Sambal extra spicy. Sambal is an Indonesian chili sauce or paste typically made from a mixture of a variety of chili peppers with secondary ingredients such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. Sambal is an Indonesian loan-word of Javanese origin (sambel). It is native to the cuisines of Indonesia, and popular in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Brunei and Singapore.