In my search for other South African dishes to pair with bobotie, I stumbled across a curious site: foodbycountry.com. As someone who is constantly in search of obscure recipes from foreign countries or totally foreign recipes from obscure countries, I was delighted and a bit puzzled by this find.
Komkomer Sambal immediately jumped out at me on the South African page. “Sambal,” particularly used to describe a spicy sauce, made me think of Indonesian cooking, but the main pepper employed in this preparation was jalapeno, a decidedly New World foodstuff. Perplexing, but in the end simple, delicious, and quickly gobbled down.
Prep time: 10 minutes (1-2 hours standing time)
Serves: 8 (as a relish)
Adapted from Food in South Africa
Note: I have parred down the spiciness a bit due to some complaints about the un-godly fiery nature of my cooking, but feel free to add more chili.
Ingredients
- 2 large cucumbers
- rice vinegar
- a jalapeno pepper
- garlic
- sea salt
Method
- Peel the cucumbers and cut them in half.
- Scoop the seeds out with a spoon.
- Using a large pyramid grater, grate the cucumber on the biggest circular hole size available.
- Generously salt the cucumber and allow it to rest for 1-2 hours.
- Finely chop 1 clove of garlic and the jalapeno pepper and soak them in 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar.
- Pour the mixture into a colander, rinse with water, and drain out the liquid.
- Add the vinegar mixture to the cucumbers and serve with potjie.
Enjoy!
Note: Though this relish is incredibly simple and no-cook, since it requires time for the cucumber to rest, it is best to start it before your other dishes.
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