Category Archives: Dinner

Curry Powder

I decided to share my first recipe post on this blog again, particularly for the Fiesta Friday group. Curry powder blend is usually made at homes in Sri Lanka and therefore differs from house to house in the spices used and the blend ratio. The blend also differs for the type of curry it is used for. Today, I will share my mother’s special blend for vegetarian curries. Interested non-vegetarians can check out these earlier posts for the blend for fish dishes and meat dishes.

spicesThe south Indian musician that I am featuring today is P.Unnikrishnan. Trained in Carnatic music, Unnikrishnan has released several Carnatic music and devotional song albums. He was introduced to the playback singing world of South Indian movies by A.R.Rahman in 1994 and his debut song in the movie ‘Kadhalan’ won him a national award. He also has started dabbling in experimental music.

The first clip is an excerpt from an A.R.Rahman concert where Unnikrishnan sings his award-winning debut song.

The second clip is his lovely rendition of a famous poem by renowned 19th century Tamil poet Bharathiyar.

The last clip is of Unnikrishnan’s daughter, Uthara, who sings a short excerpt of one of her father’s famous movie songs. Uthara recently made her debut in the movie playback singing world at the age of 9 with the release of her first song ‘Azhagu.’

Hope you enjoyed Unnikrishnan’s voice! Do try out my mother’s recipe for her curry powder blend!

Curry powder

Amma's Special Blend Curry Powder


Ingredients

  • Dried red chillies – 100g
  • Coriander seeds(Kothumalli) – 100g
  • Cumin Seeds (Sinna seeraham/ Suduru) – 50g
  • Fennel seeds (Perunjhseeraham/ Maduru) – 50g
  • Fenugreek seeds (Venthayam) – 25g
  • Pepper – 10g
  • Curry leaves – ½ cup
  • Turmeric – 1 piece or 1 tsp (if powder is used)
  • Cinnamon – 2” piece
  • Cardamom – 4 or 5
  • Cloves – 4 or 5

Method

  1. Chop up the dried red chillies and dry roast them. Keep aside.
  2. Dry roast the curry leaves separately and keep aside.
  3. Dry roast the balance ingredients together.
  4. Combine all and grind them together to make the curry powder mix. Store in an airtight container to use when needed.
  5. The ingredients can be scaled up for the desired quantity.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Mango Chutney

During a recent visit of my father to Jaffna, he brought back some mangoes from my mother’s childhood home. My mother said that the particular mango tree had been planted by her father. As the mangoes were half-ripe, cooking mangoes, my mother decided to make some chutney out of them. This is a simple, quick to prepare chutney. I have shared earlier a mango chutney recipe that my mother makes when she wants to store the chutney for a few days. I am sharing this instant mango chutney recipe with the Fiesta Friday group as well.

DSC01208Continuing with the theme of featuring south Indian singers whose voice I have enjoyed and appreciated along with the recipes this month and next, today’s featured musician is another of my mother’s favourite singers – renowned south Indian singer K.J.Yesudas. A classical trained musician, he began his movie playback singing career in the early 1960s. Yesudas is said to have sung and recorded over 50,000 songs over his five decade career in most Indian languages as well as foreign languages such as Arabic and Russian. I do not know how he managed the volume because it roughly translates to about 1000 songs a year. He was awarded the Padma Shri (1975) and the Padma Bhushan (2002) by the Indian government.

While selecting Yesudas song clips to share here, I decided to share first an excerpt from one of his older classical concert clips as he is foremost a classical Carnatic musician and I like his Carnatic music repertoire better than his songs for movies.

The second song is from the 1968 Malayalam movie Bharymar Sookshikkuka. This clip is a live performance of K.J. Yesudas with Chitra and Sujatha.

Wrapping up today’s music selection, the last clip is from a very famous popular Tamil song of Yesudas from the 1992 movie Mannan.

Hope you enjoyed the voice of K.J. Yesudas and do try out this chutney!
chutney

Mango Chutney

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • Mango – ½ cup, half-ripe
  • Onion – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Sugar – 1 tbsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Clean and chop up the half-ripe mango. Rub in a little salt and allow it to marinate while you do the next step.
  2. Heat a tbsp oil in a pan. Temper the chopped onion and crushed chillies for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the chopped and salted mango to the pan together with a tablespoon of sugar. Mix well and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
  4. Remove from heat and transfer the pan contents to a food processor and grind it.
  5. This simple mango chutney is nice on a sandwich.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan

Turmeric Coriander Bread with Seeni Sambol

May this special day of Wesak, which celebrates the day of birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha, bring you peace!

