Idiyappam with Sodhi

Idiyappam/ Idiyappa/ Stringhoppers with Kilanghu sodhi/ Ala hodhi is a food that is part of all the different cuisines of Sri Lanka. Everyone around the country either regularly or occasionally makes or buys stringhoppers. It is generally consumed for dinner or breakfast. While my mother has reduced making it as it is easier to buy them, she occasionally makes it when anyone at home is sick. It is considered lighter on the stomach and easily digestible.

Idiyappam/ Idiyappa/ Stringhoppers

Cooking time: 20 mins

Makes 10 – 12 stringhoppers

Ingredients:

Roasted rice flour – ½ cup
Steamed wheat flour – ½ cup
Salt, to taste
Water, as required

Method:

Boil around 1½ cups of water and then cool it slightly for a couple of minutes so that it is still hot but not boiling hot.
Mix the roasted rice flour, steamed wheat flour and some salt and add the hot water slowly, continuing to stir. The water needs to be carefully added so that there is not too much or too little but just enough to make it all come together as a dough and not stick to fingers when tested.
Fill the stringhopper mould/ ural with some of the dough mix and squeeze out the string hoppers onto the stringhopper trays. There are stringhopper machines now that simplify this process.
Place 5 or 6 trays, at a time, in the steamer and cook the stringhoppers for 5 mins.
Serve stringhoppers with sodhi and any other curry.

Kilanghu Sodhi/ Ala Hodhi

Cooking time: 15 mins

Serves 3

Ingredients:

Potato – 1
Chilli – 1
Onion – ¼
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Coconut milk – 1 cup
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Salt, to taste

Method:

Chop up the potato, chilli, onion and curry leaves and cook them in a pan with some water.
Once the potato is cooked, add the coconut milk, turmeric, pepper and some salt, to taste.
Bring the ‘sodhi’ to boil two or three times before removing from heat.
Serve with the stringhoppers.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Jaggery and coconut cake

My mother makes scrumptious cakes. Some of my favourites are the basic butter cake and the chocolate cake. However, on this site, I will share a cake recipe or two of my mother’s that is both vegan and made with typically Sri Lankan ingredients.

Today’s recipe is that of my mother’s jaggery and coconut cake. The key ingredient here is the jaggery.

Jaggery and Coconut cake

Time taken: 1 hour

Makes 12 – 16 pieces if baked in a 6”x6” baking pan

Ingredients:

Grated jaggery (palm or kithul) – 1 cup
Water – 1 cup
Low fat sunflower oil margarine (Flora, for e.g.) – ¾ cup (150g)
Wheat flour – 1 cup
Semolina – ¼ cup
Roasted coconut – ¼ cup
Coconut powder – 1 cup (100g)
Cardamom – 4
Vanilla essence – few drops
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – ¼ tsp
Cashew nuts – ½ cup, chopped or a little for sprinkling (optional)

Method:

Mix the wheat flour, semolina, baking powder and baking soda and keep aside.
Put the jaggery, margarine, water in a blender. Add the vanilla essence and crushed cardamom seeds. Blend for about a minute or two.
Then, add the coconut powder and roasted coconut to the mix in the blender and blend for another minute or two.
Pour the batter into a mixing bowl.
Stir in the flour mix gradually into the batter and mix well.
Add the chopped cashew nuts and mix.
Pour the batter into the baking pan and sprinkle some chopped cashew nuts on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 140⁰C/ 284⁰F for around 40 – 45 minutes.
Serve with some Sri Lankan tea or fresh fruit juice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Triple layer veggie sandwich

Sandwiches are another globally popular and much consumed food. Everyone is sure to have their own recipe for what they like in their sandwich.

The second recipe I wish to share today is a sandwich that is commonly served at kids birthday parties, tea parties and even cocktail events in Sri Lanka. While there might be slightly different ways on how this party snack is made in the country, I am sharing here the way my mother makes them.

