Tag Archives: Curry

Vegetable coconut curry

Today’s recipe is a curry recipe of my mother that I really like. It is a simple and delicious curry.

Vegetable coconut curry or Vellai curry, as it is known in Tamil

Time taken: 20 – 25 mins

Serves 4

Vegetable curryIngredients:

  • Cauliflower – ½ cup, chopped
  • Potato – ½ cup, chopped
  • Green peas – ¼ cup
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Onion – ¼, chopped
  • Chilli – 1, chopped
  • Coconut milk – ¼ cup
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Lime juice – 1 tsp, or more as per taste

Method:

  1. Heat 1 tsp oil and sauté the chopped onion and chilli for a minute in a pan.
  2. Then, add all the chopped vegetables to the pan along with 1 cup of water and cook the vegetables for 10 mins.
  3. Add the coconut milk to the pan and cook the curry for another 5 mins.
  4. Add the pepper and cook for a couple of minutes before removing from heat.
  5. Squeeze some fresh lime/ lemon juice over the vegetable curry and serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Palakottai curry

This is one of the ways my mother cooks jackfruit seeds.

It is difficult to cut up fresh, ripe jackfruit. When you keep it for 2 to 3 days, it becomes easier to chop and peel the outer layers and remove the fruit. As you pull out each of the sweet and ripe yellow fruit, cut a slit and remove the seed inside and collect in a separate bowl.

Palakkottai curry

Time taken: 20 – 30 mins

Serves 3

Palakkottai curry

Ingredients:

  • Palakkotai (Jackfruit seeds) – 1 cup
  • Coconut milk – 2 ½ cups (thin consistency)
  • Onion – ½ chopped
  • Curry leaves
  • Curry powder – 1 tsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Wash and clean the jackfruit seeds.
  2. Put the cleaned jackfruit seeds in a pan and add 2 ½ cups of thin coconut milk. Also add the chopped onion, curry leaves and the curry powder and salt.
  3. Cook for about 20 minutes until the curry thickens and the seeds are cooked and soft enough.
  4. Serve with rice or pittu.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Soyameat Curry and Fried Soyameat

In the late 70s and early 80s, a lot of research was done in Sri Lanka on processed soyabeans as a means to alleviate protein deficiency amongst children and pregnant and lactating mothers. Soyameat was soon introduced in the market and promoted by the health ministry and the new and affordable food product became a hit in Sri Lankan households.

Soyameat

Today, I will share two ways my mother makes soyameat at home.

(a) Soyameat curry

Time taken: 15 – 20 mins

Serves 4 or 5

Soyameat curry

Ingredients:

  • Soyameat  – 1 packet
  • Onion – ½, chopped
  • Ginger – ½ “ piece, chopped
  • Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped
  • Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Rampe leaf/ pandan – 1” piece
  • Coconut milk (for vegans) or non-fat milk – ½ cup
  • Curry powder – ½ tbsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil (sunflower or canola) – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. In a bowl, Add 1 cup of boiling water and add the soyameat chunks. Add some salt and let the soya chunks soak for around 5 minutes. Drain out the water and keep aside.
  2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and curry leaves and rampe with the fenugreek seeds for a minute or two.
  3. Then, add the soaked and drained soyameat chunks and mix well.
  4. Add the curry powder (you can alternatively use the curry powder mix that comes with the packet) and the coconut or non-fat milk.
  5. Let the curry cook for about 10 mins. Adjust salt, if required.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Serve with roti or rice.

(b) Fried soyameat

Time taken: 20 mins

Serves 4 or 5

Fried soyameat

Ingredients:

  • Soyameat – packet
  • Onion – ¼ , chopped
  • Ginger – ½ “ piece, chopped
  • Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped
  • Curry powder – 1 ½ tsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Oil – 1 tsp (for marinating) + for deep-frying.

Method:

  1. In a bowl, Add 1 cup of boiling water and add the soyameat chunks. Add some salt and let the soya chunks soak for around 10 minutes. Drain some of the water (not needed to have it dry) and keep aside.
  2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and curry leaves for a minute.
  3. Add the lightly drained soyameat chunks and mix well for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside, allowing it to marinate.
  4. When cooled, squeeze out the liquid (excess water or oil) from the marinated soyameat mixture and deep-fry in a pan.
  5. Serve with rice.

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Add some salt to the chopped up crab meat and keep aside.
  3. 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.
  4. Add the chopped up crab meat to the pan and mix well.
  5. After frying the crabmeat for about 5 minutes, add the coconut milk and the curry powder.
  6. Cook the crabmeat curry on low heat for around 15 mins till the liquid almost dries up.
  7. 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:

  1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions, curry leaves and the fenugreek seeds.
  2. Add the cleaned crab scraps that were reserved when cutting up the crab for the crabmeat curry and fry for some minutes.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Serve the crab scraps gravy with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Dal curry

This is my mother’s recipe for cooking Mysore dal, a curry that is a regular at home.

Mysore dal curry

Time taken: 15 – 20 mins

Serves 4

Mysore dal curry

Ingredients

  • Mysore dal – 1 cup
  • Green chilli – 1
  • Onion – ¼
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Rampe leaf/ pandan
  • Non-fat milk (for lacto vegetarians and better for those having cholesterol issues) or Coconut milk (for vegans) – ½ cup
  • Turmeric – ¼ tsp
  • Crushed chilli – 1 tsp
  • Garlic – 1, crushed
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Wash and clean the dal.
  2. Cook the cleaned dal in 1 ½ cups of water, together with the chopped green chilli, onion, curry leaves and rampe.
  3. Once the dal is cooked and the water dries up, add ½ cup of non-fat milk or coconut milk along with the crushed garlic, chilli flakes, turmeric powder, pepper powder and salt to taste.
  4. Let the dal cook for another few minutes till the ingredients combine.
  5. Remove from heat and serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Sura Sarakku Kulambu

This dish is particularly made for people recovering from severe illness and mothers recuperating from childbirth.

