Seeni Sambol (Sweet Onion Relish) ..

100% Sri Lankan food anyone would love to taste. As soon as it sounds, “Seeni” mean sugar. It’s a sambol combination of sweet, sour & spicy.  It’s easy to make can keep it for a while. I remember when I was schooling, my mother used to make me seeni sambol sandwiches. Not only that, there are seeni sambol buns or else can serve it with rice or bread. Especially with yellow rice or lump rice.  

The traditional seeni sambol we add dry Maldivian fish. But, if for vegetarians can be used except for dry Maldivian fish. I remember sometimes, my father loves to make this dish with dry cuttlefish or small dry fish (sprats). One more thing he used to say, it’s always good to use small onions (Shallots) for seeni sambol more than big Bombay onions. He believes it has more taste and the flavor. I have tried both,  it truly has quite a different taste.

I will be making this seeni sambol quite differently, since I would love to share the same with you all.  
Let’s start making “Seeni Sambol”

Ingredients:

• Nicely diced 04 Bombay onions or 1kg of shallots
• 1/2 a cup of tamarind juice (if not vinegar)
• 02 tbs of chili flakes
• 02 tsp of chili powder
• 1 tsp of saffron powder
• 01 sticks of cinnamon
• 10 – 15 cloves & cardamoms 
• 02 stings of curry leaves
• 02 tbs of sugar 
• Salt

As I said I love making “Seeni Sambol” with a bit of Maldivian fish or some dry fish. So I’ll be using, Maldivian fish about 300gs, since I couldn’t find any other dried fish this time. 

Also, I’ll be using 200gs of raisins to add a bit of a flavor.

Instructions:

• Add the diced onions in a large bowl and seasoned with tamarind juice, chili flakes, chili powder, saffron & salt.
• Then heat some oil in a deep pan on a very low flame. 
• Then, add cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves & curry leaves. Fry them a little.
• As I'm adding Maldivian fish into my seeni sambol, now it's time to add it. Just before onions. Since it has to fry a little bit. 
• Add the seasoned onion mixture into pan. 
• When the sambol is nicely blended, add raisins and sugar.
• Stir well and cook for a while until the onions turns into a nice dark color. 
• Turn off the flame when the sambol is cooked properly. 
• Leave the seeni sambol aside for a few minutes.
• Then it may contain on the jars (air tight), can be used for a long time. 
• Always keep it in a refrigerator. 

Try some seeni sambol with toasted bread for breakfast. Hope you all will love it !!!