Carrot Sambol
Every Sri Lankan rice-and-curry plate wants a sambol, a raw, hot, sour thing to cut through everything cooked and rich around it. The famous ones are built on scraped coconut; this carrot version skips it and stays crisp and light. Scrunching the carrot and onion with lime by hand is the only technique involved, and it does two jobs at once: taming the onion and drawing out enough juice that the salad needs nothing else. Raw curry leaf, sliced fine, keeps it unmistakably of the island.
Ingredients
- 4 Carrots, grated
- 1/2 Red onions, very thinly sliced
- 1 Indian green chile, minced
- 8 Curry leaves, very thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp Lime juice
- 1/4 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
- 2 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
Method
- Put the grated carrot, sliced onion, green chile, and sliced curry leaves in a bowl.
- Add the lime juice and black pepper. Scrunch everything together with your hands for a minute, pressing as you go. The pressure softens the onion's raw bite and pulls juice from the carrot, which is how the salad seasons itself without salt.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes so the flavors settle and the onion mellows.
- Fold in the cilantro just before serving. Taste and add a few more drops of lime if it needs a lift. Serve cold, as the fresh, sharp counterpoint to a plate of rice and heavier curries.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 55 calories, 1 g protein, 3 g fiber, 45 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
