Seeni sambol ( si, සීනි සම්බෝල ), also known as Sini sambol or Sawi sambol, is a traditional Sri Lankan condiment. It is a caramelised onion

chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sa ...

relish A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with ho ...

, with flavours which are spicy, sweet and aromatic. It is served as an accompaniment to rice, curries,

idiyappam Idiyappam ( ta, இடியப்பம்/இடியாப்பம், Malayalam: ഇടിയപ്പം), also known as string hopper, ''indiappa'' ( Sinhala: ඉඳිආප්ප), ''noolputtu'' ( ta, நூல்புட்டு, M ...

(string hoppers) and

appam Appam is a type of thin pancake originating from South India. It is made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk, traditionally cooked in an ''appachatti'', a deep pan similar in shape to a wok. It is common in the cusine of Kerala and Tam ...

(egg hoppers). It is an integral component of

lamprais Lamprais ( en, Lumprice, pron), commonly incorrectly written as “Lumprice”, “Lampraise” or “Lumprais” is a Sri Lankan dish that was introduced by the country's Dutch Burgher population. Lamprais is an Anglicised derivative of the D ...

and seeni banis (a

brioche Brioche (, also , , ) is a bread of French origin whose high egg and butter content gives it a rich and tender crumb. Chef Joël Robuchon described it as "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and e ...

bun with seeni sambol filling). In Sinhala 'seeni' means sweet or sugar and 'sambol' means sauce. The main ingredients are onion, sugar, tamarind juice,

red chillies Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl ''Aztec cuisine, chīlli'' (), are varieties of the fruit#Berries, berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family ...

and salt, which can also be combined with

maldive fish Maldives fish ( dv, ވަޅޯމަސް, translit=valhoamas) is cured tuna fish traditionally produced in Maldives. It is a staple of the Maldivian cuisine, Sri Lankan cuisine, as well as the cuisine of the Southern Indian states and territories of L ...

curry leaves A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

lemongrass ''Cymbopogon'', also known as lemongrass, barbed wire grass, silky heads, Cochin grass, Malabar grass, oily heads, citronella grass or fever grass, is a genus of Asian, African, Australian, and tropical island plants in the grass family. Some ...

, cinnamon,

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are r ...

and cloves.

Preparation

The traditional method for making seeni sambol is to sauté thinly sliced onions, curry leaves, lemongrass and spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves) in hot vegetable oil until they start to caramelise. Add tamarind juice, maldive fish, sugar and red chillies to the pan and continue to sauté until the moisture evaporates and the onion is a dark golden brown. Add salt to taste and then remove lemongrass and cinnamon stick, allow the sambol to cool completely before sealing in an airtight container.

References

Sri Lankan condiments Herb and spice mixtures Onion-based foods {{SriLanka-cuisine-stub

Preparation

See also

References