Sambal

[Lynnie]

We love Sambal so much. Or it is also called Chili Garlic Sauce. I use this in sooo many dishes. It's very hot, but if you don't like hot you just add a tiny bit to different things you are making and it just makes everything taste wonderful.

We both happen to like the heat so I always add a lot.

When I make my homemade chicken soup, I add Sambal. Even if I just cook scrambled eggs or fried eggs, I add a little bit of Sambal in the oil.

If any of you like to cook or especially like the taste of really good food, you just have to try this. We cannot live without it.

[Lisa16]

I live with a Sri Lankan and this stuff is indispensible. There are some barnds that are perfectly safe.

I have found out you can safely use harissa too, from Mustafa's.

I also make my own sambol (SL spelling I guess)-- I have a recipe on my webpage.

[Lynnie]

You have a recipe for Sambal??? Oh I have to check that out. I would love to make my own. I buy so much of it I swear I am keeping that company in business...! lol

Ok, so now where is your webpage? After I post this I will look to see if it's on your reply here.

[Lisa16]

Oh it is really easy to make! The trick is getting the right kind of peppers. There are hundreds of styles, so you can monkey with it until you find the one you like. Then you will have your own personal sambol :-)

If you click on my user name (on the topic listing) it will take you to a profile page. Under the picture, you wil see a link at the bottom of the box that says "see my webpage." It goes to my blog.

[Lynnie]

Ok girl...I am going to check you all out right now! lol Be back.

One more question about making your own Sambal. Does it come out tasting just like the store bought? I really am very interested in this.

[Lynnie]

I just checked out your webpage and I copied and pasted the Sambal recipe into my recipe file. It really doesn't look too hard.

There is a small Oriental store right around the corner from where we live. I am going there to see if they have those small red peppers. I bet they do because they have just about everything there. I adore this store.

BTW, is it SAMBAL or SAMBOL? lol

I plan on looking at all of your recipes. They all look so delicous!! Good job! You are my kinda woman! I just love to cook and love meeting other people that do.

[Lisa16]

Hi Lynnie!

I am glad you found the recipe okay. Well, I think both spellings are correct-- the one with an "o" is probably specific to Sri Lanka because my Thai cookbooks use the sambal spelling. And the jars always say sambal too.

I think my recipe is much hotter than the bottled kind. I think the main difference is vinegar or tomato added in to cut the spiciness. But Sri Lankan food is some of the hottest on the planet. Jay can eat the stuff of out bottles by the spoonful, but he is more cautious with mine. He won't touch hot sauces like tabasco or cholula because they have too much vinegar for him.

He says this recipe is like the one his mom made when he was a kid-- she used a lime instead of a lemon and rather more cloves. You can play with it until you get something really good. You can put more ginger in there or more black pepper. Have fun!

Thanks for being nice about the blog-- I have been trying to get some good things on there! There is another woman on here who has a cool blog with recipes-- he moniker is sickchick and here blog is here:

Open Original Shared Link

She has really good things on there too.

Pleased to meet you!

Lisa

[kenlove]

You know Lisa -- I keep waiting and waiting for you and collette to have some of these things in stores or available forsale on internet.

I get lazy and rather buy yours than make my own! <G>

  Lisa16 said:

Hi Lynnie!

I am glad you found the recipe okay. Well, I think both spellings are correct-- the one with an "o" is probably specific to Sri Lanka because my Thai cookbooks use the sambal spelling. And the jars always say sambal too.

I think my recipe is much hotter than the bottled kind. I think the main difference is vinegar or tomato added in to cut the spiciness. But Sri Lankan food is some of the hottest on the planet. Jay can eat the stuff of out bottles by the spoonful, but he is more cautious with mine. He won't touch hot sauces like tabasco or cholula because they have too much vinegar for him.

He says this recipe is like the one his mom made when he was a kid-- she used a lime instead of a lemon and rather more cloves. You can play with it until you get something really good. You can put more ginger in there or more black pepper. Have fun!

Thanks for being nice about the blog-- I have been trying to get some good things on there! There is another woman on here who has a cool blog with recipes-- he moniker is sickchick and here blog is here:

Open Original Shared Link

She has really good things on there too.

Pleased to meet you!

Lisa

[kenlove]

Almost forgot! I brought back about 30 jars of various achar from India as well as boxes of spices.

