Sri Lankan Coconut Sambol (Pol Sambol)

Coconut Sambol is typically a side dish you would serve with Sri Lankan curry. There are many different types of Sambol, the ones I liked the most were the coconut Sambol and Seeni Sambol, which consists of mainly chili, maldive fish and onions. Sambol in general is a chili based condiment; just about every country in Asia has a version of Sambol/Sambal. Coconut Sambol was especially delicious with curry because the freshness of the coconut almost cleanses the palate from the spicy curry dishes. In just about any restaurant or street vendor you go to in Sri Lanka that sells curry it will come with some kind of Sambol on the side. Some people argue that the coconut Sambol is the most popular “dish” in Sri Lanka because it is served with pretty much everything. I think it is a deliciously underrated element in Sri Lankan cuisine.

One of the ingredients in the Sambol is Maldive fish, which can be pretty hard to come by outside of Sri Lanka. Maldive fish is dried and cured tuna made in the Maldives and is a stable to Maldivian cuisine as well as Sri Lankan. It is often pounded into splinter pieces and sold in packets as a flavoring to dishes. In this recipe I was lucky enough to still have some Maldive fish packets from when I used to live in Sri Lanka. If you can find any you can easily replace it with another high quality dried fish flake or shrimp paste, or you can just go without it, but it wont taste exactly the same.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. Seeni Sambol mix (cloves, chili, maldive fish, curry leaf, screw pine, cardamom, cinnamon)
• The flesh of one fresh coconut or a half packet of unsweetened coconut flakes
• One lime
• One purple onion diced
• One small jalapeno diced

I know the Seeni Sambol mix might be super hard to come by. Here is a link to the website of the stuff I got in Sri Lanka, maybe you can find something similar in your local Indian market. I got really excited in the super market about the fresh coconut but shelling and grating fresh coconut is no easy task and I think from now on ill just try to find unsweetened shredded coconut instead.

Okay so firstly, if you are feeling adventurous and want to try shelling the flesh of a fresh coconut you have to first drain it of its juice. I like to save the juice, strain it and make a cocktail out of it with pomegranate juice and vodka, but that’s just me being an alcoholic who doesn’t like to throw good food away.

Cracking the coconut in half also proved difficult, I ended up just throwing it on my concrete patio in the backyard.

Once you get them halved you can use a knife to pry out all of the flesh. In Sri Lanka they had these nifty coconut shredders that would do all of the work for you. Sadly white people don’t know shit about coconuts.

Alrighty, so once you have de-fleshed the coconuts add the flesh to a food processor with the diced jalapeno.

Grind those baby’s to pulp! Well not quite… but get them pretty well chopped. Once thats done get those diced onions on a frying pan with some EVOO on a high heat and cook until they start to get a little translucent. Add in the Seeni Sambol mix and cook to release the flavors.

Add in the coconut and jalapeno mix and stir until well mix and heated. Cook for another few minutes to make sure all of the flavors are really melting together. Place is a bowl to cool before serving.

Add a few spoonfuls to any curry dish to add an intense amount of delicious flavor. I usually make this as a companion to my Sri Lankan Coconut Curry (recipe coming soon) and Sri Lankan Daal.

Definitely explore more Sri Lankan food if you haven’t before, its really good stuff and can be very different than Indian food.

I can eat these left overs for like a week after I made a whole Sri Lankan meal.

Let me know if you guys have any questions or submit your own version of these meals!

Enjoy 🙂