Sambal Hijau (Green Sambal)

So here is a recipe that is an amalgamation of a few Sambal Hijau recipes out there. This is my usual practice. I like to look for as many recipes I can find and then do a makeover of them to suit my taste.

What and how to use this sambal? You can use it as a condiment which how it is used on most Malay, Indonesian, Nonya  tables as it compliments or adds a bit of oomph to the other dishes.

You can also use it as a base to create other dishes. Use in your fried rice or noodles; as a marinade for baking, bbq, steaming. As a base for your curries. It goes with seafood, vegetables, poultry and meats. Use it even in your pasta!

It is always handy to have several bottles of home made sambal in your fridge. It keeps well for two weeks in the fridge and you can freeze it for three months. This way you can quickly whip up a dish when you come home from work or if an unexpected guest pops in.

Sambal Hijau (Green Sambal)

Ingredients

2 green tomatoes, 120g

6 green chillies, 100g

2-6 chilli padi (optional – if you want it extra spicy), 4-6g

4 shallots, peeled, 30g

3 garlic, peeled,  20g

2 tbsp oil, 20g

1-2 tsp coconut palm sugar, 6-12g

3/4 – 1 tsp salt, 2- 3g

Method

1. Roughly chop tomatoes, chilli, shallot and garlic.
2. Steam the ingredients for 5 mins until soft.
3. Pound it to a rough paste in a mortar and pestle. You can also use a blender but do pound for a few minutes to release all the essential oil before using the blender.
4. Heat up oil in a wok on medium heat. Add the pounded ingredients and stir fry for 5 mins until it is aromatic.
5. Mix in the sugar and salt and turn off the heat. Taste and adjust flavour to your taste.

Food Sorceress Notes:

• If you find it a little too hot for you, add more sugar as that tones down the spiciness.
• If you like your sambal crazy hot, add more chilli padi.
• You can use red or green chilli padi. I like to use red as it gives a few red speckles in my sambal.
• If you like your sambal mild, remove the chilli seeds.
• There is no need to add any souring agent such as lime or tamarind as the sourness comes from the green tomatoes. But if you like it more sour, then feel free to add some lime juice or tamarind water.
• If you want to keep the sambal longer,  heat up 2 tablespoon of oil until it smokes, add and mix into the sambal.