Sura Sarakku Kulambu

Ingredients:

  • Shark/ sura – 10 pieces
  • Onion – 1
  • Salt, to taste
  • Tamarind extract – 1 ½ cup
  • Sarakku powder mix (Coriander – 3 tbsp, Cinnamon – 2 tbsp, Pepper – 1 tsp, Turmeric – ½ tsp, Fenugreek – 1 tsp)

Method:

  1. Clean the shark pieces and place them in a pan.
  2. Chop up the onion and add to the pan. Pour some water and add some salt and cook on low heat for 10 to 15 mins.
  3. Add the sarakku powder to the pan and add the tamarind extract.
  4. Let the curry simmer for another 10 minutes or until the curry thickens and is not watery.

Recipe Source: Raji Thillainathan.

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

Polos

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Dry roast the chillies, coriander and cumin, grind them and add to the pot.
  3. Crush the ginger and garlic and add the ginger-garlic paste to the pot.
  4. Add the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom together with the chopped onion, curry leaves and rampe leaf to the pot.
  5. Blend ¼ cup of freshly scraped coconut with 2 cups of water. Strain and add the coconut milk to the pot.
  6. Add the goraka piece or tamarind extract to the pot.
  7. Add salt to taste and mix all ingredients in the pot well.
  8. Put the pot back on the stove and cook for 10 minutes.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. Serve with rice.

(b) Kos Mallung

Cooking time – 25 mins

Serves 4

Kos Mallung

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:

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

Recipe source: Lalitha Senadheera and Raji Thillainathan.

Mushroom curry

My mother tells me that my grandmother was very fond of wild mushrooms and she liked picking them fresh. It seems that mushrooms sprout overnight after a heavy rainfall with a lot of thunder but they turn poisonous once the sun rises and they bloom. My grandmother used to go to her field just before dawn and pick the mushrooms, with its stalks, which grew under a particular huge tree. There were also snake holes around that tree where snakes did live but my grandmother was quite a fearless woman.

While her children and grandchildren no longer neither live near fields nor would we know how to identify good mushrooms and when we should pick them, my grandmother’s fondness for mushrooms has been transferred to everyone at home.

So, here’s my grandmother’s mushroom recipe as remembered and very often replicated at home by my mother.

Mushroom curry

Cooking time: 15 mins

Serves 4

Mushroom curry

Ingredients

  • Mushrooms (Button/Agaricus or Crimini) – 1 cup, sliced
  • Garlic – 3 or 4 cloves
  • Ginger – 1” piece
  • Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
  • Coconut milk – 1 cup (thin or ½ cup coconut milk mixed with ½ cup water) + ¼ cup thick (optional)
  • Curry powder – 1 tbsp
  • Mixed dry roasted spice powder – fennel, cardamom, cinnamon and clove (3C + fennel) – 1 tsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method

  1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and sauté the garlic, ginger and curry leaves.
  2. When the aroma begins to waft about, add the sliced mushrooms and mix well.
  3. Add 1 cup of thin coconut milk and add curry powder and salt. Cook for around 10 to 12 mins.
  4. Add the mixed dry roasted spice powder together with ¼ cup milk, if the curry has dried up or if you prefer it with gravy, and let the curry simmer for a few minutes before removing from heat.
  5. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Potato curry

(c) Potato curry

Cooking time – 20 mins

Serves 4 – 5 persons

Potato curry

Ingredients:

  • Potatoes – 2 large
  • Onion -1 medium sized
  • Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
  • Rampe leaf/ pandan
  • Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
  • Water – 2 cups
  • Non-fat milk – ½ cup + ¼ cup (optional) – Can substitute with coconut milk, if vegan
  • Curry powder – 2 tsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil (Canola or sunflower) – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Cut the potatoes into small chunks.
  2. Heat a little oil in a pan. Saute the fenugreek, onion, rampe and curry leaves for a few seconds.
  3. Add the potatoes to the pan, mix well and fry for about two minutes till there is a nice aroma of fried potatoes.
  4.  Add 2 cup of water and ½ cup of milk. Add the curry powder and salt to taste.
  5. Cook the curry for around 10 to 15 mins. When the liquid dries up, it can be removed from heat.
  6. If you like the curry in gravy, add the optional ¼ cup milk and cook a few minutes more before removing from heat.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Spicy bean curd curry

My mother is quite fond of tofu ever since she first came across it while living in Jakarta in the 80s. A regular dish at our home for many years, my mother enjoys cooking it in different styles. This bean curd curry is my mother’s creation and what I call fusion cooking.

Spicy bean curd curry

Cooking time: 20 – 25 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • Bean curd – 150g, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • Tomatoes – 2, chopped
  • Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Cumin powder – ½ tsp
  • Coriander powder – ½ tsp
  • Cinnamon, cardamom, clove powder mix – ½ tsp
  • Onion, chopped
  • Curry leaves – 2 sprig
  • Rampe leaf/ pandan
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Oil – 1 tbsp + deep fry
  • Water – 1 ½ cups

Method:

  1. Deep fry the bean curd pieces.
  2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add the fenugreek and fennel seeds and fry for a few seconds. Add the spice powder mix (cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, clove).
  3. Then, add the chopped onion, curry leaves and rampe leaf and fry lightly.
  4. Add the chopped tomato pieces, crushed chillies and salt and mix well.
  5. Adding 1 ½ cups of water to the pan, cook the curry for around 10 to 15 minutes.
  6. Add the bean curd pieces and simmer for another 5 minutes, before removing from heat.
  7. Garnish with fresh curry leaves and serve hot with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.