Fast and Hot, the Seeni Sambol Story

Ok, I'm back to sambols again. Seeing as how we're in the final stages of this re-write we're doing and since we're going to Los Angeles on a business trip next week, cooking is down to bare bones quickness. However, since we eat our main meal at mid day which is also in the middle of our working day I still want something, even the tiniest thing on the plate to be special. I do this not only to make us happy with what's on the plate, but also to put us in a good mood for the rest of the writing day, which in crunch times may go till 9:00 p.m.
I dropped by the Farmers Market today and saw amazing red onions, which of course reminded me of one of my favorite, and a big time classic , Seeni Sambol.
This sambol has a Sri Lankan origin, and the basic ingredients involve onions and coconut milk, and of course chilies in varying amounts.
A good Seeni Sambol should be hot, and sweet.
I made some for our 4th of July cook out this last year, and a friend who was attending asked what I was making,one of the things I mentioned was this sambol. he said, "oh, I bought a jar of that the other day"
"What's in it?",I asked. He read his bottled ingredients. I read my homemade. They were the same, as I said a sambol is a sambol is a sambol.
I mentioned that mine was simmering, slow cooking with beautiful fresh organic red onions, curry leaves etc...
"Do you still want to bring your bottle?" I asked.
"What kind of beer do you want?" he replied.
So how do you make this simple and delicious relish. Here's a recipe that I adapted from the book Mangoes and Curry Leaves it always works for me
First of all:


!.) heat 2 Tbs of coconut oil, or vegetable oil in a large pan
2.) When the oil is hot toss in 3 cups of thinly sliced red onions
3.)1/4 cup of minced shallot
4.)2 Tbs minced ginger


Cook this mixture, till the onions are soft and golden, stir it up , don't let it stick to the pan. Keep it moving.After about 10 minutes or so...
Lower the heat.
5.) toss in 8 fresh or frozen curry leaves. (there is no substitute for these..sorry. But, if you get your hands on some, buy a bunch. They freeze extremely well. That way you'll always have some on hand)
6.) Add between 4 and 8 dried red chilies chopped and broken into pieces
SIDE NOTE ABOUT THE CHILIES!!!
If you are new to this Sambol stuff..and you have guests who are not into spicy food...take it easy on the red stuff. Remember you can always hot it up, it's harder to cool down. A full 8 chilies is great provided you have some soothing raita to cut it with..a pleasant warmth is good with 6 chilies. 4 if you just want some tang. Taste and judge..add what you like, this is very flexible.




7.) Add 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
8.) 1/8 tsp ground cardamom
9.) 1/8 tsp of ground cloves
10.) 3/4 of a cup of coconut milk



Bring all of this to a simmer, and let it cook like that for about 30 minutes. Make sure it doesn't stick,, stir it once in a while.

When it's nice and thick and fragrant
take it off the heat. Add sugar and salt to taste. And at least 2 Tbs of fresh lime juice.
About the sugar and salt. hot and sweet is a great combo. When I add 8 chilies to this dish I like to add in about 1/2 tsp of salt,and 1 tsp of sugar...but that's just me. Adjust it as you will. You're cooking of you and your friends, judge what you like.
When it's all mixed together As you like it. Put the mixture in a food processor or blender and mix to a puree.
Put it in a bowl or jar and let it cool. If you seal it tightly it'll stay about 1 ,month in the fridge.
This recipe makes about 1 and 1/2 cups of Sambol.

It's All About The Sambals or Hey! Lazy Happens.

I love to cook, don't get me wrong. I cook almost every day but there are times when even I who love to cook, and chop etc, get lazy. I'm a screenwriter, and I work with my husband /writing partner. The reason I've always been able to do all this cooking is that all our writing is done from home. In our office. Therefore, we get our work done, and we're also eating well. We did once opt to take an office at a studio we were working at, but we wound up staring out the windows, eating in the commissary, not getting anything done and having to make up work at home at night with a diet that quickly degenerated into fried pork rinds and chocolate pudding. Don't ask, and yes I still have a gall bladder.
Once that brief foray into degeneracy ended I was back with my regular Indian cooking but I have devised some easy fixes for when we're under deadline pressure, that doesn't involve eating out or ordering in.
Since our office is waaaaay at the other end of our house from the kitchen I usually go for a simple entree, something that can be slow cooking, or grilled quickly. What I try to do to make it interesting, is the side dishes, the accents that dress things up. Those are life savers and can make even the simplest chicken or even burgers special, they take very little time to prepare so I don't have to be at the other end of the house and can run back to my computer and work /surf Foodbuzz and are worth their weight in gold plated dining.
Yesterday I made a quick eggplant sambal. There were cute little pineapples on sale for 2.29 so of course I had to have one. There's a wonderful sambal that calls for slightly green pineapples and of course this one was..for 2.29 each what did I expect. It worked perfectly, here's my adaptation of a pineapple sambal.
You will need :
!.) 1 Pineapple...slightly green is actually best for this dish.


2.) Cut it up into small pieces, following are some pictures to help






3.) Place your pineapple pieces in a colendar and rub 1 teasp. of salt into the pineapple and let it drain for a few minutes.

4.) Finely chop 4 shallots


5.)Cut one small red onion in half and then slice it in thin half moons


6.) halve seed and finely chop 4 dried red chilies


7.) rinse the salt off the pineapple and let it drain. When it's dry place it into a bowl with the above ingredients. Stir it around and mix well.


Serve it up in a pretty bowl, salt and sugar it to taste.

This is an excellent relish, or side dish for fish, chicken, and anytime anyone has a deadline.