Receta Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen
Pol Sambola is one of the must try foods in Sri Lanka. It
is spicy but well goes with many of Sri Lankan food. Actually it is a coconut relish
prepared with chili and onion which is really easy to make in a modern kitchen.
Just add everything in to an electric blender & grind till smooth! But, still,I
like the traditional style of preparing of Pol Sambola. Even in a modern Sri
Lankan kitchen, we have most of Sri Lankan traditional cooking equipment such
as Grinding stone and mortar & Pestle.
Scraping coconut is one of the most boring tasks for me
in the kitchen. But this is the thing my amma or even a relative asked me if I tried
to give a helping hand when they were cooking. Now I don’t face that problem as
I can buy fresh grated coconut here in Singapore. Without any doubt, foods are
delicious when we use freshly grated coconut. Specially, this pol sambola! That’s
why I thought of sharing the traditional way though I have shared this pol sambola
recipe earlier.
The method of preparing is really easy unless you are
lazy to scrape coconut same as me.
Ok,I don’t have a photo of a coconut with the skin.Most
of Sri Lankans have their own coconut trees.(mostly not in the city area).If we
own coconut,first we have to remove the skin which is bit risky task.I really
cannot or I never tried it!
Then brake the coconut into two.Yes,I can do this!Use a
heavy knife and give few strokes to the middle of the coconut using the back of
the knife!Oh!,I like to drink the water inside, don’t you?
(I captured the above picture during my last holiday in Sri Lanka.She is getting ready to a coconut scraping competition.I will share photos of that competition soon!)
Then we need to scrape the coconut. In Sri Lankan home,we
have coconut scraper (aka hiramanaya).
Nowadays there are different improved
coconut scrapers.Below is another type of scraper which is bit easier than the above scraper.Check different types of Coconut Scrapers
Once fresh coconut is ready,grind red chili,salt and red
onions into a fine paste.
Then add coconut and grind again.
If you use maldive fish,add now and grid again.
Finally add lemon juice and mix well in a bowl!
Below is the complete recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated fresh coconut
- 4 dry red chili
- 5-6 red onions
- Salt as per taste
- 1 tbspn lime juice
Method
Remove skin of red onions.
Wash and remove the ends of dried chili.
Grind red chili and red onions into a fine paste.
Add salt and grind again.
Then add fresh grated coconut and grind well.
Finally remove the ground coconut into a bowl & add
lime juice.
Mix well. Adjust salt if needed.
It is ready to serve.
If you want this to be more flavourful ,temper mustard
seeds, curry leaves and sliced onions. Then add sambola into it and prepare a fried pol sambola dish. Check this recipe of fried pol sambola. You may like it
too!
Now that,this is how we make pol sambola in our
traditional Sri Lankan kitchen. How about you? I guess most of other Asian countries
too use grinding stone in their kitchen. Please share your thoughts in
comments.
Click if you are looking for a place to buy Coconut Scrapers