Sambal Brussels sprouts is the perfect recipe for all you spice and sprout lovers! It makes a wonderful side dish when Brussels sprouts are in season.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Sambal Brussels Sprouts
So what is sambal Brussels sprouts?
If you’ve been following me a while, you’ll know what sambal is (assuming you didn’t grow up eating it, that is).
So sambal can be a chilli paste, a condiment or a side dish, right. Our sambal Brussels sprouts is a side dish, a dry-ish sambal that will go perfectly with our Eurasian Christmas recipes on this site, or any rice based meal.
You can make it as spicy or as mild as you want. All you need to do is pick the right chillies, or reduce/increase the number. Not sure about this? Drop me a question.
The Recipe
It’s a very easy recipe to cook up, and I base it on our vegan sambal tumis here. But I also give you variations at the end of this article.
This is what we’ll be doing:
- soak the dried chillies
- brepare the Brussels sprouts
- blend the chillies and aromatics
- fry the chilli paste for 15 – 20 minutes
- add the brussels sprouts and cook to your liking (10 – 20 minutes)
The Ingredients
We’ve got the usual suspects when making sambal tumis. I’ve done away with ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and belacan (shrimp paste), just like in our vegan sambal tumis here. It’s how my grandma used to make it.
That’s the recipe I’ve based our sambal Brussels sprouts on, with 2 additions: Brussels sprouts, rather obviously, and a bit of cranberry sauce.
Brussels sprouts always cook best when they’re halved or even quartered, and that’s what we’re doing here.
As far as the cranberry sauce is concerned, you can use a shop bought one, or make your own with my recipe over at LinsFood. Homemade cranberry sauce takes 7 minutes and is mile better than anything shop bought.
No gula melaka? You can use the Indian jaggery or a combination of dark brown sugar and white (half each). Don’t use Thai palm sugar, as it’s neither sweet nor dark enough.
How to Serve Sambal Brussels Sprouts
It’s perfect as a side dish in any South East Asian meal, whether rice or noodle based. And it doesn’t have to be for Christmas, you can make this anytime you have access to Brussels sprouts.
It will amazingly with sayur lemak, nasi lemak and Chinese egg fried rice or any nasi goreng.
This Brussels sprouts sambal will also be so good with fatty roasts like duck and goose and to liven up the boring old turkey!
You can make it up to 2 days in advance and reheat gently until piping hot before serving.
Variations
You can add prawns to this sambal Brussels sprouts or even some fried anchovies, added at the end.
And that’s all there is to it.
You can read up more about cooking sambal tumis, pecah minyak and the ingredients on the Vegan Sambal Tumis page.
In the meantime, shall we get cooking?
If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating!
If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.
Lin xx
Sambal Brussels Sprouts
Equipment
- blender or food chopper
Ingredients
To Blend
- 60 g dried red chillies non smoky
- 500 ml very hot water for the chillies and tamarind put the kettle on, then start cutting up the chillies
- 1 medium onion
- 3 medium cloves garlic
- 125 ml room temperature water for blending
Everything Else
- 2 heaped Tbsp tamarind pulp or 2 Tbsp shop bought paste
- 60 g gula melaka see article above for substitutes
- 4 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 500 g Brussels sprouts
- salt
- 1 lemongrass
- 3 heaped Tbsp cranberry sauce homemade recipe is on LinsFood
- ½ Tbsp dark soy sauce or kicap manis
- 125 ml water
Instructions
Prep Work
- Chillies. Put the kettle on. Cut the dried chillies into 2-3 pieces with a pair of scissors directly into a bowl. Then pour the just boiled water generously over the cut chillies. Leave some for the tamarind below.Cover and leave to soak for 15 minutes.60 g dried red chillies, 500 ml very hot water for the chillies and tamarind
- Tamarind. If using pulp, place in a small bowl and cover with 125ml (½ cup) hot water from the kettle. Leave to soak until needed, no need to cover.If using shop bought paste, move on to the next step.2 heaped Tbsp tamarind pulp
- Onions. While waiting, peel and halve the onion. Thinly slice 1 half and set aside. Roughly chop the rest into smaller pieces for easier blending and add to the blender.In the video, you'll see me blending red onions. It doesn't matter. Red onions cook up sweeter.Garlic. Peel the garlic and drop them into the blender.1 medium onion, 3 medium cloves garlic
- Grate or roughly chop up the gula melaka if it's in large pieces, for easier cooking. In the video, I didn't bother, I can be lazy like that!60 g gula melaka
- Back to the chillies. When the chillies have had 15 minutes, drain them, giving them a quick rinse in a colander under water, and a good shake to lose as many seeds as possible. About 10 seconds is fine, we're not looking to get rid of all the seeds, just at least half. Set aside.
- Blend our Sambal. Blend the onions and garlic with a little fresh water (from the 125ml / ½ cup) for about 10 seconds.Then tip the drained chillies into the blender, and add the rest of the water and blend to a smooth paste. If using a blender, you might have to use a spoon to "dig" up the bottom bits if things get stuck. We don't want too much water here, just the half cup. So persevere. Chopping up your onions smaller will make it easier.I find that a blender requires more water than a food processor/chopper.125 ml room temperature water for blending
Let's get Cooking
- Heat the 4 Tbsp of oil in a wok or saucepan on medium heat. A frying pan will work too but that chilli paste is going to splutter like crazy, so best to use a pan with a curved side.Tip the blended sambal chilli paste into the hot oil and fry for 2 minutes, stirring to mix. Be careful of it spluttering.4 Tbsp vegetable oil
- Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15-20 minutes, until you see tiny bubbles of oil at the edges. This is called pecah minyak. You can read more about this here.Stir your sambal frequently. In the first 10 minutes, 2-3 times will do. As our sambal dries up, you'll need to stir it more frequently to avoid it burning.
- When our sambal has had enough time (15 – 20 minutes) and you can see that the oil has separated, even if this is just a few bubbles here and there, add the tamarind juice, gula melaka, Brussels sprouts and salt.Add the water (not in video), stir well and bring back to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 – 20 minutes, depending on how well you done you like your brussels sprouts.If you're using tamarind pulp, mash it all up in the water with your fingers. Then pick out the seeds and as much of whatever fibrous bits there are. Then just tip the whole thing into the sambal. Click here to read more about how to use tamarind.Don't want your sambal too sweet? Just add half the gula melaka initially, and adjust at the end.500 g Brussels sprouts, salt, 125 ml water
- When the sprouts are done to your liking, stir in the cranberry sauce and dark soy sauce and cook for 1 more minute. Taste and add more salt if necessary. You should have a spicy, slightly sweet snd a touch fruity sambal.That's it. Your sambal is all done. Take it off the heat and leave until needed. It will keep in the fridge for 2 days.3 heaped Tbsp cranberry sauce, ½ Tbsp dark soy sauce