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Sambal Roasted Plantain
If you’ve never had plantain before, you’re missing out. In this recipe, it gets roasted until golden and caramelised and before being served over a spicy sambal, packed with lots of delicious, fragrant aromatics.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
Scale
For the sambal:
- 3 banana shallots, finely chopped
- 2 lemongrass, finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 20g fresh ginger root, finely chopped
- 6 red chillies, finely chopped
- 30g double concentrated tomato purée
- 2 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 250g vine tomatoes, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 lime, juice
- 100ml vegetable oil (or any neutral oil)
For the plantain:
- 4 ripe plantains
- vegetable oil (or any neutral oil)
- 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
- handful of roasted peanuts, crushed
- lime wedges, to serve
Instructions
- Place the shallots, lemongrass, garlic and ginger in a mortar and pound to a smooth-ish paste with a pestle, then transfer to a small bowl.
- Add the chillies, double concentrated tomato purée, chilli flakes, brown sugar and salt to the same mortar (no need to wash it) and pound to a smooth-ish paste with a pestle. Add the tomatoes, fish sauce and lime juice and carefully pound until smooth-ish.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan set over a medium heat. Add the shallow mix and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until very lightly golden.
- Add the chilli mix and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the oil is stained red.
- Drain off the oil and set aside until ready to use. See notes for storing instructions.
- Heat your oven to 220°C / fan 200°C. Cut the tips off the plantain and peel. Slice into four, lengthways and arrnage in a single layer on a large, greaseproof paper-lined baking tray.
- Drizzle with vegetable oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for 35 minutes, or until browned on the outside and soft in the middle.
- To assemble, spread the sambal onto a large plate. Top with the plantain and finish with the spring onions and peanuts. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over and enjoy!
Notes
- If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can use a food processor. However, the resulting paste won’t be as flavorful as the act of pounding releases the flavour and fragrance of ingredients much more than chopping or slicing does.
- If you have any leftover sambal, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer for up to 1 months.
- For a milder sambal, deseed the chillies and/or omit the chilli flakes.
