Murungai ilai varai

The second recipe I would like to share today is my mother’s murungai ilai recipe. Rich in iron and calcium, murungai (moringa oleifera) is very much part of Jaffna cuisine.

Murungai ilai Varai/stir fry

Time taken: 25 – 30 mins

Serves 2 – 3 persons

Ingredients:

Murungai ilai/ Moringa leaves – 1 ½ cups
Fennel seeds –1 tsp
Green chillies – 2, chopped
Onion – ½, chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Coconut scraped – 1 tbsp
Curry powder – 1 tsp or pepper – ½ tsp
Salt, to taste
Sesame oil, as required

Method:

Wash and clean the bunch of murungai ilai. Extract the leaves from the stalk.
Drain off the water and chop the leaves finely. Sprinkle with salt and keep aside.
Heat 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a pan. Saute the chopped onion, green chillies and curry leaves with fennel seeds.
Add the salted leaves to the pan. Increase the heat and stir fry for about 10 mins.
Now, add the freshly scraped coconut and curry powder or pepper and mix well.
Continue to stir fry for another 5 mins before emoving from heat.
Serve hot with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Fried bean curd

This is the most common way my mother makes bean curd at home.

Fried bean curd

Cooking time: 15 – 20 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Bean curd – 150 g
Onion – 1
Ginger – 1 inch
Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves
Capsicum – 1 or green chillies – 3
Soya sauce – 1 tbsp
Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp
Low fat oil (sunflower or canola) – 2 tsp

Method:

Cut the bean curd into 1 inch pieces and deep fry the pieces until browned.
Chop onion, ginger, garlic and chillies.
Heat the oil in the pan and sauté the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and chillies.
Add the soya sauce and tomato sauce and sauté for 1 minute.
Add the fried bean curd pieces and fry for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Serve hot with rice or soup noodles.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Three fish recipes

Today, I will share three fish preparations of my grandmother, as remembered by my mother and occasionally prepared at home during my childhood days.

(a) Fish curry

Cooking time: 25 mins

Serves 5

Ingredients:

Fish (any type) – 5 pieces
Onion – ½, chopped
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Tamarind juice – ½ cup
Coconut milk – 1 cup (thin consistency) + ½ cup (thick consistency)
Special curry powder for fish – 1 tbsp + 1 tsp (optional)
Oil, as required

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion and curry leaves with fenugreek seeds for 2 minutes.
Add the fish pieces. Mix well and fry for a few minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and add ½ cup of tamarind extract and then the 1 cup of thin coconut milk.
Let the curry simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add the ½ cup of thick coconut milk and if you like, another tsp of the curry powder. Let the curry cook for another 5 mins until the gravy thickens.
Serve with rice.

(b) Fried fish/ Meen Poriyal or Varuval

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Seer fish/ Arakkula or Malabar Trevally/Paarai meen or Emperor fish/ Vilai meen – 4 pieces
Onion – 2, chopped
Crushed red chillies – 2 tsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Coriander powder – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Salt, to taste
Oil, for deep-frying

Method:

Clean the fish pieces. Marinate with salt and chilli powder.
Deep fry the marinated pieces and keep aside.
Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the onions and curry leaves. Add the crushed chilli, cumin and coriander powders.
Add the fried fish and mix. Cook for about 10 mins or nicely combined.
Serve with rice.

(c) Scrambled fish or Sura varai

Time taken: 25 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Fish, usually shark/ sura – 1 cup (250g), cleaned and chopped pieces
Onion – 1, chopped
Green chilli – 1, chopped
Dried red chillies – 2, chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Freshly scraped coconut – 2 tbsp
Pepper or Curry powder – 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Pepper powder – 1 tsp
Salt, to taste
Sesame oil, as required

Method:

Boil the fish pieces. Once cooked, cool and then crumble the pieces in a bowl. Add some salt, pepper and turmeric powder and keep aside.
Heat 2tbsp of sesame oil in a pan and sauté the chopped onion, green and red chillies and curry leaves with the fennel and mustard seeds.
Add the crumbled and spiced fish to the pan and mix well. If needed, add a little more oil.
Finally, add the freshly scraped coconut. Combine well and cook for a few minutes before removing from heat.
Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Curry powder for fish dishes

This Jaffna curry powder is specifically used when making fish curries. It can also be used for making crab scraps gravy.

This quantity of curry powder can be used for 12 – 15 dishes.

Ingredients:

Dried red chillies – ½ cup, chopped
Coriander seeds – ½ cup
Cumin seeds – 1/3 cup
Fennel seeds – 2 tbsp
Fenugreek – 2 tsp
Turmeric piece – 1 small piece
Dried ginger – small piece
Pepper – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Method:

Dry roast the ingredients lightly. Then, grind the roasted ingredients into a mixed spice powder.
Store the curry powder in an airtight container.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Squid curry

This is another of my grandmother’s seafood recipes, as remembered by my mother.

