FEATURE // Sambol
Spicing things up Sambol is integral to Sri Lankan cuisine and is guaranteed to bring variety to the table. WORDS Aristine Dobson PHOTOGRAPHY Nikki To for Lankan Filling Station; Gully 9 and Kitti Gould SWEET, SPICY AND tangy are just a few words
within his family. “My mum describes these
condiment hails from Sri Lanka and comes in
extend dishes,” he says. “Sri Lankan cuisine is
that can be used to describe sambol. The
multiple forms, often found in large family style spreads and everyday cooking.
For Sri Lankan people, no meal is complete
without sambols and no sambol is the same. It’s a reflection of the vibrant cuisine it spawned
from and is the culmination of different flavours
so unique; it has many different flavour profiles and balances for cooking. You have sweetness, sharpness, fire and a whole heap of different elements that go into it, which is what the sambols provide in little bursts.”
and textures.
Pol, katta and seeni are the three traditional
pickle to a fruity mixture or a hot chilli paste,
and Lankan Filling Station. “Seeni sambol has
A sambol can be anything from an acidic
and there are plenty more iterations coming to the fore as chefs carry on tradition and forge
ahead with new creations. Hospitality speaks
to Lankan Filling Station’s O Tama Carey and
Shaun Christie-David from Colombo Social about sambol variations and the importance of sambols in Sri Lankan cuisine.
Sambol is serious business in Sri Lanka.
Although it bears some similarities to sambal, the
sambols and are on the menu at Colombo Social more sugar; it’s a sweet and sour, caramelised
onion sambol [with] sweet spices and Maldive fish,” says Carey. “It has a lot of tamarind and
jaggery, but is still quite spicy — it’s not a chilli-
based relish like a lot of other sambols you find.
Katta sambol is more like what you would expect a sambol to be like, and that’s just chillies and
onion. Sometimes it’s made with Maldive fish, but it’s fiery and fresh.”
Pol is perhaps the most popular sambol and
Malaysian or Indonesian version, they are not to
means coconut. It’s made from shredded coconut
Chef O Tama Carey outlines the key differences
Maldive fish. At Lankan Filling Station in Sydney,
be confused. Lankan Filling Station Owner and
between the two: “One of the interesting things about sambol is that Sri Lankans are the only ones who spell it with an ‘o’ not an ‘a’,” she
says. “It’s also interesting the way they use the
word sambol and the type of dishes sambol can cover. It’s very different to the more traditional
Malaysian, Vietnamese and Indonesian versions. The Sri Lankan version covers a whole heap of
which is traditionally mixed with spices and dried there are two kinds of pol sambol on offer. “We’ve got a big sambol selection and that’s probably
the biggest section on the menu,” says Carey. “Pol
sambol is one you would get with most meals. It’s
a staple go-to for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The green pol sambol we do is more South Indian in style with lime and coriander.”
Colombo Social in Sydney’s Enmore also has
other dishes you wouldn’t necessarily expect.”
an extensive sambol offering, which covers an
comparable to a dip or a relish in the sense that
versions. Christie-David refers to a papaya salsa
In the same way as sambal, sambol is
it can be used to add more to a meal. Owner of Colombo Social Shaun Christie-David grew up eating sambols and describes the significance 50 | Hospitality
side elements as a ‘rice pause’ and a way to
array of traditional sambols and more modern
that plays a key role in a main dish. “The papaya salsa is one of our new sambols we’ve created
which goes into our softshell crab taco,” he says.
