Coconut sambal is a traditional Sri Lankan condiment the locals devour. Prepared with fresh ingredients and simple spices. No cooking is needed and takes only 10 minutes or less to create. An easy recipe to impress your family with or treat yourself to a delicious meal. Creative ways to love coconuts.
There’re meals that cannot be completed without the help of this coconut sambal. Whether it is for breakfast, lunch or for dinner, this delicious dish always comes flavourful.
My story
Sri Lanka is one of the top largest in the world to export coconut products. Both dried and fresh. So as you can see I grew up loving coconuts. I remember my mom using all parts of the coconut and its tree in many creative ways. The best ones always come from her kitchen.
Coconut sambal is one of the best. Back in the day, we get to devour it at least thrice a week or at times even more. My mom makes them so often, my sister soon learned too. She uses partial ingredients to temper, then uses a stoned mortar and pestle to combine everything.
Using fresh ingredients and spice is not just enough but the method of creating can make a difference in texture and flavour too. It wasn’t hard learning by watching my sister. I used to be the one always scraping the coconut, which use to be the most hateful part of making the sambal. It was like yesterday, I was hovering over standing behind my sister, observing every move she made to create this sambal taste fantastic.
I realize my sisters’ style of creating this dish is so different than how I do it versus how my mom does it. Everyone has their own style of creating this dish. Some go as far as using the stoned mortar and pestle. Some like all their ingredients to be raw and not tempered with. To some, the freshness of the coconut makes a big difference. Each style brings a slight flavour difference but they all bring out an explosive flavour making your meal taste delicious.
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How The Coconut Sambal Is Made
I like to create the sambal as minimum effort with maximum flavours. Like I mentioned, everyone has a style in creating this dish. My method is to prep ahead so the work gets broken down into easy steps.
Since the main ingredient IS coconut, I like to freshly scrape them. It’s the one thing I don’t enjoy doing. This does take a bit of effort and time to scrape, which is why I like to always have this done ahead and be ready when in need of making this dish.
I often have a coconut or two rolling around in the refrigerator. When in need, I scrape them all using a coconut scraper, use a fresh portion for the sambal and store the rest in a freezer-safe ziplock and into the freezer for other recipes.
With the scraped coconuts as the main ingredient, I use red onions and green Thai chillies as the added ingredients. Then for the spice, I use Kashmiri chili powder, salt and black pepper with lime to adjust the flavours.
It is optional but Sri Lankans love adding Maldives’ fish to the sambal. I also add chili flakes on top for a better result. My vegetarian friends and those on a plant-based diet or vegans can omit the use of Maldives fish and the flavours would still be fantastic.
With all the ingredients together, I’d combine to mix using my dominant hand.
Yes, your hand… not the spoon or fork. I recommend either your dominant hand or the mortar and pestle.
If you chose the hand, make sure you wash your hands well before going in and wash thoroughly after you are done.
Your dominant hand can really crush, squeeze and also mix everything all in one go. Give it a good mix until everything is combined together well and that’s all.
Recipe Notes
Coconut
- When purchasing fresh coconuts, pick a few to compare the best. Look for one that has no crack, but feels heavy. Shake to see if it is full of water. Check the 3 eyes on the top of the coconut to see if it is dry. Avoid if it looks mouldy or wet.
- Unopened coconuts can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week or even two.
- When opening the coconut. First, drill a hole into one of the soft eyes with a corkscrew, drain the coconut water out. Next, wrap it with a towel for safety, use a hammer or a mallet to hit it in the middle of the coconut a few times, until it cracks and breaks open. Split it into two and scrape using a coconut scraper.
- Coconuts can be freshly scraped and frozen in a freezer-safe ziplock for up to a month.
- Remember, the longer it stays frozen, the lesser the quality becomes.
- If it is difficult finding, replace fresh coconuts with store-bought desiccated coconuts. Make sure it is unsweetened and come scraped. It can be rehydrated with drops of hot water. Do keep in mind that this type of coconut does bring a slight difference in flavours.
Cook VS No-Cook
- No-cook method – Using raw ingredients is my quick and easy method to whip up this simple coconut sambal without compromising the flavours much. All in one bowl, mix and ready to serve in just minutes.
- Cooking method – Tempering sun-dried red chili, curry leaves with a little mustard seed and onions on olive oil or any cooking oil can add a smoked flavour to the sambal. After tempering the 4 ingredients dump them into the freshly scraped coconuts and use a mortar and pestle to crush and combine the ingredients to make thicker flavourful sambal.
Dominant Hand VS Mortar & Pestle
- Both bring out different textures but with a similar flavour.
- Using the dominant hand can not only squeeze, mix and crush the ingredients but also add an extra secret ingredient. Handling food with hands can release digestive juice and enzymes, which can promote health benefits to your digestion gut.
- Mortar & Pestle use can combine the ingredients to thicker dense texture and a slightly enhanced flavour.
For more flavours like this one, take a look at our recipe collection. From one-pot meal ideas to authentic island cooking. Create any flavours and show off your cooking skill to impress your family.
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Serving The Coconut Sambal
There’re meals that cannot be completed without serving a side of this sambal. I often keep freshly scraped coconuts frozen, so that I can make them at any time a meal calls for coconut sambal. To name a few meals that go together:
- String hoppers (idiyappam)
- Milk hoppers (Appam)
- Coconut roti
- Rice and curry
- Milk rice
- Ghee rice
- Parotta roti
- Chapati
- Cassava
- Sweet potato
- Mung beans
- Dosa
- Idly
- Pittu
- Toasts (spread a layer of sambal and butter in between the bread)
Coconut Sambal | Easy Gluten-free Condiment Ready In Just 10 Minutes
This coconut sambal can be prepared with fresh ingredients and simple spices, no-cooking needed and takes only 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Coconut Freshly scraped
- ¼ small-size Onion Sliced thin
- 2 Thai green chili Sliced
- 1 tsp Chili powder
- ½ tsp Black pepper powder
- ½ tsp Salt Or as need
- ½ tsp Lime Or as need
- ½ tsp Chili flakes Option
- 1 tbsp Maldives fish Option
Instructions
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Combine all above ingredints in a bowl with your dominant hand or by using a mortar and pastel.
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Taste test to adjust the lime and salt as you need.
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Serve when ready.
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.