The making of Basic Ground Chilly Paste

Chilly Paste

Back home, you can buy ready made chilly paste or chilly boh as it is famously known, in supermarkets. grocery shops and wet markets. It is cheap and also ready to be use in a jiff.

However, since moving to the middle east, I always made my own.  I try to make them in bulk and packaged in small bottles (used jam jars/pickles etc  that I try to save every now and then).  I keep one in the fridge and the rest in a freezer, taking it out when one bottle is done.

When you have a pre-prepared chilly paste at hand, you can always use it for any thing from sambal, to frying spicy noodles or fried rice.

The level of heat that you get all depends on the type of dried chilly used.  Some can be really really spicy and some  has no effect at all.

The use of candlenut is optional.  Candlenut is widely used in Malaysian Malay and Indonesian cuisine.  It gives a creamy sort of flavour to the dish.  Macadamia nut can be used as substitute to candlenut, however macadamia nut can be costly.

Ingredients for Basic Chilly Paste
100gm dried chilly
1 big size onion - quartered
8-10 cloves of garlic
thumb sized ginger
5-6 candlenut  (optional)  
1-2tbs of vegetable oil - I normally use olive oil                                                                                                            

Method

1.  Cut dried chilly into small pieces.
2.  Soak dried chilly in boiling water for at least 1/2 hour.
3.  Put all ingredients in food processor or blender and blend till fine paste.
4.   And the paste is ready to be used.

Happy Cooking

Sathiarani
                                

Sambal Pecel

I was tagged by my friend Baya over FB with this Sambal Pecel, I was practically drooling when watching the YouTube...So here comes my Sambal Pecel from the Kitchen of Al Khor, Doha.

What you need
2 tomatoes - quartered
3-4 birds eyes chillies - chopped
4 -5 shallots - sliced
some palm sugar
salt
oil
shrimp paste

How to do

• heat oil in a wok/pan
• saute shallots till soft, add in chillies and tomatoes, saute further till tomatoes are soft.
• season the tomatoes with shrimp paste, salt and palm sugar.
• remove from fire and use pestle and mortar to give a good whizz.(I used the food processor for a quick version

Sambal Pecel is now ready...I definitely had a good time eating this spicy sambal...

Egg Sambal

Sambal is a chilli based sauce which is normally used as a condiment.  Its a popular dish amongst the Malaysian, Indonesians and Singaporeans.  

During the International Day celebration at my children's school, I came across Sri Lankan's version of sambal and coconut rice just like the Malaysian's Sambal Ikan Bilis and Nasi Lemak.

I normally have the chilli paste made in advance and refrigerate them.  With the chilli paste ready, you can always use it for making fried rice, noodles or anything else that requires the extra edge in spice.

There are normally made with dry chillies soaked in hot water, adding together shallots/onions, ginger and garlic, blend to fine paste.  At times, when I get "colourful" I add lime leaves and lemon grass. 

What you need....

• 1/2kg dry chillies - cut into small pieces
• 1 cup of shallots/onions
• thumb sized ginger
• 5-6 garlics
• lemon grass - optional
• lime leaves - optional

How to do....

• Boil water enough to cover the dry chillies
• Once cooled, blend the chillies with all the other ingredients to a fine paste, using a the same water that was soaked.
• You can store the blended paste as it is or cook slowly by heating up some oil and stirring it occasionally until the raw smell of chillies are gone.  Cool and store in fridge.
• Use it as and when required.

Egg Sambal

What you need...

• Boiled eggs and prick slightly
• 10 tbs of chilli paste
• 2 large onions - sliced
• 1 tomato - chopped small
• 1 tsp of tamarind paste - mix with 1 cup of water
• salt to taste
• sugar if required

How to do...

• Heat some oil
• Saute onions for a few minutes.
• Add in the chopped tomatoes and fry for a few more minutes.
• Add in the chilli paste, stirring well with the onions and tomatoes and cook over slow fire for more minutes.
• Pour in the tamarind paste, stirring well, salt to taste and sugar if you like.
• Cook slowly, stirring occassionally, add in the eggs, cook till you get the desired consistency.

I personally like mine not too thick or too thin.

Sambal Hijau (Green Chili Sauce)

Sambal Hijau
source : Resipi.net

a hot spicy sambal superb combination with hot steaming rice....

Ingredients
10 green birds eyes chilli
1/2 green tomato
2 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
2 tbs of anchovies
a few pieces petai ( I omitted this)
oil

Method
Pound chilli, tomato and garlic into a fine paste.
Heat oil. 
Fry the paste together.
Add in the anchovies and petai.  Mix well and saute for a few minutes.
Ready Serve.