SPiCY BleNDeD IkAN BiLiS & PetAI SaMBaL....

Proudly presenting my own version of sambal....

I am not a expert in kitchen, still largely dependent on recipe blogs....everyday cooking is a challenge for me, wondering whether will it turn out well. There are days I feel like a queen in my kitchen able to produce finger licking dishes and there are days that i rather throw it into the dustbin than serving it on the table.

In this process of learning I manage to produce my own version of dishes, (edited form mostly), still trying to bring out the best out of the dish. One of it is this ikan bilis and petai sambal.

Being a Malaysian, i don't think anyone will turn their head away from this, almost all will droll for a good sambal. Every family will have their own way of cooking this sambal. Mine is edited form of my mother in law's sambal.

My mother in law make an excellent ikan bilis and petai sambal, after marriage only I got to know blended ikan bilis added to the sambal increase the richness of the sambal.

I made a few changes, collabrate my style and my mother in law style and produce this...

SPICY BLENDED IKAN BILIS & PETAI SAMBAL

Ingredients:

- Petai - 3/4 cup, cleaned
- Onion - 2 medium size
- Ginger garlic paste - 1/1/2 tbsp
- Belacan - small amount
- Tomato - 2 medium size

- Ikan bilis - 100 gm - deep fried and keep aside
- Tamarind - a small  lemon size - to soak in water for 15 min

To grind into paste 
- Dry red chili - 8-10 dependent on desire spicy level, - soak in hot water for 20 min
- curry leaves - 1 spring
- Dry shrimp - 5
- Ikan bilis - 15 - 20 pieces

Methods

- Deep fry the ikan bilis - and keep aside
- Cut the onion finely, pound the ginger garlic paste, cut the tomatoes, collect the drain water from tamarind, and grind the ingredients required to make the paste.
In a pan, can add the oil used to fry the fish earlier, add the belacan(i added very minimal amount as not a big fan of pungent smell), add ginger garlic paste, as the smell rises, add onions, saute till it translucent.
- After onion cooked add petai, and cook for two minutes.
- Add tomato, add a pinch of salt, and continue stirring for a minute.
- Next add the blended paste, if needed add oil and let the paste cooked in the mixture.
- Once the raw smell of paste disappears, add desirable amount of water as how thick you want your sambal to be.
- Finally add the fried ikan bilis to the mixture, stir for a minute and switch off the flame.

• Coconut oil will give a better flavour to the sambal.
• The quantity for the ingredients needed to make a paste can be altered to your personal preference.
• This dish can be kept for few days in refrigerator

Hope you all enjoy the dish!!!