Red Lentils Soup

Red lentils curry is a staple side dish in Sri Lanka. Most of the Sri Lankans will have it for all three meals; with bread for breakfast, with rice for lunch and with string hoppers (steamed noodles with rice flour) or pittu (steamed couscous with rice flour) for dinner. Dhal curry is a versatile dish that can be served with many different main meals.

Sri Lankans call all our side dishes as curries. It could be a stir fry vegetable with grated coconut or yellow curry with coconut milk and turmeric or even a curry with a curry sauce. However here in Western cultures, curry is a term used only for meat or vegetable served in a spicy gravy. However in Sri Lanka any side dish that is served with rice or any main meal is called a curry.

Banana Peppers & Potatoes in Coconut Curry Sauce

Have you ever got excited over a vegetable or an ingredient. I have, specially over banana peppers, because it reminds me of delicious curries made with them back home. My mom used to make different kind of dishes with them. Apart from this curry, she makes a stir-fry with banana peppers and potatoes and made a filling for toasts, then the other type is a starter i.e. deep fried stuffed banana peppers.

Banana peppers has a strong peppery flavor hence it's also good for quick Chinese stir fries. You can stir fry them with tofu or use it with other vegetables when making noodles. Added benefit is banana peppers are rich in Vitamin C.

 

Coconut Sambol (Grated Coconut Salad with Chili)

This is a staple dish in Sri Lanka. This salad is served with most of the main meals. Sri Lankans eat lot of rice and food made with rice flour. Typical Sri Lankan main meals are rice, bread, pol roti (flat bread made with wheat flour and grated coconut), string hoppers (steamed rice noodles), pittu (steamed rice couscous with grated coconut) and hoppers (half moon shaped pancakes made with fermented rice flour)

Although coconut is not as big as Ceylon Tea plantations it is also one of the main agricultural crop in Sri Lanka. Hence coconut is used liberally in Sri Lankan cuisine along with locally available spices. All our curries are made with coconut cream and we add grated coconut to our vegetable stir fries and raw vegetable salads to add sweetness and texture.

Sambol is made with freshly grated coconut and is blended along with onion, curry leaves and chili powder. Traditionally it is blended using a mortar and pestle. It is believed that using a stone pestle to blend them gives a special taste.

Pan Fried Eggplant with Curry Powder

I'm sure all of you know by now that eggplant is my favorite vegetable. This is one of my favorite method of cooking eggplant. Its Jaffnese method i.e. northern Sri Lankan way of cooking eggplant. Typically I grew up eating this with Pittu for dinner. Pittu is made with red rice flour and steamed with grated coconut. It looks like couscous but in brown color. In North we also use Sri Lankan sesame oil to cook this dish. Sesame oil has a very strong nutty flavor that gets infused to eggplants. Some may not like strong flavor of sesame oil in which case you can use canola or sunflower oil. I would say it is an acquired taste.

Seeni Sambol (Caramalised Onion with Ceylon Spices) & a Brief Note about Popular Sri Lankan food

 Seeni sambol, pol sambol, hoppers, string hoppers, kottu & chinese rolls are some of the popular Ceylon (Sri Lankan) food. Sri Lankan cuisine has many similarities with Kerala cuisine. We use lot of coconut milk, grated coconut and spices which are locally available ingredients. However even within Sri Lanka, there are minor differences among Jaffnese, Sinhalese, Muslims & hill country cuisine.

My origins are from Jaffna, we eat red parboiled rice and make string hoppers and pittu with red rice flour. Also we use tamarind and coconut milk to make tangy hot and sour curries. Sinhalese use lot of wheat flour to make their food and also white rice & red raw rice is popular. Hence you would find bread, different variety of  rotis (flat breads) and   ingredients like goraka (Gambooge), lemon grass being used to flavor curries. In Muslim cuisine you would find dates and influence of Malay cooking in their food. In hill country where tea plantations are, tea pluckers eat lot of rotis. Sri Lankan rotis are made with wheat flour and grated coconut.

Cabbage Stir-Fry

You may have noticed that I have not been actively posting over the past few weeks. This is because we have moved to a new country(in the middle of Europe). I am still adjusting to my new surroundings and tied up with the post-move chores.  As a foodie this means tasting new food and experimenting. Unfortunately I still have not started taking photos in new place, as we are still in a temporary place with limited cooking space. But I'm eagerly waiting to capture and share all my new experiments with you all. God willing we hope to move into a permanent place soon.