Triple layer veggie sandwich

Cooking time: 15 – 20 mins

Makes 2 or 4 sandwiches

Ingredients:

Sandwich bread – 4 pieces
Carrot – ¼
Beetroot – ¼
Mint or green peas – 2 tsp (mint is the more popular choice, though green peas is used in the photo here)
Green chilli – ½, finely chopped
Onion – ½, finely chopped
Low fat sunflower oil margarine – 1 ½ tsp (my mother uses flora margarine)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Boil or steam carrot and beetroot slices.
Grate separately and add 1 tsp finely chopped onion, ½ tsp margarine and salt and pepper to taste to the two vegetables. Keep aside.
Crush or coarsely grind the boiled green peas or mint with the green chilli and 1 tsp finely chopped onion. Add ½ tsp margarine with salt and pepper to taste and mix well.
Make the sandwich by layering each slice of sandwich bread with one of the vegetables mixtures, starting with the carrot mixture on the first layer, the beetroot mixture on the second and the mint or green peas mixture on the third.
Cut off the edges and cut the sandwich into two or four triple layer, colourful sandwiches.
Serve with hot Sri Lankan tea or fresh fruit juice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Stuffed Veggie Cutlet

The recipe I would like to share today is my mother’s stuffed vegetable cutlet recipe.

Stuffed Veggie Cutlet

Cooking time: 45 mins

Makes 5 – 6

Ingredients:

Potatoes – 2, medium-sized
Carrot – 1, small
Green peas – 3 tbsp
Green chilli – 1
Onion – ½, medium-sized
Pepper – 1 tsp
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Ginger – tiny piece
Garlic – 1 clove
Salt, to taste
Low fat oil – 1 tsp (for sauté) + for deep-frying (can be reused)
Wheat flour – ½ cup
Bread crumbs – 7 or 8 tsp

Method:

Dry grind the pepper and fennel together and keep aside.
Boil the potatoes and carrots separately.
Peel the skin of the potatoes and mash them, adding some salt and the ground pepper and fennel mix. When they have been sufficiently mashed and mixed with the spices, make balls of mashed potato and keep aside.
Mash the carrots separately and keep aside.
Boil the green peas lightly, if not pre-cooked, and coarsely grind them a little so that they are half mashed.
Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the chopped ginger, garlic and onion and sauté lightly.
When the aroma begins to waft about, add the mashed carrot and coarsely ground green peas. Add salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes till they come together. Remove from heat.
Make a batter by mixing the wheat flour with salt and adding water little by little, till reaches a pancake batter consistency.
Take a potato ball and flatten it on your palm. Scoop up 1 – 1 ½ tsp of the carrot and peas mixture. Make the cutlets by covering the mixture with the edges of the potato patty like a dumpling.
Dip the cutlets in the batter and roll it in the bread crumbs. Keep aside.
Heat the oil for deep-frying. The oil should be enough to cover the potato balls.
When the oil is ready, drop the batter coated stuffed potato balls in the pan and fry till they are browned on all sides.
Serve the stuffed vegetable cutlets with tea.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Banana fritters

There are several varieties of bananas in Sri Lanka. One of the most common and popular banana are the small ones known as Kathali/ Ambul. This is the variety that is best for the two banana recipes that I will share today.

I think almost everyone, around the world, has their own recipe for banana fritters as it is a fruit that is easily made into a delectable dish.

Today’s recipes for banana fritters come from my great-grandmother and mother. While my great-grandmother’s banana fritter recipe is the traditional way that they are made in the north, my mother’s banana fritter recipe has been influenced by our time in Jakarta when we were kids. We were all very fond of ‘pisang goreng’ so my mother’s banana fritters are her version of a mix of the two styles.

(a) Vaalapala Paniyaaram (Banana fritters in my family, four generations ago)

Cooking time: 30 mins

Makes about 25

Ingredients

Ripe bananas – 4
All purpose flour – 1 ½ cups
Baking powder – 1 ½ tsp (my great-grandmother’s original recipe uses a pinch of baking soda but my mother prefers using baking powder instead of soda)
Brown sugar – ½ cup, or less
Salt, to taste
Low fat oil, for deep-frying (can be reused)

Method

Mash the bananas.
In a bowl, mix the flour with sugar, salt and baking powder.
Add the dry ingredients mix to the mashed bananas slowly to form a thick fruity batter.
Heat the oil in a pan.
Form small balls (or oblong shapes) out of the batter and drop them in batches into the heated oil.
Turn the banana balls so that they are browned on all sides.
Remove from pan and put them on a grease absorbing paper to get rid of excess oil.
Serve hot with tea.

