Coconut sambal

In Sri Lanka, this fresh sambal is served with nearly every meal. We loved putting a big spoonful of it on our bread, still hot from the bakery next door. You really need fresh coconut for this sambal. When we first arrived in Australia in 1979 it was very hard to get a fresh coconut, so we’d reconstitute the desiccated version with warm water. Not as good as fresh, but acceptable.

I have used paprika here solely to give the sambal its distinctive rich red colour; you can use extra