Sambal Matah - authentic Balinese raw sambal recipe
An aromatic and fresh sambal of raw shallots, chilli and kaffir lime leaf
Servings: 2 people as a main, 4-6 as a condiment
Ingredients
- 5 shallots about 250g
- 3 birds-eye chillies*
- 3 kaffir lime leaves fresh or frozen. Alternatively use lemongrass or torch ginger flower**
- 3 tsp neutral cooking oil e.g. groundnut or vegetable oil
- Salt to taste I added 5 pinches, equivalent to roughly ½ tsp of flaky salt
- ⅛ th tsp sugar optional***
Instructions
- Prepare all of the raw ingredients. Roughly slice the shallots into 3 thick pieces, finely slice the chilli (but do not de-seed) and finely shred the kaffir lime leaf (taking out the stem if it is woody).
- Place the chopped ingredients into a mixing bowl and add the oil and salt (and sugar if using).
- Grab a handful of the mixture and squeeze fairly hard. Mix your squeezed handful back into the remainder and repeat 5-10 times until all of the mixture has been squeezed. This process helps to combine all the flavours.
- Taste the sambal. It should be well-seasoned with salt (otherwise it will taste flat). The kaffir lime fragrance and chilli heat should have started to permeate every bite. Adjust the salt, sugar and oil levels to your liking.
- The sambal is ready to serve. You can also leave it covered in the fridge (for at least 3 days) and it gets better over time as the flavours combine even further.
Notes
*This makes the sambal as spicy as you would commonly find it in Bali (and therefore spicy by UK standards). Adjust to your liking.
**See ‘Ingredient Notes - which aromatic to use’ for more information
***I have added a very small amount of sugar because I think it is necessary to compensate for the harsh nature of UK onions. If you are using sweeter Indonesian onions then there is no need (the original I ate in Bali had no sugar added).