Hello MyFoodStroll readers, Indomie has just launched new product variants for its mie goreng (friend noodles) category, there are Mie Goreng rasa Sambal Rica-Rica and Mie Goreng rasa Sambal Matah. Both new product variants are inspired from two favorite sambal in Indonesia.

In brief, Sambal Rica-Rica is a type of sambal originally from Manado, North Sulawesi. Rica word comes from the language of Manado, which means "spicy" or "chili". Likewise, Sambal Matah is originally a famous sambal from Bali. Matah word means "raw" derived from Balinese language. This sambal is called raw because it is not cooked in making process.

When the instant noodles have been completed boiled and stirred with its seasoning, the aroma of it comes out strongly like real sambal rica-rica. It makes us expected of its taste as powerful as the aroma. However, the taste does not meet our expectation, there is no spicy taste at all. It only tastes little bit salty and oily with faint fishy taste. Especially when the noodle is already cold, the taste became very bland and oily. So, better eat it when it's hot!

As you can see, the color of the noodle is quite red after mixing with the seasoning and oil, but no supplementary ingredients added to the noodle, such as dried chili or dried leek. 

As someone who grew up in Bali and frequently ate sambal matah as side dish for many local favorites, my expectation for this product was quite high. However, as I ate this, in my opinion it can not deliver well. At first I expect to smell the lemongrass aroma as a main characteristic for this flavor, but actually the dominant aroma is the kemangi aroma. Different from Mie Goreng Rasa Sambal Rica-Rica, this flavor is loaded with slices of shallot, dried chili, and slices of kemangi leaves. Further more, it is less oily compared to Mie Goreng Rasa Sambal Rica-Rica.

Regarding the taste, I personally don't recognize it as sambal matah flavor, at least not sambal matah that I have in mind and have been eating in it's origins. It doesn't have the typical lemongrass aroma and taste, and since lemongrass is kinda the main thing

Overall, both of the new flavors are quite nice, but somehow lacking the spiciness despite labeled as Sambal flavors.