Winged beans are sliced thin and tossed with kerisik (toasted grated coconut pounded to a fragrant paste), fresh herbs, dried shrimp and a sharp chilli-lime dressing. The kerisik is the heart of the dish, it gives the salad its smoky-sweet backbone and binds the dressing to the vegetables. Bright, crunchy, savoury and just lightly fiery.
A bright, punchy raw sambal built around belacan, the fermented Malaysian shrimp paste. The belacan is toasted first to mellow its rawness and bring out its savoury depth, then pounded with fresh red chillies, a little shallot and lime juice. The texture should stay coarse, not smooth, so each spoonful carries flecks of chilli skin and seed. Unlike cooked sambals such as sambal tumis, this one is finished in minutes and meant to be eaten the day it is made.