Aluvi Sambol

Whether you are having a Dhivehi Keun such as Rihaakuru Dhiya and Baiy or whether you are having rice or Roshi with a curry, some Aluvi Sambol can certainly make the meal better.

Makes: 1 cup

Ingredients:

• ½ cup thinly sliced onion (1 medium)
• ¼ tsp. thinly sliced ginger                                                                 
• 2 cloves thinly sliced garlic                         
• 1 cup grated potato (2 medium)             
• ½ cup oil           
• 5 curry leaves 
• 1/3 tsp. salt     
• ¼ cup dried tuna chips                                                                      
• 1 tsp. chili powder                                                                                       
• ¼ tsp. black pepper                                     

Instructions:

1. Slice the onion thinly and evenly. Our slices were 2mm wide. Chop the ginger and garlic into 2mm wide pieces too.
2. Grate the potato. Wash and rinse the potatoes twice. Then spread them out on a tray lined with tissue paper. Pat the potatoes dry with some tissue paper. Then set the tray aside to let the potatoes dry further for around 25 minutes.
3. Add ½ cup of oil to a pot and once the oil is hot enough, add the potatoes and fry over medium- heat. This will take around 6-7 minutes and you’ll have to give it a stir now and then, especially towards the end.
4. When fried, remove the potatoes from the oil and place in a steel strainer to drain the excess oil.
5. Add the onions to the same oil and stir-fry on medium heat for about 4 minutes until the onion is brown. Then remove to a plate lined with tissue paper to drain the excess oil.
6. Add the ginger and garlic to the same pot and stir-fry for about 2 minutes or until golden-brown. Then remove to a tissue paper lined plate.
7. Fry the curry leaves for about a minute and remove it from the pot. Curry leaves splatter when they fry, so be a bit careful about this.
8. Put the dried fish into the mixture and grind for about 30 seconds or until we get somewhat small pieces that still have some bite (you can skip this step if you are using the ground dried tuna we call ‘mugurimas’).
9. Put the fried potatoes in a bowl and mix evenly with salt.
10. Then add the chili powder, black pepper, fried onions, dried fish, ginger and garlic to the bowl and mix well.