Squid curry/ Kanavai curry

Cooking time: 35 – 40 mins

Serves 4 or 5

Ingredients:

Squid/ Kanavai – 2 cups, well cleaned and chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Onion – 1, finely chopped
Ginger – ½“, finely chopped
Garlic – 1, finely chopped
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tbsp
Coconut milk – 1 ½ cup thin coconut milk + ½ cup thick coconut milk
Curry powder – 2 tbsp
Special curry powder for meat dishes – 2 tsp
Salt, to taste
Oil, as required
Lime juice – 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the finely chopped onion, ginger, garlic and curry leaves with the fenugreek seeds till the aroma emanates. Take care that it does not burn.
Add another tbsp of oil and the cleaned and chopped squid. Mix well and cook on low heat for about 5 – 10 mins.
Add 1 ½ cup of coconut milk to the pan, together with 2 tbsp of and salt. Cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes.
Now, add the ½ cup of thick coconut milk and 2 tsp of the special curry powder for meat dishes and increase the heat. Cook the curry till it combines and comes together and the liquid begins to dry up.
Remove from heat and add the lime juice and mix well.
Serve with rice or pittu.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Curry powder for meat based dishes

In addition to the regular all-purpose curry powder, this special blend curry powder is used for meat based dishes. At local grocery stores around Sri Lanka, one can buy little packets of ‘iraitchi sarakku’/ dried spices for meat curries.

This curry powder is used for chicken and other meat dishes as well as crabmeat and squid dishes.

Ingredients

Fennel seeds – ½ cup
Cinnamon – 1 inch and thick
Cloves – 8 to 10
Cardamom – 6 to 8
Dried sathikkai/ nutmeg – 1
Dried kungumapoo/ dried saffron flower – 1 or 2

Method:

Dry roast the ingredients lightly and then, grind the roasted ingredients into powder.
Store the curry powder in an airtight container.
This quantity of curry powder can be used for about 10 meat-based curries.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Prawn vadai

My mother remembers having this prawn snack from her childhood days and even better, the way her mother used to make it.

Prawn Vadai/ Raal Vadai

Time taken: 40 mins + Soaking time – 3 or 4 hours

Makes 10 prawn vadai

Ingredients:

Prawns/ Raal – 10
Urad dal/ Ulunthu – 1 cup
Chillies – 3 or chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Onion – 1, chopped
Fennel seeds and Salt, to taste
Oil, for deep-frying

Method:

Clean the urad dal and let it soak in a bowl of water for 3 – 4 hours, or overnight.
Clean the prawns. Rub some salt over them and boil the prawns in some water for about 10 mins.
Drain the urad dal and grind it together with the chopped chillies and onion till the batter is just right for vadai. Add some fennel seeds and salt, to taste and mix well.
Dab some oil on one of your palms.
Take a small ball of batter and flatten it slightly on your palm.
Place one of the cooked prawns in the middle of the batter and close it up, forming a ball again.
Flatten the ball of batter again, into the shape of a vadai and make a small hole in the middle, like a mini-doughnut.
Deep fry the prawn vadai.
Serve with some hot tea.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Crab curries

Vegetarian readers of this blog can ignore my posts this weekend as I will be sharing some non-vegetarian recipes of my grandmother, as remembered by my mother from her teen years.

Being an island, seafood has played a major role in Sri Lanka’s cuisine. The way it is cooked differs in each coastal district around the country. Today, I will share two recipes of crab curries, from Jaffna, without any photos as the last time crab was cooked at home was when I was around 5 years old.

(a) Crab meat curry

Time taken: 30 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Crab – 2
Onion – 1, chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp, chopped
Garlic – 1 tsp, chopped
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Coconut milk – 1 cup
Curry powder – 1 tbsp
Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

Chop up the crabmeat of 2 crabs into about 8 pieces. You can either buy crabmeat already extracted from its shell, if available at your local stores, or you can clean and extract it yourself. Separate the rest of the crab parts from the main shell and reserve for the crab scraps gravy.
Add some salt to the chopped up crab meat and keep aside.
Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions with 1 tbsp of fenugreek seeds and the curry leaves. Add the chopped ginger and garlic and fry for a few minutes till you get the aroma of tempering.
Add the chopped up crab meat to the pan and mix well.
After frying the crabmeat for about 5 minutes, add the coconut milk and the curry powder.
Cook the crabmeat curry on low heat for around 15 mins till the liquid almost dries up.
Serve crabmeat curry with stringhoppers, hoppers or pittu.

