Lunu miris (Sri Lankan chilli and onion sambol)

What it is

Lunu miris (ලුණු මිරිස්, literally salt-chilli) is a Sri Lankan sambol of chilli and red onion pounded together with salt and lime. Sri Lanka Tourism calls it a spicy onion sambol and sets it apart from pol sambol, which is built on coconut. The Cultural Me describes it as fresh, uncooked, extremely spicy and pungent, and eaten in small quantities.

Where it differs between cooks is the chilli, the fish and the lime. The Cultural Me pounds dried red chillies with small red onions, salt and a little Maldive fish, then finishes with lime. DailyLife.lk uses chilli flakes and adds umbalakada, the Sinhala name for Maldive fish, as an optional powder at the end.

How it is made

The DailyLife.lk batch is 100 g of chilli flakes and 100 g of red onion. The onion goes into a small mortar first and is pounded; the chilli flakes and salt follow, and it is pounded to a paste. Lime juice, half a teaspoon, is added on a plate, and salt and lime are corrected to taste. A last step stirs in umbalakada powder, 1.5 tablespoons, and a few pieces of tomato "to boost the flavour". The tomato appears only in that step and not in the ingredient list, so no amount is given.

Inside Magazine's two-serving card is a second version, but it omits the chilli amount and its introduction and directions disagree on when the lime goes in. The two are kept apart rather than blended into one formula.

Katta sambol and related names

Katta sambol is a related chilli condiment. The Cultural Me describes it as onion-free and drier, which would set it apart from lunu miris, while Explore Sri Lanka discusses sambol variety without defining where katta ends and lunu miris begins. Sources therefore differ on whether katta sambol is a distinct onion-free preparation or another name for the same thing. This page records lunu miris only; no katta sambol recipe was found in the sources read.

Serving

It is a small, fiery accompaniment to staples. The sources name pol roti, kiribath (milk rice), hoppers, egg hoppers and rice.

Storage and limits

DailyLife.lk says to keep it in the refrigerator and eat it within two or three days. The page gives no temperature or container conditions, and nothing else read validates a storage time, so treat it as a guide from one cook and not a safety guarantee. It is not a fermented food. No Sinhala or Tamil historical source was read, so naming, chronology and regional variants remain open.