Sri Lankan cuisine borrows from other cultures: Moor, Dutch, Malay and Portuguese. The food is often very spicy and cooked quickly.
Try out these recipes for chicken curry and vattalappan, a custard-like dessert.
SRI LANKAN STYLE - CHICKEN CURRY (inspired by lankalink.net)
Ingredients:
- 3 lb chicken pieces
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 5 cloves garlic & 1 inch ginger root - crushed together
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp powdered black pepper
- 1 tbsp roasted Curry powder (see recipe*)
- 3 cardamom pods
- 2 cloves
- 6 curry leaves
- 1 inch piece cinnamon
- 1 medium onion (sliced)
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp tomato paste or sauce
- 1 cup coconut milk
METHOD:
- Wash chicken pieces and drain water thoroughly. Add lemon juice, crushed garlic, ginger, salt, black pepper, curry powder and red chili. Coat the chicken pieces well with the spices and set aside for about 1/2 hour.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan. Fry curry leaves. Add onions and fry until soft.
- Add the chicken pieces and stir for sometime.
- Add cinnamon, lemon grass, cardamom, cloves and stir until well
- Add tomato paste (or sauce) and stir until all pieces are well coated (If the curry is too dry and tend to stick to the saucepan, add 1-2 cups water & stir). Close with a lid and allow the chicken to cook on slow heat.
- Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil without covering. Turn down and serve.
Roasted Curry Powder: Start with 100 grams yellow curry powder. Add 1 tablespoon garlic powder , 2 pieces lemon grass , 1 clove, 3 cardamom pods, 2 pieces cinnamon and 1 tablespoon mustard seed. Roast by tossing ingredients in a frying pan at low heat for about 3 minutes or until dark brown in color. Then remove and grind to a powder.
Other chicken recipes include: Green Chili Chicken, Hainanese Chicken, Lemongrass Chicken, Glass Noodle Soup and Quick Chicken Korma.
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To finish off your meal, try out this terrific custard-like dessert from Chandra & Sereno Barr-Kumarakulasinghe.
Vattalappan
- 2 cups thick coconut milk
- 1/2 lb brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- Pinch cardamom (Optional)
- 3 cloves (Optional)
- Raisins and Cashews
METHOD:
- Beat the eggs in a mixer.
- Add the coconut milk, brown sugar cardamoms and cloves to the beaten eggs mix well.
- Add the mixture into a pot and steam for 20 minutes. Add raisins.
- Alternatively, the mixture can be added into multiple small aluminum baking tins and then steamed. The time required for steaming is about 5-10 minutes for this method.