This recipe is called varai in Tamil, is a Sri Lankan style stir fry. Similar dish is prepared in Kerala cuisine and is called "Thoran". It simply means stir fried vegetables mixed with shredded coconut, dry red chili and curry leaves. You may use mustard and orid dhal or bengal gram to add color and nutty flavor to this stir fry. (Imagine carrot stir fry, with dark green curry leaves, red chilis and yellow gram. Wow what a healthy treat to your eyes and body!) You can make similar stir-fry with all kinds of vegetables.  Some vegetables that I have used are leeks, grated beet root, grated carrot, square beans, long beans, green beans, green plantain, boiled potatoes, boiled tapioca. So that's why I say you can do this stir fry  with any vegetable of your choice. Also you can do this with any type of greens. One of my favorite greens ares kang kung cooked in this style. I serve it with rice.

Mint Sambol (Spicy Mint Salad with Shredded Coconut)

I wish I could share a seasonal cake or cookie recipe with you. There are seasonal sweets and desserts everywhere and also in food blogging world. Even though I indulge in all of them by buying from outside, I hardly make anything sweet because we are ‘weight watchers’. If I make them at home, it’ll be both of us indulging and it will not reflect well in our scale. So whenever there is craving / tempt we buy small portions. That way our consumption is limited to one piece a day. We satisfy our sweet tooth as well as prevent us from the guilt of over indulgence.

So as usual I’m sticking to a spciy recipe for the season. This time it is mint. Ever since I got to know about this herb, I'm absolutely in love with it. I love mint fragrance, mint tea and mint and lemon infused water and mint in my food. I even started growing them in my balcony. Mint sambol is very similar to pesto or even chutney. Difference is I’ve used shredded coconut to bind the flavors together; hence it is thicker in consistency compared to pesto or chutney.

Lotus Root Stir-fry

First of all apologies for my short period of absence. It had been very challenging and struggling few weeks. Gradually things are coming back to normal phase and I'm getting back to routine. 
  

Lotus Root is not a common vegetable. As it is in the name, this is the root of lotus flower mainly used in Asian cuisine. It is used in soups, stir fries, deep fried, braised, pickled in hot and sour garlic chili sauce and also used in traditional herbal medicine. Click here to see picture of lotus root.

I picked this vegetable due to its nutritional benefits; lotus root is rich in Vitamin C, B group of vitamins and also has healthy amounts of minerals like copper and iron.  You can buy this vegetable from Chinese grocery stores.

It has a crunchy sweet taste; a close comparison could be raw carrot. However compared to carrot it is mild in sweetness and it remains crunchy even after cooking.

My recipe is a fusion between Chinese style and Sri Lankan style, to spice it up I’ve added curry powder and curry leaves for its pungent aroma and I’ve also added vinegar as sour flavor nicely blends with crunchy lotus root.

 

Vegetable Kottu (Flat bread pieces mixed with spicy sauce & vegetables)

Kottu Roti is a popular comfort cum street food in Sri Lanka. When you are strolling around in Sri Lankan streets, you cannot miss the sight, sounds and aroma of kottu. Kottu literally means “chop”. It’s made with flat bread called “Gothamba roti” mixed with meat, spicy gravy, and vegetables.  Kottu is blended together in a heated iron sheet using blunt metal blades. Clashing of metal creates a distinctive sound. This sound and aroma of kottu will invite any passerby to stop and indulge in this mouthwatering meal.

I first learnt to make this at home from my Aunt, who prepares roti and everything at home from scratch. I’m not a good roti maker. I’ve never been successful in my previous attempts and also I'm not a big fan of wheat flour. That’s why you find most of my recipes “Gluten-free”. As a Sri Lankan Tamil from North, I’m used to preparing meals with red rice flour and millet flour instead of wheat flour.  These are low glycemic as well.

So for this meal I bought 'Roti Canai' (Malaysian name for pararatha’s), shredded them into thin strips, mixed it with spicy sauce made with onion, garlic, soy sauce and curry powder and added vegetables. When you are not making paratha’s at home which is a time consuming job, you can assemble this meal in 10-15 minutes.

You can ask for flaky parathas (flat bread) from Indian / Sri Lankan / Pakistani restaurants or “Roti Canai” from Malaysian Restaurants.

Zero Chili Curry Powder

However much we master our cooking, Mom’s food is very special, and we often crave for Mom’s food. I don’t know, whether it’s her love or a secret recipe she’s yet to share with me, that makes her food so special.