(b) Fried bananas (my mother’s recipe)

Cooking time: 20 mins

Makes 4

Ingredients:

Ripe bananas – 4
All purpose flour – ½ cup
Chickpeas flour – 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract – few drops
Yellow food colouring – few drops (optional)
Salt, to taste
Low fat oil, for deep-frying (can be reused)
Melted cooking chocolate or chocolate sauce – 4 tsp
Brown sugar, a little to sprinkle

Method:

Mix both flours and salt in a bowl.
Add water little by little, making a batter of consistency like that of pancake batter.
Add the vanilla extract and optional food colouring and mix well.
Remove the banana skins and dip the fruits into the batter, coating it well.
Deep fry the bananas coated in the batter one by one. Let them cool on a plate on a grease absorbing paper.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the fried bananas and sprinkle with a little brown sugar.
Serve with tea.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Payaru Soosiam

Green gram (Payaru/ Moongkatta) is used a lot in Sri Lanka as a nutritious food. It is generally cultivated in between paddy cultivation seasons.

Green gram and Black gram, with skin peeled off

At home, my mother used to occasionally make us the ‘kadalaiparuppu soosiam’ (chickpea soosiam) more than ‘payaru soosiam’. During my undergraduate years at Peradeniya, I became fond of something that was called ‘moongkatta bole’ which was quite similar to ‘payaru soosiam’. It was one of the few things that I liked from what the university canteens offered. During my visits home, I mentioned this to my mother and since then, my mother makes ‘payaru soosiam’ more often than she does the chickpea soosiam.

So today, besides the ulunthu vadai recipe, I will also share my mother’s recipe for payaru soosiam/ moongkatta bole.

Payaru soosiam/ Moongkatta bole

Cooking time: 30 mins + 4 hours (soaking time)

Makes 10 soosiam

Ingredients

Green gram – 1 cup
Freshly scraped coconut – ½ cup
Sugar – ¼ cup
Cardamom – 4 or 5
Wheat flour – ½ cup
Salt, to taste
Vanilla – few drops
Yellow food colouring – few drops (optional)
Water, as required
Low fat oil, for deep frying

Method

Soak the green gram for about 3 – 4 hours.
Cook the green gram with water for about 10 to 15 mins, until the gram is cooked. Drain off the water.
Mix the boiled gram with scraped coconut, sugar and cardamom and grind.
Make 10 balls out of the ground mixture and keep aside.
Mix the wheat flour with salt.
Add water little by little till a pancake batter consistency is reached.
Add the vanilla extract and optional food colouring to the batter and mix well.
Dip each ball in the batter, coat it thorougly and deep fry.
Serve immediately with a hot cup of tea.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vadai and Pachai Sambal

Black gram, or urad dhal, plays an important role in the cuisine of the north. It is one of the gram varieties cultivated in the seasons in between paddy cultivation and is a major source of nutrition.

Today, I will share my mother’s recipe for her famous vadais as well as a green gram snack in my next post. Vadai can be breakfast food or a tea-time snack or can be served with lunch or dinner. It is the most common snack under the Tamil cuisine of the country and is quite popular around the country.

(a) Vadai

Cooking time: 20 – 30 mins + 4 hrs (fermenting time)

Makes 10 vadai

Ingredients

Urad dal/ black gram – 1 cup, skin removed
Green chillies – 2, chopped
Onion – 1, medium sized and chopped
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp, chopped
Baking powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Low fat oil (sunflower or canola) – ½ litre (for deep frying) + 1 tsp (for sauté)
Salt, to taste

Method:

Soak the black gram, without the skin, for 3 – 4 hours.
Grind with a little water to thick batter.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and lightly sauté the chopped onion, chillies and curry leaves.
Transfer the contents of the pan and the coriander leaves to the batter mix and add salt to taste. If you prefer, you can also add 1 tsp baking powder.
Mix well and keep aside for 5 mins.
Heat ½ l oil in the pan.
Take a piece of banana leaf or something equivalent, dab some water on the surface and put a spoonful of batter onto the leaf. Shape it into a round or elliptical shape with a hole in the middle, like a mini doughnut.
Transfer to the oil pan, 3 to 4 at a time, and fry until golden brown on both sides.
Serve with pachai sambal.

(b) Pachai sambal

Preparation time: 5 – 10 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Freshly scraped coconut – ½ cup
Green chillies – 2, chopped
Onion – ¼, chopped
Ginger – ½ “ (optional)
Curry leaves – 1 sprig, chopped
Salt, to taste

Method:

Mix and grind all ingredients and add salt, to taste.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Kiribath with Lunu Miris

In lieu of a basic intro, I will quote a line from Indika’s email:

“you don’t eat kiribath with pol sambol it should be lunu miris.”

So, Indika’s second recipe for the day is the traditional combination of kiribath with lunu miris.