Would love to make it to SL one of these days too ..

ken

  Lisa16 said:

Hi Lynnie!

I am glad you found the recipe okay. Well, I think both spellings are correct-- the one with an "o" is probably specific to Sri Lanka because my Thai cookbooks use the sambal spelling. And the jars always say sambal too.

I think my recipe is much hotter than the bottled kind. I think the main difference is vinegar or tomato added in to cut the spiciness. But Sri Lankan food is some of the hottest on the planet. Jay can eat the stuff of out bottles by the spoonful, but he is more cautious with mine. He won't touch hot sauces like tabasco or cholula because they have too much vinegar for him.

He says this recipe is like the one his mom made when he was a kid-- she used a lime instead of a lemon and rather more cloves. You can play with it until you get something really good. You can put more ginger in there or more black pepper. Have fun!

Thanks for being nice about the blog-- I have been trying to get some good things on there! There is another woman on here who has a cool blog with recipes-- he moniker is sickchick and here blog is here:

Open Original Shared Link

She has really good things on there too.

Pleased to meet you!

Lisa

[Lisa16]

Dang, Ken! I admire you for being brave enough to travel like that! One day you will have to give us all your travel tricks and tips. I bet you have some dandy recipes to share.

I envy you the spices and achar-- I hope it all turns out to be wonderous and safe!

We just got whole nutmegs, star anise, cinnamon bark, coriander and a kind of millet called kurakkan from SL. And I have a fridge full of something Jay calls bitter gourd, which is supposed to be good for diabetics. He always brings some when my om is coming to visit (she is diabetic.)

Welcome home, BTW.

[kenlove]

Yes! Bitter gourd is great for diabetics-- called bitter melon here and fairly common in Chinese restaurants. I juice and drink a glass a day

(tastes like LK%^&*$!) Still, it is the first thing I tried that caused my blood sugar not to go up while I sleep.

I wonder if the millet from SL is the same as the Ragi from Karnataka. _- great stuff except that its 72% carbs which for us diabetics is not good.

Is it red colored?

As a diabetic celiac, I found rural india the easiest place to travel and eat safe. The foods are from "Out back" and very few processed things.

Mixing flour with other grains was virtually unheard of. They seem to know exactly whats in everything.

Have to wonder how much of this is because of the various dietary requirements of so many religious communities.

It was a great experience.

Ken

(been back 3 days and already finished a bottle of achar!)

  Lisa16 said:

Dang, Ken! I admire you for being brave enough to travel like that! One day you will have to give us all your travel tricks and tips. I bet you have some dandy recipes to share.

I envy you the spices and achar-- I hope it all turns out to be wonderous and safe!

We just got whole nutmegs, star anise, cinnamon bark, coriander and a kind of millet called kurakkan from SL. And I have a fridge full of something Jay calls bitter gourd, which is supposed to be good for diabetics. He always brings some when my om is coming to visit (she is diabetic.)

Welcome home, BTW.

[Lisa16]

Yes indeed-- I looked up ragi and found that it is the same thing. It is a kind of brownish-red color and the English translation is "finger millet." It is a kind of "folksy" food for them.

Jay prepares this as a kind of pancacke or bread using coconut milk, baking soda and salt. They are not too bad. He also tried microwaving this mixture in a dish to make a kind of porridge. But sadly he used some of my sweetened baking coconut flakes (for macaroons) and was disgusted and horrified. They do not consider coconut to be a sweet food at all.

So you know the joy of bitter melon! Yes, it is a pretty strong (dare I say acquired) taste. They slice it thin and fry it with some spices (garlic, onion, salt, pepper) and eat it almost like potato chips on the side. Sometimes it has shockingly red seeds. I cannot imagine drinking a glass a day, but it really does something (diabetes runs in Jay's family-- it killed his mom early) so he eats it often.

His sister is able to treat her diabetes using this plant and another herb from SL instead of pills or insulin. We have a lot to learn from them.

I am glad you made it back safely!

:-)

[kenlove]

The ragi is really good but at 72% carbs, its not something I'm going to have unless they have a cure for diabetes!

The chef I know in Banagalore was making roti for me with it but I soon asked him to switch to channa (garbonzo) since the carbs are far less than the ragi. I can imagine jay's surprise at sweet coconut. Amazing how we butcher everything with sugar! I bought a coconut grater, actually a number of them , while there. Already put it to use although think when i'm back in Oct. will send the machines back.

