Sri Lankan Cooking

Hi, its Celia.
One of our best experiences here in Sri Lanka has been discovering the local food. Rice and curry is the official national food of Sri Lanka, but 'curry' in this case refers not to one particular dish, but to a number of dishes that accompany the rice. When you order 'rice and curry' in  a restaurant, you will get rice and usually about 4 or 5 dishes to go along with it. Most of the food has been entirely vegetarian, and I have surprised myself by how little I have missed eating meat!

The other day we learned how to cook 3 Sri Lankan dishes from the caretakers of the Airbnb we are renting. We learned how to make dal (lentils), green bean curry and coconut sambol. We tried to take copious notes, and here are the recipes below!

Note: for those of you who like exact measurements, it ain't happening here! All measurements are approximate and can be adjusted to taste.

Common ingredients:

Spices: Turmeric, chili powder, cumin, mustard seed, fennugreek

Nearly all dishes had 2 fresh herbs: curry leaves and rampe. (I didn't know until now that curry is also a plant). Rampe leaf is cut up and added often at the end of the dish. Both plants are commonly found in Sri Lankan gradens, and give a distinct flavor!

Rampe and Curry Leaves

Curry Leaves

Rampe leaf (also known as Pandus Leaf)

Dal

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of red lentils (split)
• Garlic
• Red onion
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Turmeric
• Curry leaves
• Rampe leaf
• Salt
• Pepper
• Coconut milk

Step 1:

Rinse lentils. Add in a pot with 3 whole garlic cloves. Cover with water (with a little extra).

Add:

• ½ tsp of turmeric
• 2 tsp of cumin
• Chili powder as needed
• Bunch of curry leaves
• Bunch of rampe leaves
• ½ small red onion (chopped)

Step 2:

Heat until boiling; cover. Stir occasionally until lentils are semi-mushy (about 10 mins total cooking time).

Step 3.

At about 8 minutes into cooking, add a tsp of coarse salt. Add 3 or 4 soup spoons of coconut milk.

Enjoy!

Green Bean Curry

Ingredients:

• About 1 pound of green beans
• Vegetable oil
• handful of mustard seeds
• Turmeric
• Rampe leaf
• Curry leaf
• Salt
• 1 small red onion (chopped)
• Coconut milk
• Fennugreek seeds

Step 1:

Heat 2 tsp vegetable oil until  smoking; add mustard seeds. Add beans and stir.

Add:

• 1 tsp of tumeric
• a pinch of chopped rampe leaves
• 2 tsp of cumin

• 1 tsp of salt
• ½ chopped red onion

Stir but do not cover; cook until desired doneness (about 5 minutes)

Step 2:

At the end, add 5 soup spoonfuls of coconut milk. Add ¼ tsp fennugreek seeds.

Stir and serve!

Coconut Sambol

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups ground/shredded coconut
• Vegetable oil
• Turmeric
• Rampe leaf
• Curry leaves
• ½ chopped Red onion
• 1 small diced tomato
• Chili powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• Abba

Add all ingredients together minus the curry leaves and the mustard seeds in a bowl; mix until well combined.

Add 2 tsp vegetable oil to pan and heat until smoking; add bunch of curry leaves and ½ tsp of mustard seeds. Turn off heat.

Add coconut mixture to pan and stir.