NOMVEX food / World Atlas

Sri Lanka · sauce · English edition

Pol sambol

Fresh coconut pounded with chilli, onion and lime. Five minutes to make and served with everything.

6 servings · 15 minutes (estimated)

Pol sambol
Photo: Dan arndt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · image source

Ingredients

Quantities for 6 servings.

  • 250 g Grated coconut, fresh or thawed
  • 2 tbsp Chilli flakes
  • 1 piece Red onion, very finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp Maldive fish
  • 1 piece Lime, juiced
  • to taste Salt

Method

  1. Pound the chilli flakes with the salt and the Maldive fish to a rough paste.
  2. Add the onion and keep pounding: it should give up its juice and stain the paste.
  3. Work the coconut in by hand, rubbing the mixture between your palms until it turns evenly red.
  4. Add the lime juice, mix and taste. The sambol should be hot, sour and salty at once.
Recipe data adapted from UniTools, CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: page design, formatting and integration in NOMVEX Food. This adapted recipe text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Image credit and its separate licence are shown below the photo, where available.