Open the jar and the first thing to greet you is the deep, sweet smell of onions and the earthy spices. Caramel-dark and jammy, with tamarind and toasted spice behind it. The texture is soft and glossy: tender strands of onion cooked almost to melting, sticky rather than runny, and darkened to a rich mahogany brown. The first taste is sweetness, then a slow build of chilli warmth at the back of the throat, lifted by a gentle sourness of tamarind and the fragrance of spices.
You don’t need a Sri Lankan spread to reach for it, use it with your everyday dishes. It’s the making of a cheese toastie: spoon it in with the cheese and let it melt into sweet-savoury pools. Fold it through an omelette or pile it onto hot buttered toast at breakfast; tuck it into a cheese, chicken or ham sandwich; spoon it alongside cold meats and a sharp cheddar on a board; or treat it like a chutney with sausages, a Scotch egg, roasted vegetables or a bowl of dhal. A little goes a long way.
We make it the traditional way, in small batches, by our team in Sri Lanka: onions caramelised low and slow until they turn deep and sweet, then balanced with chilli, tamarind and spices. That patient, slow cooking is why it tastes so rich and rounded straight from the jar.
Usage Information
Ready to serve, no cooking needed, spoon it straight from the jar. If you prefer it softer and more spreadable, warm a portion gently for a few seconds to loosen it and release the aromas.
Always use a dry spoon, and after serving close the lid tightly and store in the refrigerator.
Suitable for home freezing, if you won’t use the whole jar within 4 weeks of opening, freeze in portions in freezer bags and thaw naturally in the fridge before use.
WHAT IS SEENI SAMBOL?
‘Seeni’ is the common usage name for sugar in both Sinhala and Tamil, and seeni sambol is the only sambol with sugar used as an ingredient. It’s the island’s favourite sweet sambol, a caramelised onion relish that has been part of the Sri Lankan diet for generations. There are many versions used as family recipes. Onions are cooked long and slow until they turn dark and sweet, then seasoned with chilli, tamarind and warm spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. In many kitchens it’s finished with Maldive fish, the dried tuna flakes, we have kept ours vegetarian without them.
It belongs to Sri Lanka’s wide family of sambols, condiments built by pounding or slow-cooking fresh and dried ingredients together. Where pol sambol is fresh, dry and fiery, seeni sambol is its mellow, jammy counterpart: sweeter, softer and gently spiced. It’s the classic partner to hoppers and string hoppers at breakfast, tucked into a bread roll for the lunchbox, or served alongside yellow rice and biriyani.
To taste it is to taste one of the most comforting corners of Sri Lankan home cooking, and a doorway into a cuisine of remarkable depth. We’d love you to explore it with us.
