Pol Sambol (Sri Lankan Coconut “Relish”)
Description
A fresh, spicy coconut relish made with grated coconut, red onion, chilies, and lime juice. Adjust the chili to taste and add optional smoked paprika and kelp for extra smoky, savory flavor.
Yield: 6 servings of about ¼ cup (30g) each, totaling roughly 1½ cups (175g)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Storage: refrigerated for 3-4 days, or the remaining life of the coconut used.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Put the onion, green chili, chili powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, and kelp granules in the bowl of a mortar and pestle or in a mini food processor. Crush or process to a rough paste. Don't overdo it - you don't want a liquid.
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Add the coconut and crush/process to fully incorporate. ✎
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Add the lime juice and salt (to taste) and mix/process to combine.
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Enjoy chilled or at room temperature as a topping, filling, or "dip".
Notes
- Shallots are more traditional for this recipe, but contain more carbs than onions. If you're being particularly careful about your carb intake, using shallots will add about 0.5g per serving.
- The spice sold as "chili powder" in the Middle East is simply ground chilis and is quite spicy, maybe a bit milder than cayenne pepper. It's not the chili powder blend we have in North America. You can use cayenne pepper (very spicy) or ancho chili powder (not so spicy) if those are what are available to you. If you want something really not spicy, you could just use some paprika and black pepper to taste.
- The coconut should probably be a bit more ground up than in my picture. My mortar and pestle was too small to crush the coconut properly, and I didn't want to dirty the food processor halfway through the recipe already.
- Macros for this recipe are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the kelp granules (Sea Seasonings, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables).
- Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.
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