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Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

written by Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi January 9, 2017

Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

Pol Sambola is one of the must try foods in Sri Lanka. It is spicy but well goes with many of Sri Lankan food. Actually it is a coconut relish prepared with chili and onion which is really easy to make in a modern kitchen. Just add everything in to an electric blender & grind till smooth! But, still,I like the traditional style of preparing of Pol Sambola. Even in a modern Sri Lankan kitchen, we have most of Sri Lankan traditional cooking equipment such as Grinding stone and mortar & Pestle.

Scraping coconut is one of the most boring tasks for me in the kitchen. But this is the thing my amma or even a relative asked me if I tried to give a helping hand when they were cooking. Now I don’t face that problem as I can buy fresh grated coconut here in Singapore. Without any doubt, foods are delicious when we use freshly grated coconut. Specially, this pol sambola! That’s why I thought of sharing the traditional way though I have shared this pol sambola recipe earlier.

The method of preparing is really easy unless you are lazy to scrape coconut same as me.

Ok,I don’t have a photo of a coconut with the skin.Most of Sri Lankans have their own coconut trees.(mostly not in the city area).If we own coconut,first we have to remove the skin which is bit risky task.I really cannot or I never tried it!

Then brake the coconut into two.Yes,I can do this!Use a heavy knife and give few strokes to the middle of the coconut using the back of the knife!Oh!,I like to drink the water inside, don’t you?
(I captured the above picture during my last holiday in Sri Lanka.She is getting ready to a coconut scraping competition.I will share photos of that competition soon!)

Then we need to scrape the coconut. In Sri Lankan home,we have coconut scraper (aka hiramanaya).

Nowadays there are different improved coconut scrapers.Below is another type of scraper which is bit easier than the above scraper.Check different types of Coconut Scrapers

Once fresh coconut is ready,grind red chili,salt and red onions into a fine paste.

Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

Then add coconut and grind again.

If you use maldive fish,add now and grid again.

Finally add lemon juice and mix well in a bowl!

Below is the complete recipe.

Recipe: Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

Ingredients

1 cup grated fresh coconut

4 dry red chili

5-6 red onions

Salt as per taste

1 tbspn lime juice

Method

Remove skin of red onions.

Wash and remove the ends of dried chili.

Grind red chili and red onions into a fine paste.

Add salt and grind again.

Then add fresh grated coconut and grind well.

Finally remove the ground coconut into a bowl & add lime juice.

Mix well. Adjust salt if needed.

It is ready to serve.

Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

Pol Sambola in a Traditional Sri Lankan Kitchen

If you want this to be more flavourful ,temper mustard seeds, curry leaves and sliced onions. Then add sambola into it and prepare a fried pol sambola dish. Check this recipe of fried pol sambola. You may like it too!

Now that,this is how we make pol sambola in our traditional Sri Lankan kitchen. How about you? I guess most of other Asian countries too use grinding stone in their kitchen. Please share your thoughts in comments.

Click if you are looking for a place to buy Coconut Scrapers

Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi

Amila Gamage is the blogger behind Food Corner. She shares her cooking adventures in this blog. Apart from recipes, you will also find travel, health and kitchen inspirations in this blog. She started writing this blog in 2011 and still continuing.

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11 comments

Navaneetham Krishnan June 18, 2014 - 1:12 pm

Oh yes, I eat and eat while in Sri Lanka and you know the spiciness is really killer.

Kurinji June 18, 2014 - 9:35 am

very tempting….

Cascia Talbert June 18, 2014 - 6:20 pm

I’ve never had Sri Lankan food. It sounds very interesting! Have a terrific day!

Mary June 18, 2014 - 10:13 pm

Thanks for dropping by my blog Amy! This recipe looks amazing. I love coconut. I might have to try it. Have a gray day!

Aysha Dileen June 19, 2014 - 3:04 pm

This looks so interesting and different.

Veena Theagarajan June 19, 2014 - 3:41 pm

My MIL house they still use this…

Gauri Kulkarni June 20, 2014 - 9:13 am

I love coconut and yes, we use the “villi” ( in Marathi ) for scraping coconut, just as you do… and i love the water inside 🙂 I have grated fresh coconut with me right now, i will surely try this recipe… Though i don’t have a grinding stone ( my mother still has one ), guess it’s time to buy 🙂 Your recipe looks interesting. Following you 🙂
-cookininpajamas.blogspot.in

Shashi Charles June 23, 2014 - 2:41 pm

I remember using a scraper just like in the picture to scrape coconuts for my mom, when I was younger.
This pol sambol sounds yummy – would be awesome with some roti!

Gloria June 24, 2014 - 10:42 am

We still use this scrapper & grinding stone..this pol sambol sounds interesting….

Bhushavali March 19, 2017 - 3:55 am

That’s an absolutely stunning recipe. I like the traditional way its made. I’m from south of India and we too follow similar way of breaking coconut, grinding etc. The taste that comes in grinding on stone, this way, is so much more delicious than using electric mixie!!! I’m gonna try this out!

Amila Wickramarachchi March 20, 2017 - 10:17 am

Hope you will love this Coconut sambola.It is more similar to Indian coconut chutney.Yes,I always love to enjoy food with fresh coconut and in traditional way when we are in Sri Lanka…

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