Tag Archives: Sri Lankan cooking

Pomegranate cake

As an amateur cook, I tend to use recipes and follow them precisely. My mother, on the other hand, simply mixes ingredients at hand and whips up delectable stuff. I doubt that she has ever used a written recipe. So, this week, while I have been trying to perfect the baking of challah bread, my mother has been baking different kinds of delicious fruit cakes.

Today’s recipe is for the pomegranate cake she made this week. My mother has labelled it the heart healthy cake.

Pomegranate cake

Time taken: 1 hour

Serves 8

Pomegranate cakeIngredients:

  • Pomegranate juice – ¾ cup (made from 1 cup of pomegranate fruit blended with water; the seeds can be reused by heart patients)
  • Lime juice – 1 tsp
  • Lime rind – 1 tsp
  • Raisins – ½ cup
  • Oats – ½ cup
  • Walnuts – ¼ cup, roasted and chopped
  • Vegetable oil margarine – ½ cup
  • Sugar – ½ cup
  • Multi-purpose flour – 1 cup
  • Baking powder – 1 tsp
  • Baking soda – ½ tsp
  • Rose essence – few drops
  • Red food colouring – drop or two

Method:

  1. Sift the flour with baking powder and soda and keep aside.
  2. Whisk the margarine and sugar together with 1 tsp lime juice and the lime rind, in a bowl, till creamy and smooth.
  3. Add the pomegranate juice to the bowl and mix well.
  4. Fold in the oats, raisins and walnuts.
  5. Add few drops of rose essence and a drop or two of red colouring. Mix well.
  6. Stir in the flour mix to the bowl and beat till smooth batter is obtained.
  7. Transfer the batter to baking tray and bake for 35 – 45 mins at 170⁰C/ 340⁰F.
  8. Let the cake cool before sprinkling with castor sugar. Serve warm.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Beans fry

Today’s recipe is a simple and quick to prepare beans dish.

Beans fry

Time taken: 20 mins

Serves 4

fried beansIngredients:

  • Green beans – 1 cup, chopped
  • Garlic – 3 cloves, chopped
  • Onion – ½, chopped
  • Red chilli – 1
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Scraped coconut – 2 tbsp
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Pepper – 1 tsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Clean the beans and chop it up into small pieces. Add some salt and keep aside.
  2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add the chopped onion, garlic, red chilli, curry leaves and fennel seeds to the pan. Stir-fry for about 2 mins.
  3. Then, add the chopped and salted beans to the pan and fry for a few mins.
  4. Add ½ cup of water to the pan and continue cooking the beans on low heat.
  5. Once the water evaporates or dries up in 5 – 10 mins, add 2 tbsp scraped coconut, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp pepper and mix well. Stir-fry for 2 mins and remove from stove.
  6. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Chocolate chip and cashew nut cookies

Given that lots of people in my family have diabetes, my mother has taken to making her own sugar-free cookies or cookies with minimum sugar. Today’s recipe is her recipe for chocolate chip and cashew nut cookies.

Chocolate chip and cashew nut cookies

Time taken: 35 – 40 mins

Makes 12

Chocolate cookiesIngredients:

  • Oats – ½ cup
  • Wheat flour – 1 cup
  • Margarine – ½ cup
  • Milk – ½ cup (dairy or coconut milk)
  • Cashew nuts – ¼ cup, roasted and chopped
  • Chocolate chips – ¼ cup
  • Brown sugar – ¼ cup
  • Baking powder – ½ tsp
  • Baking soda – 1 tsp

Method:

  1. Whisk the brown sugar and margarine till it is creamy and smooth.
  2. Add the oats to the creamed sugar and margarine and mix.
  3. Sift the wheat flour together with the baking powder and soda and add to the cookie mix.
  4. Add the milk gradually, kneading the cookie mix into a slightly batter-like dough, not too firm and easy to mold into little balls.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips and chopped cashew nuts.
  6. Divide the dough into little balls and leave them on the baking tray, for about 5 – 10 mins, before putting them in the oven.
  7. Bake the cookies for about 15 – 20 mins at 220⁰C/ 428⁰F.
  8. Remove the baking tray from oven when the cookies are golden brown and let them cool before serving.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vegetable soup

Update (04/07/4014): I just came across the Soups with SS event being hosted by Sonal and Shruti through the delicious soupe au pistou post of Angie. I wanted to share the only soup recipe that I have posted on my blog to-date. It is a simple vegetable soup.

Today’s recipe is my mother’s recipe for her favourite soup which she makes almost on a weekly basis at home.

