, and ''tahi minyak'' or ''ampas minyak'' (black-colored cooking coconut oil residue), or caramelized ''rarobang'' (watery residue of coconut oil-making process). As a result, colo-colo is darker and more oily than dabu-dabu. However, today, because of the rarity and difficulty to acquire traditional cooking oil residue and caramelized ''rarobang'', this oily agent is often replaced by widely available and practical ''

kecap manis Sweet soy sauce ( id, kecap manis) is a sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating in Indonesia, which has a darker color, a viscous syrupy consistency and a molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar or jaggery. ''Kecap manis ...

'' (sweet soy sauce) mixed with margarine, coconut oil or cooking oil. As a result, today colo-colo is often mistaken for another Indonesian common condiment, sambal kecap. Maluku archipelago is famous for its rich collection of seafoods, and colo-colo is usually served as condiment for seafood, especially various recipes of ''

ikan bakar Ikan bakar is an Indonesian and Malaysian dish, prepared with charcoal- grilled fish or other forms of seafood. ''Ikan bakar'' literally means "grilled fish" in Indonesian and Malay. Ikan bakar differs from other grilled fish dishes in that ...

'' (grilled fish) and ''

ikan goreng Ikan goreng is an Indonesian and Malaysian dish, consisting of deep fried fish or other forms of seafood. ''Ikan goreng'' literally means "fried fish" in Indonesian and Malay languages. Ikan goreng is very popular in Indonesia. Usually, the ...

'' (fried fish). Fish commonly served with colo-colo as a dipping sauce or coating include ''bubara'' (

giant trevally The giant trevally (''Caranx ignobilis''), also known as the lowly trevally, barrier trevally, ronin jack, giant kingfish or ''ulua'', is a species of large marine fish classified in the jack family, Carangidae. The giant trevally is distributed ...

), ''kakap merah'' (

red snapper Red snapper is a common name of several fish species. It may refer to: * Several species from the genus ''Lutjanus'': ** ''Lutjanus campechanus'', Northern red snapper, commonly referred to as red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlanti ...

), ''baronang'' (

rabbitfish Rabbitfishes or spinefoots are perciform fishes in the family Siganidae. The 29 species are in a single genus, ''Siganus''. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having prominent face stripes—colloquially called foxfaces– ...

), ''cakalang'' ( skipjack tuna), and the endangered ''ikan kakatua'' ( bullethead parrotfish).

References

External links

Colo-colo recipe
{{Condiments Chili sauce and paste Dips (food) Indonesian condiments Vegetarian dishes of Indonesia

See also

References

External links