Odiyal Pittu

This month, I have been sharing some recipes using palmyrah root which is an ingredient used in traditional North Sri Lankan cooking.

Odiyal (palmyrah root) flour

Odiyal flour ground from palmyrah root has a high calcium content and is very nutritious. To wrap the palmyrah feature, I would like to share my mother’s recipe for ‘odiyal pittu’.

And to wrap up a special month, I would like to share a couple of songs from my all-time favourite rock band – Queen. The first song is from the 14th Queen studio album.

This clip is from the 15th album, Made in Heaven, released in 1995.

Have a lovely weekend!

Odiyal Pittu

Servings: 2-3
Time: 30mins
Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients:

Odiyal flour – 1/2 cup
Ash plantain – 1, boiled and peeled
Jackfruit seeds – a handful, chopped & boiled
pasali keerai or spinach
Small onions – 2 or 3
Green chillies – 1 or 2
Carrot – small piece
Yardlong beans – 1 or 2
Mango – 1 or 2 tbsp, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Mix the odiyal flour with a little water and make the raw pittu.
Add a little salt and all the chopped vegetables to the flour and mix well. Steam the pittu.
Once the steaming is finished, just sprinkle with pepper when you remove the pittu from heat.
Serve warm.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Pulukodiyal Candy

Wishing you all a happy New Year! (the Sri Lankan New Year, or more precisely the Sri Lankan Buddhist and Hindu New Year)

For today’s recipe, I decided to share a non-traditional New Year recipe. Something simple and tasty to make. My mother sometimes makes this candy when she receives too much of ‘pulukodiyal’ (sun-dried palmyrah root) from visiting relatives from the north. I would like to share this with you today. Palmyrah root is full of calcium and therefore considered nutritious in the north of Sri Lanka where it is harvested regularly.

Sliced sun-dried palmyrah root

Today, I would like to feature songs from two music groups that I have enjoyed listening to occasionally during the past decade. I was introduced to Il Divo’s music in a surreal setting in early December 2004. I was travelling on work to the north of the country and as the vehicle sped across dusty, remote roads, the radio belted out pop songs of the year. Suddenly, the powerful operatic voice of the four broke through the stifling heat surrounding the landscape we passed through. It was a special experience. The first song that I share here is the song that I listened to that hot afternoon over a decade ago.

The second is by Celtic Woman. Not sure how I came across their music but I did somewhere along the past decade. I liked their songs to the extent that I went for their concert when they performed at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in November last year. It was a fun experience.

Hope you enjoy the two songs and do try out the candy, if you happen upon some dried palmyrah root!

Wish you the best for the New Year!

Pulukodiyal Candy

Servings: 4
Time: 10 mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

Sliced ‘pulukodiyal’ – 1 cup
Roasted gram – 2 tbsp
Sugar – ¼ cup
Water

Method:

Let the water and sugar simmer till it thickens into a syrup.
Add the roasted gram and pulukodiyal and stir well, before removing from heat.
Let it cool and the candied pulukodiyal is ready for eating.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan

Odiyal Kool

Today is my mother’s birthday and I felt like re-sharing one of my mother’s favourite recipes. Odiyal Kool is a traditional dish from north Sri Lanka and can be made as a vegetarian or non-vegetarian version. Today’s recipe is a vegetarian dish. For today’s music feature, I wish to share some song clips from youTube from the official vevo site of one of my favourite singers – Andrea Bocelli. The first is a music video of the song ‘Canto Della Terra’. The second song ‘Con Te Partiro’ is from a 2011 concert. I liked more an earlier version, where he sings with Sarah Brightman, but could not find it on the official site. The last clip is the music video of the song with Laura Pausini ‘Dare to Live’. Hope you enjoy the music and the recipe!

Odiyal Kool

Servings: 8-10
Time: 45mins
Difficulty: average
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Ingredients

Odiyal Flour – 1 cup
Chopped mixed vegetables (brinjal/ katharikkai, jackfruit seeds/ palakottai, yardlong beans/ paithangai, small green leaves/ pasali keerai or murungai ilai, manioc, ash plantain) – 100g each
Boiled rice – ½ cup
Dried red chillies – 5- 10, according to your taste
Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
Pepper powder – 1tbsp
Tamarind extract – ½ cup
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Water – 1 1/2 litres

Method:

Dry grind the cumin seeds, red chillies and pepper and keep aside.
Boil the vegetables in a pot with half litre water.
Add another litre of water, along with the tamarind extract.
As the water comes to a boil, slowly stir in the odiyal flour, avoiding lumps.
Add the boiled rice to the pot.
Add the ground spice mixture and the turmeric powder to the pot and salt to taste. Let it come to a boil.
You can add a little water to adjust the consistency to your liking, e.g. if the water has dried up or you prefer a watery Kool.
Serve hot in medium-sized bowls.

Recipe Source: Raji Thillainathan.