Seeni sambal - Vegetarian hot onion mix

This dish goes well with bread and roti or even with string hoppers, hoppers etc.

Ingredients:

Chilli powder 2 teaspoon
Onions 2 large
Cardamom 3 pods
Cinnamon 3 cm long piece
Cloves 5
Tamarind paste 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Sugar 1 teaspoon

Method:

Slice onion into thin equal sized pieces.

Heat a frying pan and add oil and fry cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves until flavour emanates.

Then add sliced onions and fry until soft.

Add chilli powder, tamarind and salt, stir and fry further until all the liquid has evaporated.

Add the sugar and stir to give a sweet taste.

This will have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan and stir occasionally.

Variation:

1) You can add chips of Maldive fish to this when the chilli powder is added. This will give a different taste and flavour and this is a non vegetarian dish.

2) Fry this until all the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is dry you will get a drier seeni sambal. (A different version of seeni sambal is made in other parts of Sri Lanka.)