Sri Lankan recipe
How to make Pol sambol
Pol sambola
The whole country
A fresh coconut relish of grated coconut, red onion, chilli, lime juice and salt, often with a pinch of Maldives fish, a smoked and dried tuna. It is bright red, spicy and sour, and appears beside rice, hoppers, string hoppers and bread at almost every meal.
Ingredients
- 200 g freshly grated coconut, or 150 g desiccated coconut soaked in 100 ml warm water for 10 minutes
- 1 small red onion or 4 shallots, very finely chopped
- 1 to 2 teaspoons chilli flakes or chilli powder, to taste
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Optional: 1 tablespoon Maldives fish flakes or a pinch of crushed dried shrimp
Method
- Put the onion, chilli and salt in a mortar, or in a bowl, and crush them together with the pestle or the back of a spoon until juicy.
- Add the coconut and the Maldives fish, if using, and rub everything together with your fingers until the coconut turns an even pink-red.
- Squeeze in the lime juice, mix and taste. Add more salt, chilli or lime until it is sharp, salty and hot.
- Serve the same day with rice and curry, hoppers or bread.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Traditionally it is ground on a flat granite slab with a stone roller, called a miris gala.
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