Sambal clams with coconut milk rice (Sambal lala)
Serve clams cooked with piquant Indonesian chilli sauce either with samphire or wild garlic, depending on what you can get hold of. Leave plenty of time for soaking both the dried chillies and the clams.
Ingredients
For the sambal
- 20 dried red chillies
- 7 banana shallots, roughly chopped
- 15 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 3 red chillies, roughly chopped
- 3 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
- 1 heaped tbsp toasted belacan shrimp paste
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 1½ tbsp salt
For the coconut milk rice (nasi lemak rice)
- 375g/13oz jasmine rice
- 400ml/7fl oz coconut milk
- 1½ tsp salt
- Pandan leaves, tied into a knot
- 2 tbsp coconut cream (optional)
For the clams
- 200ml/7fl oz rapeseed oil
- 150ml/5fl oz tamarind water
- 3 tbsp ketjap manis
- 1kg/2lb 4oz clams, soaked (see Tip)
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú wild garlic leaves (alternatively use samphire)
- lime juice, to taste
- salt, to taste
- palm sugar, to taste
- small handful Thai basil, torn, to garnish
Method
To make the sambal, put the chillies in a bowl of lukewarm water. Leave to soak until soft and fully rehydrated (about 15 minutes). Drain and roughly chop, removing any seeds (although you can keep some depending on how spicy you like it).
Put the rehydrated chillies in a blender with the shallots, garlic, fresh red chillies, lemongrass and toasted belachan. Blend to a fine paste. Set aside.
Remove the paste from the blender and mix in the sugar and salt.
To make the coconut milk rice (nasi lemak rice), soak the rice in a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes, then rinse and wash the rice thoroughly, or until the water isn't as cloudy.
Drain the rice completely and put in a medium saucepan with the coconut milk – you may wish to reserve a little of the thicker cream on the top of the coconut milk to add later (or alternatively you can use coconut cream for this). Add salt and enough water to come up to the first joint of a finger poked into the top of the rice. Nestle in the pandan leaves throughout the rice. Cook over a medium heat (alternatively cook the rice in a rice cooker with all of the ingredients added and about 200ml/7fl oz water). Once cooked through, add the coconut cream if using (or alternatively reserve the cream on top of the coconut milk to add at this point).
For wok-frying the clams, put about half of the oil into a large wok and allow to reach a medium heat. Add the paste and fry on a medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, moving it constantly so it doesn't burn. Now add the rest of the oil – if the paste looks like it's getting too dry, add a little more oil. The ideal state will be when the oil has split from the sambal and risen to the top.
Add in the tamarind water and ketjap manis, keep cooking until the volume of liquid has reduced down (about 2 minutes).
Drain the clams, then add them to the wok and cover it with a lid. Once the majority of the clams are open, add the wild garlic (or samphire) and toss the sauce around everything.
Discard any clams that haven't opened and serve piping hot with lime juice, salt, palm sugar and some Thai basil garnish to finish, with the rice on the side.
Recipe Tips
Soak the clams in heavily salted cold water for 20 minutes ahead of making this recipe. Pandan leaves add a lovely perfume to the rice in this recipe - they are available to buy from specialist Thai (or other Asian stores) or online.