I attribute reasons to be her love and purity she practices. Let me give you a brief background. My mom is a converted vegetarian. All of us started practicing vegetarianism, when we were introduced to meditation by Brahma Kumaris. She strictly practices ‘Purity’; she only takes food cooked with God’s remembrance and doesn’t take onion and garlic. Hinduism promotes Saatvic food i.e. vegetarian food but avoiding certain type of vegetables. Onion and garlic is believed to be increasing impure feelings.

Whatever she cooks at home she will offer it to God, before serving to family. Hence it could be her love, pure feeling and on top of it, God’s love that make’s mom’s food so special.

I always bring something along with me from home, something that I could cook and bring mom’s food taste into my dishes. Curry powder is a wonderful ingredient to bring back from Mom’s kitchen. Her curry powder is influenced by Sri Lankan Tamil (Northern) origins, but with some modifications. She only consumes very little chili (unlike me), again it is believed to be increasing heat and anger in oneself.

This curry powder has zero chili and has protein from Soya, yellow split peas, orid dhal and toor dhal. It also has rice. Adding these legumes and rice helps to give tanginess to gravies made with this curry powder. Gravy will be much thicker and tastier. So here you go…. secret recipe for my mom’s curry powder.

Pumpkin Chunks in Garlic Spiced Coconut Cream

This is a re-post of my previous post pumpkin curry in April this year. Ever since I started focusing on improving my food photos, I've felt I should replace all my previous posts with basic compact camera.  Re-posting all of them with new improved photos will take time. One of them for which I just replaced the photos has become a great hit and now is the most popular post - Eggplant Curry.

Pumpkin curry, eggplant curry, and a leafy vegetable stir fry served with rice as a main meal, along with crunchy papadams and curd chili would be a perfect authentic Sri Lankan lunch. Hot and sour taste of eggplant curry goes well with this sweet garlic spiced pumpkin chunks and rice. It’s one of my favorite combinations of curries with rice.

Pumpkin is full of vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. Pumpkin is loaded with vitamin A and antioxidant carotenes. Also it’s a good source of vitamins C, K, and E, and lots of minerals, including magnesium, potassium, and iron. 

In this curry I’ve cooked them with skin, that’s how authentic Sri Lankan pumpkin curry is made and it tastes good with skin. At home they also make simple stir-fry dish with diced pumpkin.

Green Beans Spicy Stir-fry

This dish reminds me of my mum’s scrumptious cooking and family lunches. My father always remind us about nutritional benefits of eating green beans. We grew up in a boarding house while schooling. So I’d wait till school holidays to indulge. I guess mom too planned to entertain us with variety of food. I still cherish those days where all four of us will sit together and enjoy scrumptious food. I really miss those special days. Now we are all scattered. Those days my mum teases me telling that I’m a balloon. Because I gain during school holidays and lose weight when I’m back in boarding house.

I never managed to get this dish the way my mom made. But somehow with practice I’ve got it.

Eat more green beans to prevent osteoporosis. Green vegetables are very good source of Vitamin K which is important for bone health. Vitamin K deficiency is associated with low bone mineral density, and an increase in bone fractures. Green beans are good for heart because its high fiber content helps to lower cholesterol. They are also a good source of protein, folic acid, iron, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus.

Bitter Melon Salad

I grew up seeing my grandma eating fresh bitter melon salad, juice and bitter melon curry to control her diabetics. As it is in the name it is very bitter in taste. My mom would soak them overnight in coconut water and cook them with tamarind pulp and pinch of sugar to reduce bitterness. Memories of my mum’s delicious bitter melon curry is making me salivate as I’m writing about it.

There are different variety of bitter melons, dark green small ones, green long ones and light green long ones. Some of my Chinese friends like it just in a stir-fry dish with tofu. Small dark green one’s are much bitter compared to other two varieties. Hence I guess you could stir fry other two varieties i.e long green and light green ones. You can also find bitter melon juice in all fruit juice joints in Southeast Asia.

This vegetable is rich in iron and its calcium content is said to be twice that of spinach. Even the beta carotene content in bitter melon is double the amount nutrient in broccoli. It is also a rich source of potassium, phosphorous, dietary fiber, etc.

One of the most important health benefits of bitter melon is its blood sugar lowering properties. So, it is said to be best for diabetics. Bitter melon is also said to be beneficial for those with intestinal parasites.  Other benefits of bitter melon is it is useful for cleansing blood, boosting immunity and balancing hormones.

