MD Seeni Sambol is a jarred Sri Lankan onion relish made by Lanka Canneries (Pvt) Ltd, the Colombo-based food manufacturer that has traded under the MD name for roughly ninety years. The relish belongs to a category of condiments central to everyday Sri Lankan eating, and this ready-to-use version brings the same slow-cooked, caramelised character to the table without the time that making it from scratch demands. It comes in two glass-jar sizes — 200 g and 400 g — both sealed with a dark metal screw-top lid.
The ingredient list printed on the label tells the story of the flavour: sliced onions cooked down with Maldive fish chips, tamarind paste, chilli pieces, curry leaves, ginger and garlic paste, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, salt, and vegetable oil. Maldive fish is a dried tuna product long used in Sri Lankan and Maldivian cooking; it adds a savoury depth that distinguishes this relish from a straightforward caramelised onion chutney. The tamarind lends sourness, the chilli delivers a firm heat, and the whole spices — cardamom, cloves, cinnamon — give the finished sambol its warm, aromatic backbone. Because Maldive fish is an ingredient, the product is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans.
On the table, seeni sambol sits alongside rice and curries, string hoppers, and plain hoppers. In Sinhala and Tamil the word 'seeni' means sweet or sugar, and the name reflects the character of well-caramelised onion rather than added sweetening. The relish is also an expected component of lamprais — the Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan parcel of rice, curry, and accompaniments baked in a banana leaf — and it fills seeni banis, the soft brioche-style bun sold at Sri Lankan bakeries.
Lanka Canneries holds HACCP and ISO 22000 certifications, both international food safety management standards, and the label carries an Export Quality mark. MD products reach more than thirty countries, with distribution extending to Europe, North America, Australia, and the Middle East. The label is printed in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, reflecting the product's domestic roots and its international reach.
Once opened, the jar should be kept in the refrigerator. The salt content declared on the label is 6.6 g per 100 g, which is worth noting for anyone monitoring their intake. Both jar sizes are the same product in the same glass-and-metal packaging; the choice between them is simply a matter of how quickly you are likely to use it.
