Sambal is basically a chili sauce based condiment that is very spicy and popular mostly in countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and only 2 years ago did I come to know that it is popular even in Sri Lanka and Netherlands. The basic sauce is very simple to make with much lesser ingredients that is used to add heat to a dish, be it vegetarian or a non vegetarian one. If you are looking for a simple and spicy potato roast recipe to go well with rice, look not further as this is the one for you.
I saw this recipe 2 years back in a TV channel’s food show in which they used the sauce to cook fish. I adapted it to my vegetarian palate after I made a few changes and have been making this recipe ever since. My kids love it very much as they love spicy, hot dishes very much and it is very easy to make and pack for school in their lunch box. This goes very well with rasam and curd rice and makes a wonderful comfort meal to be had on a rainy day.
So when we, The Avant Garde Cookies chose to visit our neighboring country, Sri Lanka this month, I first had no idea what to make and it was my elder one who reminded me of this one. I totally forgot its original name as we have come to call this recipe as the Urulai Kaara Roast in our home.
Baby Potato Sambal Recipe
Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Serves: 2
Cuisine: Sri Lankan | Category: Side dish
Cuisine: Sri Lankan | Category: Side dish
Ingredients:
- Baby Potatoes – 1/4 kgs
- Whole Dry Red chilies – 6 to 7
- Sambar Onions (shallots) – 5
- Garlic pods – 5
- White vinegar – 2 tsp
- Salt – to taste
- Oil – 2 tbsp
Instructions:
- Heat 1/4 cup water and soak the red chilies in it for 1/2 hour.
- Pressure cook baby potatoes, peel the skin and keep it aside.
- Grind together soaked red chilies, sambar onion (shallots), garlic pods, white vinegar and salt together to a smooth fine paste. Do not add water while grinding.
- Heat 2 tsp oil in a shallow frying pan. Add the peeled baby potatoes and sauté over low flame for 2 minutes. Keep shaking the pan and tossing well, so that the potatoes become golden brown and crisp all around.
- Add the ground paste to the potatoes and gently mix well with a fork. Cook over low flame, tossing and shaking the pan frequently, while adding the remaining oil from time to time for the ground paste to get cooked.
- After 10 – 15 minutes of cooking, the raw smell from the paste would have gone and it would have coated the potatoes well. Remove from fire.
- Serve hot with steaming rice and Rasam.
Notes:
- You can also make this with big potatoes but make sure that you slice them into thick pieces.
- Roasting the potatoes in the beginning will ensure that they do break and become mushy while cooking.
- Do not dump the entire oil in the beginning itself as it will make the spice paste to cook very early and will become crisp even before coating the potatoes. So add the oil in stages.
This is off to Avant Garde Cookies.