Nil manel

Blue water-lily – the national flower of Sri Lanka

I am sharing this post on Angie’s challenge for this month with my recipe for turmeric coriander bread filled with seeni sambol. Ever since I started baking last year, I have found that I enjoy baking different types of bread. One of my favourite and successful breads is rosemary olive oil bread (recipe source: Jessie@A Hint of Honey). Using her recipe as a base, I have sometimes played around with herbs to make different versions of the bread and today, I would like to share my Sri Lankan twist to this bread.

Turmeric bread

Turmeric Coriander Bread with Seeni Sambol

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: average
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Ingredients:

  • Flour – 2 to 2 ½ cups, approximately
  • Turmeric – 1 tsp
  • Coriander – 2 to 4 tbsp fresh coriander leaves (as per your taste) or 1 tsp dried powder
  • Pepper – pinch
  • Salt – ½ tsp
  • Sesame/ Gingelly oil – 2 tbsp
  • Warm water – 1 cup
  • Sugar – 1 tbsp
  • Yeast – 2 tsp
  • Seeni Sambol – recipe provided in this post

Method:

  1. Stir in 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp yeast in 1 cup of warm water in a mixing bowl and let it sit for about 10 mins till it becomes frothy.
  2. Sift the flour and set aside.
  3. Add a cup of flour to the yeast mixture and add the salt, turmeric, pepper, chopped coriander or powder to the mixing bowl.
  4. Mix well before adding the sesame oil and add the remaining flour ¼ cup at a time till the dough is formed. Knead for a few minutes till it is smooth.
  5. Lightly dab the mixing bowl with a little oil and cover, leaving the dough to rise for about an hour.
  6. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll out the dough.
  7. Spread the seeni sambol mixture over the surface. Starting from one end, roll the dough into a log.
  8. You could leave the dough as a log or connect the ends to make a round bread or cut into 8 equal pieces. If you cut into 8 pieces, make each piece into a ball ensuring that the ends are closed and that the filling is not seeping out of the dough.
  9. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased baking tray. Cover and refrigerate till about 30 minutes before you plan to bake.
  10. Leave the tray out in the kitchen for about 30 minutes before brushing the bread with either a little melted margarine or dissolved sugar.
  11. Bake the bread at 175⁰C/340⁰F for 20 mins. Check at intervals as the baking time differs depending on the oven.
  12. Serve warm with a nice vegetable soup.


”Fiesta

Repost: Fried Rice

I wish to wrap up the rice series by re-posting a delicious fried rice recipe from the first month of this blog.

Fried riceTo go with this post, I chose to feature two musicians who were born in Sri Lanka and started their music careers here. They have expanded their musical repertoire since moving/ migrating to the west in the 80s and have made some impressive music.

The first musician to be featured today is Carnatic musician Manickam Yogeswaran. While primarily a classical musician, he has worked with several music groups including fusion group Dissidenten on the Instinctive Traveller album and Jocelyn Pook Ensemble on the sound track of ‘Eyes wide shut‘ and ‘Brick Lane.’

This song is a recording of a bhajan at the sacred music and dance festival held in Berlin last year.

I also wanted to share a song from his 2005 album ‘Peace for Paradise.’

Finishing this post with an upbeat song – Herb Alpert and Lani Hall Quintet’s version of Puttin’ on the Ritz from their grammy award-winning album Steppin’ Out. The second musician I am featuring today is Hussain Jiffry, the bassist in this quintet. He has worked with several musicians including Sérgio Mendes and Yanni.

Enjoy a lovely sunday!

Fried Rice

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Fried Rice Ingredients:

  • Basmathi rice – 2 cups
  • Carrot – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Green peas – ¼ cup
  • Leeks – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Onion – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Mixed 3C spice powder – clove, cinnamon, cardamom powder – 2 tsp
  • Kesari powder – ½ tsp (can use biryani powder or saffron or turmeric powder)
  • Low fat margarine – 50g or 3 tbsp
  • Cinnamon – 1 ~ 2’’ stick
  • Rampe leaf/ pandan
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Cook the rice together with a cinnamon stick, rampe leaf and a little salt.
  2. Chop up the vegetables and sprinkle a little salt over them. Keep aside.
  3. Heat the margarine in a pan over low heat.
  4. Add the mixed 3C spice powder and sauté for a couple of seconds before adding the chopped vegetables.
  5. When the veggies become tender, add the kesari powder.
  6. Add the cooked rice and mix well.
  7. Serve warm.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Tomato Rice

My mother wanted to have a rice series so I will be sharing some of her rice recipes starting today with tomato rice.

