I adapted a recipe I found online for this Paleo Sambal Oelek that I recently used in a Spicy Beef that I made. The original recipe made gobs of this and I really didn’t want a bunch sitting in my refrigerator ~ possibly spoiling if I didn’t use it right away.
This Sambal Oelek has a spicy sweet flavor to it. Â If you want it more spicy, reduce the maple sugar by 1 tablespoon and/or you can add another pepper. Either way will work.
First, here are the ingredients you’ll be needing (salt not shown) ~
Ingredients
- 1 Red Fresco Pepper (or any spicy pepper of your choosing) seeds removed
- 4 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped fine
- 1 – 2 stalks lemongrass (I actually used only 1 ~ the white part only), sliced thinly
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons pure maple sugar
- Salt (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon lime zest, chopped
Directions
- In a mortar and pestle, add the pepper, garlic, ginger and the lemon grass then grind/crush it as fine as you can. (You can also use a blender instead but I found this more fun.)
- Add the vinegar to the mortar and pestle and mix everything together.
- In a small saucepan, add the ground mixture and bring this to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer then add the maple syrup to the saucepan and stir everything together for a few minutes.
- Add the salt and the lime zest then stir to combine.
- Remove from the stovetop and add to whatever dish you’re making.
Remember ~ this has a sweet ‘n spicy flavor to it. Feel free to make it less sweet and more spicy or vice versa. It took me a long time but I can look at a recipe now and know whether I need to adjust it or not (I was a slow learner).
Next ~ enjoy! Â I added this to a Paleo Spicy Beef dish I made and it came out great.
For more paleo recipes, click here.
