Name: Red chilli sambal
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: juice of a kaffir lime or zest and juice of ½ a lime; 1 tablespoon dark palm sugar (gula jawa); 6 garlic cloves, peeled but whole; 4 small red Asian shallots, roughly chopped; 6 tablespoons oil; ½ teaspoon shrimp paste (optional); ½ or 1 red bird’s eye chilli; 2 large red chillies, roughly chopped; 2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fire Islands

By Eleanor Ford

Published 2019

About

Red chilli sings out in this sweet but complex coral red paste. It is more exciting than sambal oelek and incredibly versatile - if any dish is missing a certain something, stir in a spoonful of this to bring it back on track.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons oil
4 small red Asian shallots, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, pee

Method

Heat the oil in the frying pan - be generous as it’s crucial for depth of flavour: you can pour the excess off later. Soften the shallots and garlic in the oil for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, chillies with their seeds and shrimp paste. Fry over a medium heat until everything is collapsed and softened.

Transfer to a high-speed blender and whizz to a puree. Return to the pan wit