Easy Cooked Onion Sambal
Quick and easy cooked onion sambal recipe that my mum used to make very frequently. Perfect as a spicy condiment with any meal!
Equipment
- knife
- chopping board
- chopper (or pestle and mortar)
- small wok/saucepan/frying pan
- small jar for storing (about 500ml/2 cups capacity)
Ingredients
- 1 large onion
- 10 large red chillies about 150 g (5.3 oz) in weight - rough weight
- 10 green birds eye chillies or about 3 (50 g / 1.76 oz) large green chillies
- 3 medium garlic cloves
- 2 medium tomatoes
- ½ tsp shrimp paste (belacan)
- 3 Tbsp vegetable or peanut oil (any tasteless oil)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- juice of 1 lime (Persian/Tahiti lime type) If using calamansi, use 3
Instructions
Prep Work
- Peel, then quarter the onion and add to your chopper.1 large onion
- Cut the red chillies up into 3-4 pieces and add to the chopper.10 large red chillies
- Toss the birds eye chillies into the chopper too.10 green birds eye chillies
- Peel and add the whole garlic cloves into the chopper.3 medium garlic cloves
- Halve the tomatoes and add to the chopper.2 medium tomatoes
- Finally, add the shrimp paste.½ tsp shrimp paste
- Pulse your chopper about 10 times to get a coarsely chopped mix.
Cooking the Onion Sambal
- Heat the oil in your chosen pan on medium heat.3 Tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
- Tip in the chopped sambal ingredients, salt and sugar and cook for 5-10 minutes. At 5 minutes, your sambal will still have a certain freshness about it, as the ingredients have only been lightly cooked. 10 minutes will give it a more cooked and deeper flavour.If you think it's too dry, add a splash of water.½ tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar
- Take it off the heat and stir in the lime juice.juice of 1 lime
- Transfer to a clean jar, leave to cool to room temperature, then store in the fridge for up to a week.