Tomato riceWith each of the rice dish recipe, I will also be sharing a song or two by an interesting, contemporary Sri Lankan musician whose music I have enjoyed. Today’s featured musician is Sarangan Sriranganathan. Coming from a musical family, he has been on the Sri Lankan music scene for at least fifteen years.  For today, I chose two video clips that I was able to find online. The first is an original composition by Sarangan – அவள் ஒரு மெல்லிய பூங்காற்று (literal translation: She is a light, fragrant breeze) featuring famous Indian musician Hariharan.

I like that he is well able to shift between classical and popular music and I particularly like the classical music concerts. So, my second video clip is Sarangan’s performance in Sydney of one of his mother‘s original compositions ‘Bhava Raaga Thaala – Thillana.’

Enjoy the delicious tomato rice as you listen to the music clips! 🙂

Tomato Rice

Time taken: 30 mins

Serves 3

tomato rice 2Ingredients:

  • Rice – 1 cup, boiled
  • Tomatoes – 2
  • Onion – ½ , large
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Fenugreek – 1 tsp
  • Chilli powder – ½ tsp
  • Chickpea – 2 tbsp, fried
  • Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Heat the oil and lightly fry the onion, curry leaves and fenugreek.
  2. Add chopped tomatoes and chilli powder and continue frying for a few minutes before removing from heat.
  3. Blend the cooled tomato mixture into a puree.
  4. Re-heat the puree in the pan adding some water, if required.
  5. Add the boiled rice and the fried chickpea to the pan and mix well.
  6. Serve with sliced onion or onion salad.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Hathmalu

Today’s guest blogger is renowned independent film-maker Asoka Handagama. His movies have garnered much critical acclaim and have been screened at numerous major international film festivals (Toronto, Edinburgh, Tokyo etc.) around the world. His most recent movie ‘Ini, Avan’ had its world premiere at the ACID programme in the Cannes festival in 2012. Asoka is currently working on his newest film project which he plans to partially fund through crowd-funding. If you would like to participate in Sri Lanka’s first partially crowd-funded movie production, do check out the film’s Crimso page. 

Today, Asoka shares his favourite dish, Hathmalu – a specialty dish made during the Sri Lankan New Year/ Avurudhu/ Puthaandu.

Hath Malu ( A curry made of Seven vegetable/ingredients )

This traditional curry dish is prepared for an auspicious AVURUDU meal; popular in Sabaragamuva province in Sri Lanka. Uniqueness in this dish is that it is not prepared for any other occasion than AVURUDU.  It is so yummy that you can swallow a whole load of milk-rice in a few seconds!

Hathmalu

Hathmalu Recipe

Ingredients

  • Cashew Nuts (raw un roasted)

And any six (or seven) of the following:

  • Egg plant/ aubergines
  • Jackfruit Seeds
  • Snake beans
  • Sweet potato
  • Sweet potato baby leaves or pumpkin leaves
  • Desha-ala (indigenous potato)
  • Desha-ala leaf stems
  • ‘Ambul’ banana (unripe bananas)

For the curry: 

  • Turmeric
  • Chili powder (un roasted)
  • ‘Thuna paha’ local spice mix such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves (un roasted)
  • Salt
  • Red onions
  • Green chili
  • Curry leaves
  • Coconut milk: thick cream (first squeeze) and diluted (second squeeze)

Method:
Chop aubergines and other vegetables and potatoes into 1cm x 1cm x 1cm cubes. Add the seven main ingredients along with salt, spice mix, curry leaves, chili powder, red onions, green chili, turmeric and diluted coconut milk to a (preferably) clay pot. Place on stove and allow to cook slowly on low heat until all ingredients have cooked and softened (15-20 minutes). Then add thick coconut milk and (on medium heat) allow to simmer until the curry thickens and take it off the heat.

Serve curry with milk rice.

hathmalu2Recipe source: Asoka Handagama.

 

Vengayapoo Varai

Today’s recipe is one of my mother’s quick and easy to prepare, delicious stir-fried dishes made with onion stalks and flowers/ vengaya poo.

Stalk

Vengaya Poo Varai

Time taken: 25 mins

Serves 2

vengaya poo varaiIngredients:

  • Spring onion stalk and flower/ Vengaya poo – 1 cup, chopped
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Onion – 1 tbsp, chopped
  • Green chilli – 1, chopped
  • Fennel – ½ tsp
  • Crushed red chillies – 1 tsp
  • Gingelly/ Sesame oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

  1. Clean the onion stalks and carrot and chop them into small pieces. Add some salt and keep aside.
  2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add the fennel seeds, chopped onion and green chilli. Fry for 2 mins.
  3. Add the chopped and salted onion stalks + flowers and carrots to the pan. Add 1 tsp crushed chilli and mix well.
  4. Cook for around 10 mins over low heat.
  5. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Prawn, Avocado and Egg salad

Today’s guest blogger is Rushda (lìng yīgè tóngxué). She told me she prefers salads when it came to cooking. So, I asked her to share one of her successful salad recipes.

