Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar
This wonderful book is an armchair cook’s trip into an Indonesian kitchen. The sambal featured here is a versatile relish that you can make as spicy as you please. I am exploring this book’s interesting dishes, made with lemongrass, pandan leaves, and palm sugar. Next on my list: Peanut sauce, crispy fish, and bakso meatball soup.
Recipe excerpted with permission from Coconut & Sambal by Lara Lee, photographs by Louise Hagger and Laura Lee (Bloomsbury)
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Sambal Tomat
I think of this tomato relish as a beginner’s guide to sambal, as it works beautifully either spicy or mild, depending on your preference. For those with chilli-sensitive palates, like my Devonshire mother-in-law, Caroline, deseeding the chillies lowers the potency of the heat. The addition of tomatoes makes it a mellow and umami-rich relish that is irresistible drizzled over soups, added to stews or used as a dipping sauce with wedges or fritters.
This is typically made with intensely flavoured bush tomatoes in the parts of Indonesia where they are lucky enough to grow them, but in my home kitchen in London I’m happy to use good-quality cherry tomatoes.
This sambal keeps for up to 1 week in the fridge covered with a thin layer of sunflower oil, or for up to 3 months in the freezer.
Origin Popular all over Indonesia
Chilli heat Moderate
Makes 250g (about 16 portions)
20 long red chillies (about 250g), deseeded and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
4cm piece of ginger (about 20g), peeled and sliced
2 small banana shallots or 4 Thai shallots, peeled and sliced
180g cherry tomatoes
1 tsp tamarind paste (or 1 tsp lime juice mixed with 1 tsp brown sugar)
½ tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Coconut oil or sunflower oil, for frying
Place the chillies, garlic, ginger, shallots and tomatoes in a food processor and blend to a semi-fine paste, retaining a little texture.
Place a frying pan over a medium heat and add 4 tablespoons of oil. Add the paste to the pan and cook, stirring continuously, for 10–15 minutes or until the sambal darkens, is fragrant and reduces to a thick consistency. Season with the tamarind paste, sugar, salt and pepper. Leave to cool.
Tracey Zabar's Chocolate Chip Sweets: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes is available here.
A delectable collection of innovative chocolate chip recipes by world-renowned chefs, pastry chefs, and bakers
Tracey Zabar's One Sweet Cookie Cookbook is available here.
A delicious collection of cookie recipes from extraordinary chefs, pastry chefs, and bakers. A great gift sure to delight anyone who loves to bake.