Vegetable soup:

Time taken: 40 mins

Serves 4

Vegetable soupIngredients:

  • Mysore dhal – ½ cup
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Cabbage – ½ cup, shredded
  • Potato – 1, small and chopped
  • Beans –  ¼ cup, chopped
  • Leeks – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Celery – piece (optional)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Garlic flakes – a big pinch
  • Vegetable cube – 1 (optional)
  • Lime juice – 1 tbsp (optional)
  • Water – 4 cups

Method:

  1. Clean and chop the vegetables and place them in a soup pot/ pan.
  2. Add 4 cups of water and cook the soup for about 20 mins.
  3. Remove from stove and let the soup cool a little.
  4. Transfer half the soup to a blender and blend. Return the blended soup to the soup pot.
  5. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and garlic flakes to the soup pot. Mix well. A vegetable cube can also be added, if you like. Cook for few mins and warm up the soup.
  6. Just before serving, add some optional lime juice.
  7. Serve with toasted bread.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

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Egg-less chocolate cake

Chocolate cake

Time taken: 1 – 1 ¼ hrs

Serves 20 to 25

Chocolate cakeIngredients:

  • Condensed milk – 1 cup
  • Water – ½ cup
  • Vegetable oil margarine – 1 cup (250g) + ¼ cup (for icing)
  • Sugar – 1 cup +  ½ cup (for icing)
  • Multi-purpose flour – 2 cups
  • Semolina – ½ cup
  • Cocoa powder – ¼ cup + 2 tbsp (for icing)
  • Vanilla essence – ½ tsp + few drops (for icing)
  • Baking powder – 2 tsp
  • Baking soda – ¼ tsp

Method:

  1. Whisk the sugar and margarine in a bowl until creamy. Then, add the milk and continue whisking.
  2. Add the water and whisk till it is smooth and creamy.
  3. Sieve together the flour, semolina and cocoa powder. Add the baking powder and soda and mix.
  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing until there is a smooth batter.
  5. Transfer to cake tray and bake for about 45 mins – 1 hr at 170⁰C/340⁰F. Make sure you do not forget to check in around the 40 min mark (as my mother did this time) and take the cake out, without letting it over-bake else it will turn out too dry.
  6. Let the chocolate cake cool while preparing the chocolate icing.
  7. Mix 2 tbsp of cocoa powder with ½ cup of icing sugar in a bowl. The sugar can be reduced based on your tolerance level for sweets.
  8. Add the margarine little by little and whisk till the icing is creamy and smooth. Add the vanilla essence and mix well.
  9. Spread the chocolate icing evenly over the chocolate cake.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Avocado and Lime juice

Today’s fresh fruit juice is avocado and lime juice. Native to Mexico, avocado is also grown in Sri Lanka. At home, we generally simply eat the fruit for dessert sprinkled with a little sugar or creamed with some milk.

Avocado is rich in fiber, potassium and Vitamin E. It is considered beneficial for those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and those trying to manage their weight. It is also considered to aid inhibition and to fight oral cancer cells.

Avocado juiceSimply blend the pulp of half the avocado fruit and the juice of half a lime with sugar to taste.

Radish curry

I have never really liked radish as I do not like its smell. However, occasionally, it is cooked at home and this is a recipe of my mother’s that makes eating radish tolerable for even those who dislike it. Radish is supposedly good for lowering cholesterol and fighting cancer.

Radish curry

Time taken: 15 – 20 mins

Serves 4

Radish curryIngredients:

  • Radish/ Mullangi – 1
  • Onion – ¼, chopped
  • Green chilli – 1, chopped
  • Urad dhal – 1 tsp, roasted and ground
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Turmeric powder (optional)
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method

  1. Wash and peel the radish before chopping it into smaller pieces.
  2. Heat a tbsp. oil in a pan and sauté lightly the chopped onion and chilli.
  3. Then, add the chopped radish to the pan and mix well.
  4. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the pan and cook the radish for about 10 mins.
  5. If the water dries up, add another ½ cup of water.
  6. Add 1 tsp roasted and ground urad dhal and stir.
  7. Add pepper and optional turmeric powder. Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes before removing from stove.
  8. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Cabbage and carrot fry

Cabbage and carrot fry

Time taken: 25 mins

Serves 4

Cabbage and carrot fryIngredients:

  • Cabbage – 1 cup, shredded
  • Carrot – ½ cup, grated
  • Malu miris – ½
  • Onion – ½
  • Fennel – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – ½ “, chopped
  • Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves, chopped
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Scraped coconut – 1 tbsp
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Clean and wash the cabbage and add salt and turmeric to the shredded cabbage.
  2. Heat a tbsp oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and fennel seeds for a couple of mins.
  3. Add the cabbage and carrot to the pan and stir fry for another 7 – 8 mins.
  4. Add the freshly scraped coconut, mixed with a pinch of turmeric, and crushed chillies. Stir fry for another 5 mins.
  5. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Dodol

To celebrate Eid, my mother made some ‘dodol’. This sweet has its roots in the Malay cuisine of Sri Lanka but has since become popular across the entire country.