This recipe is something I learnt from mom, when bitter melon is fried with salt and turmeric it’s crunchiness and savory taste overpowers its bitterness. It’s also a very popular side dish served with banana leaf meals in Malaysian Indian Restaurants.

Caramelized Onion and Garlic in Hot and Sour Fenugreek Gravy (Venthaya Kuzhambu)

Gravy curry known as Kootu or kuzhambu in tamil is one of the main curry in south Indian meals. It goes well with rice, which is the staple food of South Asians. This curry has an aromatic flavorful gravy base, which is made with coconut cream and spices such as curry powder, coriander powder, tamarind pulp, chili powder and garam masala is added to enhance flavors of this curry. Similar type of curries are popular in Malaysian, Thai and Sri Lankan cuisine. Curries of each cuisine will have its own distinctive ingredient. For example Thai curry will be flavored with aromatics like kaffir lime leaf and lemon grass. Distinctive ingredients in Malay curries are shrimp paste or fried shrimp or fried anchovies. Sri Lankan curries are lot spicier than other curries due to heavy use of chilies. You can see lot of similarities as well as differences in these curries.

This tangy gravy is made of coconut cream and flavored with tamarind, chili and curry powder. Caramelized onion and sautéed garlic gives a pungent flavor to this gravy. Fenugreek seeds help to cool down your body from extra heat created by garlic and chili. This spicy gravy is best to serve with rice or pittu (Popular Sri Lankan meal, it’s texture is like Israli couscous, but its made with red rice flour) or roti.

Square Beans Stir-Fry (Varai)

Square beans are a popular vegetable in Sri Lanka; we used to grow them in our backyard. I was surprised to see them in Malaysian pasar malam (Night street Market, that sells fresh fruits, vegetables and other Malaysian delicacies. Pasar Malam is similar to farmers market). There are many similarities in Malaysian and Sri Lankan cuisine. In Malaysia this vegetable is stir fried and served in a spicy chili sauce called sambal Oelek. Please note sambal oelek has shrimp paste in it. So check the ingredients before you buy them. They do have vegetarian sambal oelek.

Square beans are similar to green beans in terms of health benefits and texture. They are rich in fiber and prevents cardiovascular disease. Hench square beans can be substituted for all green beans recipes.

This is a quick stir fry dish, adopted from my mom’s recipe. She used to add potatoes to this stir fry dish. I try to make complete Sri Lankan lunch during weak ends, this stir fry is served as a part of rice and curry meal.

Ingredients

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 dry red chili diced

1 onion diced

Few curry leaves

1 tbsp yellow gram

1 tsp mustard and cumin seeds

200g square beans halved length wise and diced  (trim off edges and peel strings)

Pinch of turmeric powder

Pinch of salt

Method

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, sauté onion, dry red chili, curry leaves and yellow gram for 2 minutes. Add mustard and fennel seeds and sauté till it splutters.

Add square beans, salt and turmeric, mix well, and cook covering the lid, for 4-5 minutes till square beans are soft.

Turn off heat, serve with red rice or your choice of main meal.

Soy Meat Curry (Textured Soy Protein)

Textured soy protein is available as dry flakes or chunks. It will keep its structure when hydrated. Hydrated textured soy protein chunks have spongy texture similar to meat. It can be used as a meat replacement, its low in cost, high in protein, low in fat, and has a longer shelf life.

Soy meats spongy texture enables maximum absorption of flavors. It could be replaced like meat balls or minced meat to make Bolognese sauce or vegetarian cutlets.

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

300g Soya meat

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

100ml sesame oil

1 onion diced

1 tbsp minced garlic and ginger

Few curry leaves

1 pandan (Rampe) leaf tied into a knot

1 tsp of each fenugreek, mustard and cumin seeds

2 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp chili powder

200g low fat yoghurt / 200ml reduced fat coconut cream

200 ml water

1 tsp garam masala

Method

Soak soy meat in water for 10-15 minutes, till they are soft. (Alternatively you can microwave for 4-5 minutes) Squeeze and drain all water.

Marinate with soy sauce and tomato puree, set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a large non-stick pan, add soy meat stir for 5-10 minutes till they turn into slightly crispy texture. At this stage you may add more oil and sauté onion, garlic ginger, curry leaves, and pandan leaf. Stir till onions are translucent.

Add mustard, fennel and fenugreek seeds, when it starts to splutter add curry powder and chili powder. Add yogurt and stir till soy meat is coated with all spices.