(b) Crab scraps gravy

Time taken: 30 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Crab parts from 2 crabs, excluding the main shell and content
Onion – ½, chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Fenugreek – 1 tbsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Tamarind extract – ½ cup
Coconut milk – 1 ½ cups
Curry powder – 1 ½ tbsp

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions, curry leaves and the fenugreek seeds.
Add the cleaned crab scraps that were reserved when cutting up the crab for the crabmeat curry and fry for some minutes.
Add ½ cup of tamarind juice and let the mixture simmer for 2 mins before adding 1 ½ cups of coconut milk and 1 ½ tbsp of curry powder.
Cook the crab feet gravy on low heat for about 10 – 15 mins. Take care to remove from heat before the gravy before it starts drying up.
Serve the crab scraps gravy with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Panangai Paniyaaram

My aunt sent us some ‘panangai paniyaaram’ that she had made, after a visit to her home in Jaffna. So, I asked her to share the recipe for this Jaffna delicacy. I have also shared an introduction to the different ways the palmyrah is used in the north, at my mother’s request, and I hope I have covered the key aspects in my previous post.

Panangai Paniyaaram

Time taken: 45 mins – 1 hour

Makes 20 – 25 paniyaaram

Ingredients:

Very ripe Palm fruit (Panangai) – 1
Coconut milk – ¼ to ½ cup
Sugar – ¼ cup
Steamed wheat flour – 1 ½ cups
Oil, as required for deep frying

Method:

Remove the skin of the palm fruit. If it is difficult, it can be held over a fire for a few minutes before the black outer skin is peeled off with a knife. This leaves the fibrous orange fruit and the three seeds.
The fruit can be divided into three portions along with each of the three seeds. Mix each portion of the fruit and seed with a little water, in a basin, to make it pulpy.
Strain the pulpy juice using a clean cloth and extract 1 cup of palm fruit juice.
Boil the extracted palm juice, together with the coconut milk and sugar. Cook for 10 mins and then remove from heat.
After the boiled mixture has cooled enough that you can put your finger in it without getting burnt or scalded, stir in the wheat flour slowly till the batter reaches a consistency that you can pick by hand. Not all the wheat flour needs to be used but just enough to reach this consistency. If the batter is still watery, add a little more steamed wheat flour.
Heat some oil in a pan on low heat.
Drop small balls of batter in batches of 5 to 6 and deep fry till they are orange/ golden throughout. Remove before they brown.
Enjoy this Jaffna delicacy with some hot Sri Lankan plain tea and a piece of palm jaggery.

Recipe source: Vijayalakshmi Yogeswaran.

A little background on the Jaffna palmyrah

The Sri Lankan palmyrah (Borassus fabelliformis) is a variety of palm that grows extremely tall but the roots don’t look very strong. They are thin but inter-twined web-like which supports the palm tree.

For the people of the North, particularly Jaffna, the palmyrah tree traditionally has been the most important tree in their lives. Everything about a palmyrah tree is used.

The bunch of palm fruit is used in many ways in food. When the tops of tender palm fruit is cut off, one can see the three seeds inside which are like natural jelly in its early stages. This jelly-like substance is called ‘nungu.’ I remember during visits to my grandmother in my childhood, it was a treat to sample the ‘nungu’ she gave us. The fibrous part of the tender fruit is given to goats and cows. The ripened fruit on the other hand is used to make ‘panangai paniyaaram’ and ‘panaattu,’ both special delicacies of Jaffna. Palm jaggery made from the sap of the palm tree, is considered healthy and a better natural sugar substitute for people with diabetes.

The seed, when planted, sprouts roots which are highly nutritious particularly in Calcium. Only a few of the roots that are planted at a certain distance from each other are left untouched to grow into a tree. The rest of the roots (panangkilangu) are pulled out and boiled. They are either eaten boiled or sun-dried after boiling to make ‘Pulukodiyal.’ The ‘pulukodiyal’ is eaten as it is, with chips of coconut, or it is ground to make flour for a snack. When the roots are dried without boiling first and made into a flour, it is called ‘odiyal flour,’ the basic ingredient for making odiyal kool, another delicacy of Jaffna – the recipe of which I shared in my first few posts on this blog.

The palm leaf stalk called the ‘panai mattai’ is used for firewood and some of the palm leaves are periodically chopped off and used for roofing for huts and fencing. In ancient times, before paper came into use, dried and pressed palm leaves (panai olai) were used as writing material. The trunks of the palm are used in the construction of houses.

Nearly 95% of the palm trees in Sri Lanka grow in Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mannar in the north of the country with the remaining palm trees growing in parts of the eastern province, north central and north west and southern province. The potential of palm trees has not been realized in the rest of the country and even in the north where it has played a very significant role in the day to day lives of people, people have gradually reduced using it in the last few decades. The Palmyrah research institute and Palmyrah development board are currently trying to revive and promote this cottage industry.