Balinese Jam Sambal (Great Taste Winner)

This is a tasty set of small jars of slightly spicy jam. Flavours are extremely tasty an can highly recommend them. Come packaged securely, nice presentation to the jar, expensive feel to them.

Described as being 'A Fresh Umami Blend of Chili, Garlic and Sweet Tamarind' I had high hopes for this Novice Kitchen product. These hopes were mostly met.Supplied bubble wrapped in two small, 100g jars, upon opening one I loved the aroma. I am no connoisseur of curry's and spices and have absolutely no idea if this product is authentic (or not).I just know what I like the smell and taste of, and I do like this.On the jar, Novice Kitchen rate this a 1 out of 3 chillies and describe it as 'mild'. I feel this entirely correct, this is, indeed quite mild but does have a slight warmth. In appearance it appears an oil (a good sign in my book) stuffed full of chopped 'something'. Unfortunately, it is also a very uniform, bland 'brown' so not the most appealing, visually.I found it quite a complex taste with one particular flavour doing all the heavy lifting. The fact that it is mild did allow me to enjoy and savour the flavours rather than them be destroyed by a fierce heat.I think it would be poor value to use this as a base for a product you are cooking yourself. The jar is small, the flavours in the jar not really strong enough to carry an entire dish.However, when used as a side, Jam, chutney (whatever you want to call it) this product really comes alive. I had it as a side on my plate and then applied to plain, roasted chicken. This was both extremely delicious but helps the jar to go further.I have also had with cheese and crackers. Again, delicious. The different flavours of cracker, cheese and Jam compliment each other rather than compete.I don't know if the 'Novice Kitchen' bags were given out as freebies or intended to be part of the package but I didn't get one!

Nice flavour although price a bit steep for such a small jar

I was expecting this to be sweet, fruity and fiery but it was none of these, instead it is more herbal with deep earthy flavours, it is subtle and unusual. Admittedly I know nothing about Balinese food and the term jam made me think it would be more of a chutney but it isn't.I do like it however and it is growing on me, it works both as a condiment, a marinade or just an ingredient.The packaging is good and you get a nice tote bag with the company logo as well as a recipe card to get you going.On the downside the jars are very small so won't go far as a marinade but it does appear to be very natural and not mass produced.

I’m no expert on Balinese food, let we start with that. This Balinese jam is essentially a chutney or dip – something similar to a dip that you would get in an Indian restaurant to go with some Poppadom.You get two small jars (110ml each). The chutney is quite watery but you can see bits of the key ingredients in it – it looks as if it was freshly prepared as you get it out of the jar.I tried it with cheese and crackers. It is billed as mild, but I found that it quickly got overpowered by the cheese and crackers. I then tried it on its own. It starts off with a bit of spice but the flavour then just seems to go away.It’s got a good list of ingredients, and might be good for those who want to try something new but that don’t like their food too spicey. For me though, it just didn’t have a taste that made it stand out.