The second best ‘dodol’ that I have tasted is the ‘dodol’ sold in a little family-run shop on a tiny road across the Peacock beach hotel in Hambantota district. The best was the exquisite dodol wrapped in woven reed that a relative had sent us. He unfortunately omitted to get the contact details of the entrepreneur he had randomly come across and purchased it from. So, I only have the remembrance of the taste by which I have compared all other ‘dodol’ since. I have also hoped that that entrepreneur would have been successful enough in his business and his products would be available at some popular outlet other than his previous door-to-door sales.

At my house, while everyone likes dodol, it is time-consuming to make. My mother doesn’t like to take much time over cooking so she created her instant ‘dodol’ version, which I would say is the third best in my dodol tasting experience.

So, today, I will share my mother’s recipe for her instant dodol as well as my grandmother’s recipe for regular dodol.

(a) Dodol (regular) – grandmother’s recipe

Time taken: 2 hours

Makes 20 pieces

Ingredients:

  • Coconut – 2 cup, freshly scraped
  • Roasted rice flour – 2 cup
  • Jaggery – 2 cup, grated
  • Crushed cardamom – 1 tbsp
  • Cashewnuts – ¼ cup, chopped

Method:

  1. Blend freshly scraped coconut with 10 cups of water and make coconut milk.
  2. Mix all ingredients in a large pot and keep stirring continuously over a medium heat for around 1 hour. Do not allow mixture to burn.
  3. Once it starts thickening and the oil starts separating. Separate the dodol from the oil and transfer to a tray and allow to cool for at least ½ hour. The separated coconut oil can be reused for cooking.
  4. Store in an air-tight container and slice and serve, when required. The regular ‘dodol’ can be stored for at least 2 weeks.

(b) Instant dodol – my mother’s recipe:

Time taken: 25 mins

Serves 4

DodolIngredients:

  • Coconut – ½ cup, freshly scraped
  • Roasted rice flour – ¼ cup
  • Jaggery – ¼ cup, grated
  • Cashew nuts – 1 tbsp, chopped
  • Cardamom – 3 or 4, crushed
  • Vegetable oil margarine – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Blend ½ cup of freshly scraped coconut with 1 cup of water to make coconut milk.
  2. Mix all ingredients in a pan and stir continuously over medium heat for about 10 mins.
  3. As the mixture thickens, add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil margarine and mix well. In the instant version, the stirring does not go on till the oil separates, hence the margarine is added before removing from stove.
  4. Transfer to a plate and allow the instant ‘dodol’ to cool for at least 15 mins before slicing and serving. The instant ‘dodol’ has to be served within 12 hours or so and cannot be kept for more time.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vendhaya Kulambu

Today’s recipe is Vendhaya Kulambu/ Fenugreek curry, a Jaffna curry that is regularly made at home.

Vendhaya Kulambu

Time taken: 30 mins

Serves 3 or 4

Vendhaya kulambuIngredients:

  • Onion – 1 cup, chopped
  • Fenugreek seeds/ Vendhayam – 2 tbsp
  • Curry leaves – 2 sprig
  • Coconut milk – 1 cup
  • Tamarind juice extract – ½ cup
  • Curry powder – 1 ½ tsp
  • Salt – ¼ tsp
  • Low fat oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

  1. Soak the fenugreek seeds in water for about 10 mins. Drain and keep aside.
  2. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the soaked and drained fenugreek seeds for a couple of mins.
  3. Add the curry leaves and chopped onion to the pan, along with another tbsp of oil.
  4. Saute till the onion changes colour and the aroma of fried onions wafts about.
  5. Add ½ cup of tamarind juice and ½ cup of coconut milk along with the curry powder and salt to the pan. Mix well.
  6. Increase the heat and let the ‘kulambu’ cook for about 5 – 10 mins. Do not let it dry up.
  7. Add the remaining ½ cup of coconut milk and let it simmer for another 5 mins before removing from stove.
  8. Serve with pittu or rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.