Add water and bring to boil closing the lid. When gravy starts simmering add garam masala and salt to taste.

Serve with rice/ roti/ bread/ pittu/ string hoppers.

My Favorite Fried Eggplant Recipe

Fried eggplant is my all time favorite food. Recently it was featured in "My Grandma's Recipe"column in The Hindu, India.

It's a must try dish for all eggplant lovers, let me know how it came out in your kitchen.

Stir Fried Black Night Shade Leaves (Manathakkali Keerai Varai)

Both leaves and berries are mainly used in South Indian cooking to make stir fry dish (varai) and gravy curries (vathal kulambu). Leaves are effective in the treatment of digestive disorders, mouth and stomach ulcers. The fruits or the berries of the plant is beneficial in treating asthma and also yields beneficial results in fevers. Juice of these leaves is good in healing chronic skin diseases such as acne, eczema and psoriasis.

I heard about these leaves medicinal properties, and was hoping to try them to make it as green curry for our typical Sri Lankan lunch. Surprisingly it was widely available in Indian grocery stores here. It took me awhile to research and decide on method of cooking. I got a plenty of results in which the berries were cooked in hot and sour gravies, leaves with pulses etc., I opted for simple stir fry (less cooking time) so I could preserve its nutrients and color.

Ingredients

Serves 2-3

1 large bunch of Manathakkali, leaves with delicate stems cleaned & roughly chopped

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp of each cumin & mustard seeds

1 onion diced

3 tbsp shredded coconut

1 tbsp yellow split peas

3 dry red chilies roughly chopped

Method

Heat oil in a large pan, add mustard, cummin seeds and yellow grams. When mustard seeds start to splutter, add onion, red chili, salt and shredded coconut. Sauté for 1-2 minutes till coconut turns into golden brown color.

Add roughly chopped greens, lower heat, and mix well for 2 minutes.

Turn off heat, serve with rice.


Note : You can apply the same method of cooking for any type of green leaf vegetable.

Dhall (Red Lentil) Curry

Lentils are an excellent of source of protein for vegetarians and vegans of the world. Lentils are very rich in protein, folic acid, Vitamin C , B and contain eight of the essential amino acids. Although lentils are high in protein, they’re not a complete protein source since they lack two essential amino acids – lysine and isoleucine. For this reason, it’s important to eat lentils with another complimentary plant protein such as brown rice or a protein-rich whole grain to supply the missing amino acids needed to make a complete protein source.


Ingredients
Serves 4-5


100g red lentils washed
1 tsp of each mustard, fenugreek and fennel seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp curry powder
2 green/red chilies chopped
Pinch of asafetida powder (optional)
1 small onion diced
1 tbsp minced garlic and ginger
Few curry leaves and 1 pandan (Rampe) leaf
200ml low fat milk / 100 ml reduced fat coconut cream
1 tbsp ghee (optional)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice


Method


In a pan add washed red lentils, onion, garlic, ginger, green chilies, curry leaves, pandan leaf, turmeric, mustard, fennel, fenugreek seeds, asafetida powder and 200ml water. Mix well, close the lid. Boil for 5-10 minutes until lentils are soft.


Add curry powder, milk and salt to taste. Stir well boil for few more minutes.
Turn off heat add ghee and lemon juice.


Serve with rice or bread or roti.


PsN - Thanks Zen of RAWk Me! for awarding this blog.

Oyster Mushroom Spicy Stir-fry

Oyster mushrooms are packed with protein, vitamin B and C. These mushrooms are also rich in mineral salts that our body needs. The iron, phosphorous and calcium in these mushrooms is double that of chicken, pork and beef. It is also believed that vitamin B3 in these mushrooms is five to ten times higher as in any other vegetable.


Ingredients
Serves 3-4
500g Oyster Mushroom (wash them in water, squeeze water, then tear them into thin strips including stems. Cut off edges of the stems)
1 Large onion thinly sliced
1 tbsp minced garlic and ginger
4 tbsp vegetable oil
Few curry leaves
2 tbsp pepper
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
½ lemon juice

Method
Heat oil in a large pan, add onion, curry leaves, garlic ginger, and oyster mushrooms. Sauté for few minutes.


When mushrooms starts to wilt, add turmeric powder, salt, pepper. Cook stirring occasionally for 10 more minutes.


Once mushrooms are cooked and turns to crispy golden brown colour, add soy sauce, curry powder and mix well. Turn off heat sprinkle some lemon juice.


Serve with rice / noodles / choice of main meal.