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Shortcut Seeni Sambal - Caramelised Onion Relish

  • Writer: Sav Perera
    Sav Perera
  • May 31, 2022
  • 3 min read

LFor those of you who don't know what Seeni Sambal is, it is one of Sri Lanka's favourite accompaniments. Sri Lankans eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it is a perfect little side dish for rice, bread, flat bread and even cheese and crackers. A more contemporary way to use Seeni Sambal is on a cheeseboard, as what it is, is essentially savory, spiced caramelized onions.


There are a few recipes on how to make this. The guidelines are essentially the same. My grandmother's recipe calls for deep frying the onions before cooking this. And there was good reason for this -- seeni sambal was made to last. Back in the day when refrigeration was not up to par, deep frying onions ensured that they had a longer shelf life. However, as you can imagine, this deep frying process meant the seeni sambal was extremely rich and sometimes left a greasy mouthful if not done properly. It was also time consuming and a tad wasteful, As such, I have now devised a less oily, less complicated version of the well loved dish that is just as delicious. The recipe below is for 600g of onion, however, when I was cooking this, I did 3kg of onion as I was giving some of it for my friends. So the pictures might depict a lot more onion that mentioned, but don't worry about it!


Ingredients

  • 600g onion, sliced or chopped finely *it's very important that you ONLY use red onion!

  • 50g maldive fish pieces pounded finely (optional)

  • 3-4 tbsp chilli powder

  • 4 tbsp chili flakes

  • 1-2 sprig of curry leaves

  • 4 inch piece of Pandan leaf

  • 2-3 green chilies finely chopped (optional)

  • 1 quill of cinnamon, broken up

  • 5 cloves, crushed

  • 5 cardamom pods, crushed

  • 5 tbsp vegetable oil

  • 3 tbsp tamarind pulp or white vinegar

  • 2 tbsp dark brown sugar

  • Salt to taste




Method

Chop or slice the onio, depending on whether ypu prefer a chunkier relish or a stringy one, both are delicious.


Get a pan or pot on high heat with the oil, and add in the aromatics. A heavy bottom pan is ideal for this.


Once they have fried off, proceed with the onions and the other ingredients. At this stage, do not worry too much if the onions start giving out a lot of water. This will be cooked slowly until the onions caramelize and you can turn up the flame to get rid of the water towards the end of the cooking process.


Next up is probably the trickiest part of the whole process. At this point, you need to adjust the seasoning, keep the mixtureon a low fire and check on it constantly. You might need to add more salt, sugar or chili, depending on your tastes. You do have to keep an eye on the onions to make sure you aren't burning the bottom, while slowly allowing for the moisture to evaporate and onions to caramelize completely. I was using a deep pot initially, however I transferred the onions into a wide pan so that the onions would cook a lot more evenly and the water would evaporate better. When it starts to look like the photo below, this is nearly done (note the bubbles of moisture on the outside, these need to disappear). At this stage, you need to check the salt and sweet level once more.


Once you are happy with the seasoning level and all the water has evaporate leaving behind only the oil, the sambal is done. Cool completely before you pack it into jars. Make sure the jars you use are washed with warm, soapy water and completely clean and dry before you store the sambal. This will keep in the fridge for up to 3 months, and longer if you pressure seal/heat seal your jars






Sav xx

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