Pol Sambol

How to Cook Pol Sambol

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1. Pound the chilli flakes, red onion and salt to a rough paste in a large mortar.

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2. Add the Maldive fish, if using, and pound it in.

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3. Add the coconut a handful at a time and pound and grind it against the sides.

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4. Keep working until the whole mixture turns an even coral pink, about 4 minutes.

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5. Work in the curry leaves and black pepper.

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6. Squeeze the lime juice in and stir it through.

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7. Taste and correct the salt and lime — it should be sharp, hot and salty at once.

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8. Serve at room temperature, pressed into a mound.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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Keep an Eye on These

1. Pound, do not blend.
2. Keep going until the colour is even — that is the sign it is done.
3. Lime last.

Changing the Recipe

• Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.

Good to Know About Pol Sambol

Pound it rather than blending it. A blender chops and aerates and gives you damp pink confetti; a mortar bruises the onion and chilli into the coconut so the oils release and the colour goes right through. If you must use a machine, pulse four times and no more. Add the lime at the very end — early, it starts to cook the onion and the texture softens.

What to Serve It With

Egg hoppers · Rice and curry · String hoppers

Leftovers

Keeps 3 days refrigerated. The colour dulls but the flavour holds.

The Numbers per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Vegan when made without the maldive fish flakes. Vegetarian when made without the maldive fish flakes.

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