Egg Sambal -- Spicy spicy spicy

We  invited some friends over  for dinner yesterday, I had 2 set of menus to choose from ... one the tradisional Indian cooking ..of Sambar, kootu, etc. and the other would be the Malaysian style dinner. , since my friend wanted something different from the usual Indian food,...so the menu goes like this.... Ghee Rice, Veg Kurma, Egg Sambal (as hot as fire), cucumber mango salad and finally to ease out the fire ... mango strawberry milk shake. All of us had a blast of time and the most popular amont it was the Egg Sambal.

Sambal is a typical Malaysian food that we have for almost any meal.  It usually goes with "Nasi Lemak"  the aromatic rice made with coconut milk and accompanied with  boiled egg, peanuts, cucumber, the sambal and some extra fittings of anchovies, chicken or fish.  Will come to the nasi lemak recipe soon, but for now let me start of the spicy egg sambal.

You would need

• 8 boiled eggs
• 15  dried chillies (soaked in hot water for 5 minutes)
• 6 shallots
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion sliced thinly
• 1 stalk lemongrass thinly sliced (you can find it in the asian market)
• 2 stalks of scallions sliced
• tamarind juice from a marble sized
• 1 tablespoon of thick coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup (can be adjusted acc. to preference)
• salt to taste
• a pinch of sugar

Lets start

1. Boil the eggs. Fry the boiled eggs and cut it into 2 pieces.  In very little oil in a pan fry both side of the boiled egg to get a rough outer texture. Once fried cut the eggs into half . Well if you want to omit the frying part thats also perfectly fine .... just how you like it matters
2. Blend the chillie, garlic and shallot to a fine paste. A little oil added while blending helps to get a smooth paste. 
3. Heat about 3 tablespoon of oil to moderate heat.  Add the lemongrass  and the paste to the oil and stir well.  Keep the fire on medium low and saute the paste for some time. Just watch out and stir it continously to avoid any burning.
4. Once the raw smell of chillie is gone add the tamarind juice and keep stirring. Add the sliced onion and some of the scallions and let it cook for some time.  Add salt and sugar(optional) to taste.
5. When the oil starts to surface add in the tomato ketchup as it gives the glossy rich look and flavor.
6. Add the prepared eggs in the sambal with the coconut milk and give a final boil.
7. By this time you should have a beautiful reddish sambal with oil oozing out and all ready to eat.
8. Add some scallions for garnishing and waa laa .... the spicy spicy egg sambal is ready

Tips

• How spicy u want the sambal can be adjusted with the usage of ketchup and coconut milk. 
• You can prepare plain sambal as above minus the egg and coconut milk.  Store it in fridge for a week or 2 and pull it out on one of those days when cooking is not on your curb. Just add any of the below items, some coconut milk bring to boil and dinner is ready.
• You could add in the egg (boiled or omlette), shrimp, fried fish, fried anchovies, and  for dear vegetarian friends fried tofu, paneer or even fried potato would be excellent.
• Other than the normal combination of  "sambal nasi lemak". this also goes when with chapathis, ghee rice, plain rice, and a good side dish for rasam or any dhalls.

Enjoy the spicy sambal on a cool day