Sambal

Sambal is a lip-tingling, deep crimson chilli paste. It has, dare I say it, a similar flavour profile to Sriracha (heavy on the garlic, with a tinge of sweetness), but with a black-belt karate kick. My nana’s version relies on dried chillies, which can be difficult to find here, so this recipe uses the fresh kind. When choosing chillies for this recipe, avoid smaller ones, such as bird’s eye chillies, as they can be wickedly hot and it would be a hassle to deseed them all.