Beginner
Korean
Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)
Source: Traditional
30 min3420 kcal
Dairy-free🌶️🌶️
Pol Sambol
Freshly grated coconut pounded with dried chilli, red onion, lime and a little Maldive fish until it turns brick red — five minutes of work that lifts every plate it lands on.
Source
Recipe by Sri Lankan home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · Everyday Sri Lankan cooking — rice and three or four curries, coconut in nearly all of them, and a chilli level the island is not shy about.
Sri Lankan · everyday relish — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article confirms pol sambol as a Sri Lankan relish of scraped coconut with chilli, onion, lime and Maldive fish, eaten with rice, hoppers and bread. Quantities and method here are this book's own.
Watch it being made · 3 videos
⏱ 10 min🍽 6 servings🔥 140 kcal🇱🇰 Sri Lanka🌶️🌶️🌶️
HalalGluten-freeDairy-free
Steps
Pound the chilli flakes, onion, Maldive fish and salt together to a rough paste — mortar and pestle if you have one.
Add the coconut a handful at a time, working it in with your fingers so the colour spreads evenly.
💡 Fingers, not a spoon. Rubbing bruises the coconut and pulls the chilli into it — a spoon just stirs.
Squeeze in the lime and taste — it should be salty, hot and sharp all at once.
Serve at once, at room temperature, with rice, hoppers or bread.
💡 Tips
- It is at its best in the first hour. Refrigerated coconut goes firm and loses its perfume.
- Not tagged nut-free: coconut is treated as a tree nut by major allergy guidance, whatever the botany says.
- Too hot? Use Kashmiri chilli for the colour and cut the flakes by half. Sri Lankans will call it mild.
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