Cutting coconuts with a machete is ok once and awhile but not daily.

I am hooked onthe bitter melon and never would have expected it to work so well so fast in controling blood sugar.

Please let me know what other plans his sister is using. Barnaba or crepe Myrtle is one I also take.

take care

  Lisa16 said:

Yes indeed-- I looked up ragi and found that it is the same thing. It is a kind of brownish-red color and the English translation is "finger millet." It is a kind of "folksy" food for them.

Jay prepares this as a kind of pancacke or bread using coconut milk, baking soda and salt. They are not too bad. He also tried microwaving this mixture in a dish to make a kind of porridge. But sadly he used some of my sweetened baking coconut flakes (for macaroons) and was disgusted and horrified. They do not consider coconut to be a sweet food at all.

So you know the joy of bitter melon! Yes, it is a pretty strong (dare I say acquired) taste. They slice it thin and fry it with some spices (garlic, onion, salt, pepper) and eat it almost like potato chips on the side. Sometimes it has shockingly red seeds. I cannot imagine drinking a glass a day, but it really does something (diabetes runs in Jay's family-- it killed his mom early) so he eats it often.

His sister is able to treat her diabetes using this plant and another herb from SL instead of pills or insulin. We have a lot to learn from them.

I am glad you made it back safely!

:-)

[Lisa16]

The other plant is called jambul fruit (jambullah) in English. I guess these plants actually have a plant insulin and they are now doing some serious research with the bitter gourd. Knowing you, you have some nice jambul fruits growing in your backyard at this very moment :-)

While looking for the jambul in English, I found this website:

Open Original Shared Link

What I find most interesting about the sugar on the coconut incident (whick produced a kind of yargh gaggins sound) is the idea that certain cultures associate certain spices or plants with only savory or only sweet. So an American would not typically expect to get non-sweet coconut in a main dish, say or cinnamon on their meat. Another interesting one is avocado, which they eat sweet or pineapple which they eat with salt and black pepper. On limes. We almosty never eat them without sugar unless it is some kind of imported dish like ceviche.

Oh, I could tell lots of stories about me, the midwesterner, trying to open coconuts. They aree tough nuts to crack! Once I ran one over with my car (or tried to.) And once you do crack them, all the milk can escape :-( And there are different kinds! Who knew??

[kenlove]

GUess you know me pretty good -- java plum as jambul is called here (Eugenia cumini) is not common here but there are about 50 plants potted up out back! Didnt realize that was also used for diabetes. Sure ate a ton of them while there. Were actually served in hotel buffets which I thought was great.

There are a number of other Eugenia which we grow a lot more of here. surinam cherry, grumichama etc. bunches of them.

Your so right about how fruit is used as sweet or savory and often opposite of what they are used to in the states.

Often we grow to order for chefs. Sometimes its the difference in commercial ripe or tree ripe.

Too bad kids today dont know what a real peach or plum taste like unless you happen to be on a farm where they grow.

Figs and mangos are both good examples of what we will grow as sweet or keep almost ripe for savories.

I will never sweeten coconut. I do plan on sending back a lot of machinery in October. sugar cane juicers and coconut graters, butter churners.

I was so into having fresh butter for the first time that it makes me want to go get a cow!

take care

  Lisa16 said:

The other plant is called jambul fruit (jambullah) in English. I guess these plants actually have a plant insulin and they are now doing some serious research with the bitter gourd. Knowing you, you have some nice jambul fruits growing in your backyard at this very moment :-)

While looking for the jambul in English, I found this website:

Open Original Shared Link

What I find most interesting about the sugar on the coconut incident (whick produced a kind of yargh gaggins sound) is the idea that certain cultures associate certain spices or plants with only savory or only sweet. So an American would not typically expect to get non-sweet coconut in a main dish, say or cinnamon on their meat. Another interesting one is avocado, which they eat sweet or pineapple which they eat with salt and black pepper. On limes. We almosty never eat them without sugar unless it is some kind of imported dish like ceviche.

Oh, I could tell lots of stories about me, the midwesterner, trying to open coconuts. They aree tough nuts to crack! Once I ran one over with my car (or tried to.) And once you do crack them, all the milk can escape :-( And there are different kinds! Who knew??