CTV Recipes
Search Recipes
Coconut sambol
I recall my father being in the kitchen and preparing a large bowl of his freshly scraped coconut sambol—his sleeves rolled up, and his hands working away at making sure that all the ingredients and the coconut were well combined, sprinkling in the chili and the Maldives fish. A final squeeze of lime would finish the dish.
Coconut sambol is one of my favourite Sri Lankan treats, although it is really a side dish for main grains such as string hoppers, hoppers, coconut roti, and milk rice. Coconut sambol is a striking dish because of its orange hue—a result of the addition of cayenne and/or paprika.
SERVES
TO
Ingredients
- 2 cups finely scraped coconut (either fresh, frozen, or desiccated)
- 1/2 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons cayenne powder
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried Maldives fish, ground, or to taste (optional)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons lime juice, or to taste
Directions
- Place the coconut, onion, cayenne, paprika, Maldives fish (if using), and salt in a large bowl. Using your hands, mix all the ingredients together to ensure all of the coconut is coated. Taste and adjust the salt. Add the lime juice over everything, mix again to combine, and taste, adding more lime juice if preferred. Serve fresh.
- The sambol preparation is a perfect way to take advantage of the island’s resplendent variety of fruits and vegetables. Sambol is a mixed preparation of finely cut raw fruit or vegetables combined with chili, lime, sometimes dried Maldives fish or dried prawn, and usually a generous seasoning of salt. Some sambols may be tempered with additional condiments and/or spices. Common preparations are coconut sambol and onion chili sambol. However, other fruits or vegetables may be used (and when fruits or vegetables are used, Sri Lankans sometimes interchangeably use the words sambol and sambola).
Recipe by Ruwanmali Samarakoon-Amunugama, from Milk, Spice and Curry Leaves, copyright © 2020 by Ruwanmali Samarakoon-Amunugama. Reprinted with permission of TouchWood Editions.
