Local name: පොල් සම්බෝල
A bright relish of freshly grated coconut worked with chilli, red onion and lime, ready in ten minutes flat.
·
Photo: Dan arndt, CC BY-SA 4.0
Pol sambol is traditionally worked on a grinding stone, which coaxes the oil out of the coconut. It keeps for two days in the fridge but is far better on the day it is made.
An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.
Yes, as long as you rehydrate it: covered with 80 ml of warm water for ten minutes, it softens again. Used dry it stays rasping and soaks up the lime juice without ever loosening. Freshly grated coconut is still better, as it brings its own oil.
Pounding draws out the onion juice and the colour from the chilli, which then stain every shred of coconut. Simply stirring everything together leaves pieces of onion sitting in white coconut, and the sambol tastes and looks flat.
Two days in the fridge, though the coconut loses its perfume after the first day. Season assertively, salty, hot and sour, because the sambol is there to lift plain rice or dhal: tasted on its own it should seem deliberately over the top.
No ratings yet.
Give it a rating
Sri Lanka⏱ 15 minA Sri Lankan paste of red onion and chilli pounded in a mortar, spooned onto milk rice and morning hoppers.
Sri Lanka⏱ 35 minSri Lankan rice cooked in coconut milk, pressed flat and cut into diamonds for new months and new babies.
Sri Lanka⏱ 35 minChopped roti tossed with cabbage, carrot and egg, loosened with spiced curry sauce. Sri Lanka's loudest street food.
