Tamarind & Lemongrass Sambal Sauce

This is one of many variations of amazing sambal sauces.  It's great with rice dishes and is eaten all over indonesia.
I was lucky enough to have another sambal made for me in Sri Lanka. It's called Seeni Sambal. It is an amazing sauce that they have with sticky diamond shaped rice as a traditional festive meal. It is sweet, sticky, spicy, strongly onion/cinammon and very addictive!  I found a recipe for it HERE, but haven't tested it as yet.  I can't wait.


RECIPE BELOW:

• 10 chopped shallots, or 8 small chopped red onions
• 2 ounces or 8 fresh chilies, remove seeds and slice
• 5 cloves sliced garlic
• 1 stalk lemongrass thinly sliced (use only the bottom 3 inches of the stalk)
• ½ oz or 10 dried chilies (soak in hot water for 5 minutes)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ oz tamarind (soak in a cup of water and pour the tamarind juice through a strainer before use)
• 3 tbsp sugar

TO MAKE THE SAUCE:

1. Blend the first six ingredients into a paste. If they do not blend easily, add about 3 tsp of oil to the mixture.
2. Heat 5 Tbsp oil in a wok / pan. When the oil is moderately hot, sauté the paste until it is fragrant. This should take about 15 minutes. Use only low heat and stir the paste constantly so that it does not stick to the wok/pan.
3. Add the tamarind juice and the sugar.
4. Let the paste cook while stirring occasionally. It is ready when oil from the paste floats to the top.
5. Ladle as much of the finished sambal as you want onto your main dish. Let the rest of the sambal cool before storing it in meal-sized portions for freezing.