This spicy beef onion sambal is a flavour-filled Srilankan side that can go so well with your meals. One of my fav recipe. Easy to make and comes out delicious.
A dish I make more often when serving Ghee Rice, Coconut Roti, Chappati, or to sandwich it in between bread or toasts.
This juicy dish always turns out tasting incredible. Each piece of beef is infused in the spices, the tomatoes help bring out the juiciness and the onions work well to enhance the savoury meat flavour even more. A recipe that is easy to follow. Simply tastes incredible.
How It’s Made
In order to make the sambal the meat must be cut into cube size pieces. Easier to cook and also bite-size to eat.
My mom always says to boil the meat before frying. This step helps reduce the amount of oil needed to pan-fry the meat and also takes much less time to make it when it is already pre-boiled.
I like my beef on the well-done side. It will be chewier and a little hard on the crust but adding the rest of the ingredient to cook further. The onions and tomatoes will help break down the hard layer infusing the flavour into the beef. With each bite, you’ll be able to taste a rich flavour-filled beef.
Quick Tip
Boiling meat before frying
I noticed when boiled first it is easier to fry with little oil. When not boiled the meat takes more oil, more cooking time, plus the pieces of the meat become smaller in size. It is up to you how you choose to make the meat but I prefer to boil first. I’d save the boiled water for later use (once cooled down, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container). It can be used as stock on other recipes.
Spiciness
I never had this sambal in mild flavours. Wherever I tried or whenever I make them my own it always comes as spicy.
That’s because of the green chillies, black pepper powder and of course the chilli flakes added on this recipe.
We Srilankans love the spice however that doesn’t mean you have to suffer. If you prefer to tone down the spice, just go easy on the chilli flakes. You may omit the green chillies and use less of the black pepper powder it will tone down on the flavour as well as the spice level.
I hope you find this dish as delicious as I see it. Scroll down to view the recipe in a step by step details below.
Beef Onion Sambal – Flavour-filled Srilankan Recipe
Ingredients
- Oil for cooking and frying
- 225 g Beef diced & pan-fried
- 5-8 Curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Garlic and ginger minced or paste
- 1 large-size Onion diced
- 1/2 cup Tomato diced
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp Chilli flakes
- 1 tsp Black pepper powder
- 1-2 green chillies sliced
- 1/2 tsp salt or as needed
Instructions
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Note – The entire recipe is done on either medium-high or medium-low heat. If at any point, the ingredients look dry or burn on to the pan, you may add 1/2 tbsp of oil and also lower the heat but continue to cook and stir often.
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Start by dicing the meat into desired pieces first. Next, boil if needed to then on medium-high heat, fry the meat cubes lightly on a pan or a skillet using little oil as possible. Fry until the meat turns light brown.
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Once the meat is ready. Reduce the heat to medium/low then add both curry leaves and mustard seeds over the beef.
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Seconds later when the seeds start to splutter, add the ginger & garlic paste, diced onions, diced tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilli flakes, black pepper powder, sliced green chillies and sprinkle salt as needed.
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Stir often and cook for about 8-10 minutes or until the onions turn softer.
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Taste test to see if you prefer more spice or salt on the sambal. Cook the onions longer if you like it well done but otherwise the sambal is ready to be served.
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Best served with ghee rice, toasts, in sandwiches, or with any kind of roti, especially coconut roti.
For more tasty recipes like this one, take a look at our category HERE. Choose from many curries, Srilankan sambals, snacks and desserts to satisfy your food cravings.
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