Prawn, Avocado and Egg salad

I like experimenting with cooking and love to take up the challenge in making a dish out of whatever ingredients are available in my fridge when I decide to cook. I would also rather that someone else does the cooking and feeds me than do the cooking myself.

Rushda saladTime taken: 20 to 30 mins

Serves 2 or 3

Ingredients:

  • Boiled eggs –  2 or 3, sliced
  • Avocado – 1, cubed
  • Prawns or baby shrimps – handful
  • Tomatoes – 2 or 3
  • Bell peppers – 1 or 2 (different colours are better)
  • Lime juice – 1 or 2 tbsp
  • Mixed herbs – oregano and rosemary – ½ tsp (optional)
  • Black pepper – ½ to 1 tsp, crushed
  • Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves, crushed
  • Salt, to taste
  • Sugar, pinch
  • Vinegar – 1 tsp
  • Olive oil, as required

Method:

  1. Make the salad dressing by mixing olive oil, vinegar, pinch of sugar, mixed herbs and finely crushed garlic. Keep aside.
  2. Heat the cleaned and de-shelled prawns in a non-stick pan on low heat till it is cooked enough. Just sprinkle a bit of lime juice over it while cooking – don’t add water or oil while cooking. After the prawns are cooked and cooled, drizzle a bit of olive oil over it and sprinkle some pepper and salt over them. If salt is used here, it is not required to be used again in the recipe.
  3. Toast the roughly cut tomatoes in a wok or pan over low heat.
  4. Meanwhile, slice the boiled eggs, bell peppers and cube the avocado.
  5. Assemble the ingredients on the salad plate, in an eye-catching way.
  6. Drizzle the salad dressing over the salad.

Recipe source: Rushda.

Seeni Sambol

Since I started this blog, I have developed this tendency of asking fellow Sri Lankans I meet  to contribute one of their favourite recipes to the blog. One such instance was when I invited my Mandarin language classmates to contribute to the blog and starting today, over the next few weeks, the guest posts will feature a few recipes shared by my class.

Today’s guest blogger is Hasini Wanninayake. She is currently an international studies undergraduate at Kelaniya university and plans to join the foreign service after her graduation.

Seeni Sambol

This is a side dish that my mother often makes at home. It can be eaten with hoppers, kiribath or in a sandwich.

seeni sambalTime taken: 30 mins

Serves 5 to 6

Ingredients:

  • Onions – 5, large
  • Maldive fish – ¼ cup (optional)
  • Ginger – 1”, crushed
  • Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves
  • Cinnamon – 1 piece
  • Cloves – 3 or 4
  • Curry leaves – 1 or 2 sprigs
  • Rampe  – 1 or 2” piece
  • Sera/ Lemongrass – ½ “ pieces
  • Tamarind paste – 1 tsp
  • Vegetable oil – 4 to 6 tbsp
  • Sugar – 2 tsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Peel and finely chop the onions.
  2. Mix the first nine ingredients (onions to lemon grass) in a bowl with a pinch of salt.
  3. Heat the oil in a shallow pan.
  4. When the oil starts to sizzle, add the mixed ingredients to the pan and keep stirring for 10 to 15 mins.
  5. When the onions are well fried and dry, add the tamarind paste to the pan.
  6. Continue stirring until the ingredients are well mixed.
  7. Fry a few minutes longer until the mixture turns dark brown.
  8. Add the sugar and keep stirring for a little while longer. Adjust salt, if required, before removing from heat.

Recipe source: Hasini Wanninayake.

Papaya Curry

Today’s recipe is that of a papaya curry recipe. While papaya is used in pickles or acharu here, a curry is not so common but my mother likes experimenting with her curries and this turned out delicious. This is also the dish I am sharing for Angie’s Fiesta Friday #2.

Papaya Curry

Time taken: 20 mins

Serves 3

Papaya curryIngredients:

  • Papaya, half-ripe – 1 cup, chopped
  • Onion – ½
  • Capsicum/ Malu miris – 1
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Cloves and Cinnamon – 1 tsp, crushed powder
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Lime – 1 ½
  • Sugar – 1 tbsp
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and lightly fry the chopped onion, malu miris and fennel seeds for 2 minutes.
  2. Then, add the chopped papaya, crushed chillies and the crushed cloves and cinnamon powder to the pan, together with ¼ cup of water.  Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
  3.  Squeeze and add the juice from 1 ½ limes and the sugar to the pan. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes. Add a little water if the liquid dries up before that.
  4. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.