Pol Sambol (Sri Lankan Coconut "Relish")

I've been meaning to make pol sambol for a while now. Fresh grated coconut is in all the supermarkets here in Abu Dhabi, and this Sri Lankan dish is one of my favorites. It's typically used like a condiment, but I often ordered it as a sort of "dip" with papadams when in Sri Lanka. I ate this bowl with some of the Protein Chips I recently published on my site.

Pol sambol is traditionally very spicy and you will often see it much redder than the one in my picture. In my recipe, I've given ranges for the chilis and hot spices. However, even using the lower end of these ranges will create a pretty spicy dish, depending on the kind of chilis and chili powder you use, and I've seen recipes with twice the upper end of my range for chili powder and dried chilis. Adjust it to your tastes. Pol sambol often contains a particular cured dried fish, which is obviously not in my version. Instead, I've included the option of a little smoked paprika and kelp granules for a bit of extra umami. These are not traditional additions. Adding a few drops of liquid smoke and nori flakes would also work here if you have those on hand. Enjoy and let me know what you think! 
Yield: 6 servings of about ¼ cup (30g) each, totaling roughly 1½ cups (175g)
Macros (per serving): 65 calories | 0.5g protein | 5.5g fat | 2g net carbs
Prep: 15 minutes
Storage: refrigerated for 3-4 day, or the remaining life of the coconut used.
Ingredients:​​
  • ½ medium red onion or 2 medium shallots, diced​ (55g) ✎​
  • 1-2 small green chili peppers, finely chopped (I'm using Jwala)
  • ¼ - ½ tsp chili powder, just ground chilis - not the blend ✎
  • ¼ - ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes or dried chilis of preference
  • ¼ tsp smoked paprika (optional)
  • ¼ tsp kelp granules (optional)
  • 1¼ cup (100g) fresh grated coconut
  • 1 Tbsp (15ml) fresh lime juice (about half a medium lime) (or more to taste)
  • ¼ - ½ tsp salt, smoked if available
Directions:
  1. Put the onion, green chili, chili powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, and kelp granules in the bowl of a mortar and pestle or in a mini food processor. Crush or process to a rough paste. Don't overdo it - you don't want a liquid. 
  2. Add the coconut and crush/process to fully incorporate. ✎
  3. Add the lime juice and salt (to taste) and mix/process to combine.
  4. Enjoy chilled or at room temperature as a topping, filling, or "dip".
✎ Notes:
  • Shallots are more traditional for this recipe, but contain more carbs than onions. If you're being particularly careful about your carb intake, using shallots will add about 0.5g per serving.
  • The spice sold as "chili powder" the Middle East is simply ground chilis and is quite spicy, maybe a bit milder than cayenne pepper. It's not the chili powder blend we have in North America. You can use cayenne pepper (very spicy) or ancho chili powder (not so spicy) if those are what is available for you. If you want something really not spicy, you could just use some paprika and black pepper to taste.
  • The coconut should probably be a bit more ground up than in my picture. My mortar and pestle was too small to crush the coconut properly and I didn't want to dirty the food processor when half way through the recipe already.
  • Macros for this recipes are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the kelp granules (Sea Seasonings, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables).
  • Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.