(a) Kiribath

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
Coconut milk
pinch of salt

Method:

Soak 1 cup rice in water for few minutes.
Boil the rice with coconut milk till rice is very soft (When adding coconut milk mix pinch of salt to the coconut milk and add it to the rice).
When the rice is boiling mix with a wooden spoon.

(b) Lunu miris

Ingredients:

10 small onions cut into pieces
02 tablespoons crushed red chillies
Pinch of table salt
Few drops lemon juice

Method:

Add first three ingredients together and mix it in a grinder for 01 minute.
Take the mixture out and add the lemon juice.
Serve with Kiribath.

Recipe Source: Indika K.

Kiri Koss

Today’s guest blogger is Indika and her favourite recipe is Kiri Koss.

Kiri Koss

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 5

Ingredients:

3 cups of unripe Jack-fruit
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 green chillies
2 cups coconut milk
curry leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chillie powder
salt to taste

Method:

Clean and de-seed the the Jack-fruit. Cut the Jack-fruit into thin long stripes. Clean the seeds and cut them into two.
Mix the Jack-fruit, the seeds and all the other ingredients and the the coconut milk in a pan.
Put the pan on a medium flame, cover and cook for about 30 mins, until the jack-fruit is well done.

Recipe source: Indika K.

Polos and Kos Mallung

Jackfruit, both the unripe and ripe fruit, is very popular in Sri Lanka. The unripe jackfruit is cooked in different styles across the country. My mother and I like the Southern style. My mother’s unripe jackfruit dishes therefore are a slightly adapted version of her friend’s recipes for polos and kos mallung. While I will certainly post the long and traditional way of cooking polos when someone sends me the recipe for it, today I would like to share the adapted recipes that my mother uses.

(a) Polos

Cooking time: 1 hour

Serves 4

Ingredients

Unripe jackfruit/ kos/ palakkai – 2 ½ cup (250 g), chopped and cleaned after peeling off skin
Chillies – 2
Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Cloves – 3
Cinnamon – small piece
Cardamon – 3
Ginger – ½”
Garlic – 3 – 4 cloves
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Rampe leaf/ pandan
Onion – ½, large and chopped
Freshly scraped coconut – ¼ cup
Salt, to taste – 1 tsp
Tamarind extract – ¼ cup or Goraka/ Garcinia Cambogia – small piece
Water – 1 ½ cups

Method:

Put the cleaned and chopped up raw jackfruit in a pot. Add 1 ½ cups of water and cook for about 15 – 20 minutes till the water dries up. Remove from heat and drain off the water.
Dry roast the chillies, coriander and cumin, grind them and add to the pot.
Crush the ginger and garlic and add the ginger-garlic paste to the pot.
Add the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom together with the chopped onion, curry leaves and rampe leaf to the pot.
Blend ¼ cup of freshly scraped coconut with 2 cups of water. Strain and add the coconut milk to the pot.
Add the goraka piece or tamarind extract to the pot.
Add salt to taste and mix all ingredients in the pot well.
Put the pot back on the stove and cook for 10 minutes.
Then, reduce to low heat and simmer for about 30 mins. If the ingredients are scaled up, the simmering time also needs to be increased. For e.g. if 1 Kg of jackfruit is being cooked, the simmering time will need to be at least 2 hours.
If you prefer having more gravy in your polos curry, add a little coconut milk and cook for a few minutes more before removing from heat.
Serve with rice.

(b) Kos Mallung

Cooking time – 25 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Young, unripe jackfruit/ kos/ palakkai – 2 cups, finely chopped after peeling off the skin and cleaning it
Salt – ½ tsp + more, as per taste
Pepper – ½ tsp
Turmeric – ½ tsp
Garlic – 4 – 5 cloves, chopped
Green chillies – 2
Onion – 1, small, chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Scraped coconut – 1 tbsp (optional)
Lime juice – 1 tsp
Low fat oil (canola or sunflower) – 1 tbsp
Water – ½ cup

Method:

Marinate the finely chopped unripe jackfruit flesh and seed with ½ tsp salt, pepper and turmeric powder. Keep aside for about 10 minutes.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and sauté the chopped garlic, chillies, onion and curry leaves for 2 minutes.
Add the marinated finely chopped jackfruit to the pan. Mix well.
Add ½ cup water and test for salt, adding more if required. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Uncover after 10 minutes and if there is still water in the pan, cook till the water dries up.
If you like adding scraped coconut, you can add the freshly scraped coconut now and remove from heat.
Add 1 tsp lime juice. Mix well and serve hot with rice.

Recipe source: Lalitha Senadheera and Raji Thillainathan.