SRI LANKA: THE FOOD

Well, it’s time for my annual anxiety activity: filing taxes. Luckily, it didn’t end as bad as it did last year, and for that I’m grateful. We might finally be able to move into the house we’ve been slowly working to fix up for the last four years. It’s been a long time coming. But as the snow falls outside (this has been one cold and snowy winter so far), I’m going to make Sri Lankan food this afternoon.

I made a mini flower bread out of my scraps. I suppose it's more like a bud.

The bread today is Sri Lankan Flower Bread. I already had to assure my husband that it’s not made with flowers, it’s just in the shape of one. I started out by mixing my flour, yeast, salt, and sugar into a bowl. Then I added in my water and half of a beaten egg, keeping the rest of the egg in the fridge for later. I mixed everything again and then added the butter and mixed it until it started to come together; I kneaded it for about five minutes until it was smooth and elastic. I covered it with a piece of cheesecloth and let it rest for about 45 minutes. When this time was up, I rolled it out to a square that was about a ¼” thick. Mine was about 7”-8” long on each side. Then I cut it into about thick strips about ¾” to 1” thick. Taking six strips in one hand, I twisted them and wrapped them around and tucked the end in underneath so that it looks like a flower. I placed this bread on a greased baking tray and covered it again, letting it rest for another 30 minutes. Just before it’s ready to go into the oven, I used the egg I kept back and brushed the top of the bread. I put this in a 400ºF oven for 20 minutes until it was browned. I served this with a little butter and blackberry jam. This may have been one of the best parts of this meal. It was fantastic. The crumb was just right and the flavor was good.

Oyster mushrooms are highly underrated.

I realized I put together a vegetarian menu for today. And my husband didn’t even complain! Today’s main dish is Oyster Mushroom Curry. I washed the oyster mushrooms and cut them into strips, mixing them with chili powder, cumin, turmeric, and garam masala (in lieu of fenugreek). After I mixed everything together, I put it off to the side to rest. In a skillet, I heated some oil and added in some garlic, green chilies, ginger, cinnamon, and lime zest (in lieu of curry leaves). Once I let this sauté for a minute, I added in my diced tomatoes, mixing everything together. I covered it for about 2-3 minutes to let it all stew together before adding in the coconut milk and a little salt. I let it simmer for a few more minutes before serving this with rice. I liked this, but I think the tomatoes and the spices overpowered the oyster mushrooms. Otherwise, I liked it.

Technically, these are all fruits (minus the onion).

I decided to make several smaller salads to go with the curry. The first salad I made was Pineapple Cucumber Salad. I diced my cucumber and put it in a bowl, along with some canned pineapple chunks that I drained well. I used some diced tomatoes (also drained). I added a little bit of lime pieces, salt, and pepper. I also added in a little bit of finely diced red onion. I was kind of skeptical of the tomato and pineapple together, but it really wasn’t that bad. I mean, it’s probably not unlike a mango salsa of sorts, right? Same idea, I think.

Not bad. Not bad, at all.

The second salad I made was Picant Carrot Salad. This easy salad consists of shredded/grated carrots, a bit of diced red onion, diced green chilies, salt, pepper, and lime juice. I just mixed everything together and let it sit for a while to allow for all the flavors to meld. This one did surprise me that it was pretty good. I didn’t think the lime juice and the carrots would be as tasty as it would be, but I enjoyed it quite well.

Ehh...

And finally, the third salad I made was Water Spinach With Coconut. I didn’t actually use water spinach (also called kang kung). It’s apparently considered an invasive plant here in the US, so I used bok choy instead. I chopped up the boy choy leaves and put them in a bowl. In a separate bowl, I used my pestle to mash up diced shallots, garlic, diced green chilies, and lime zest (instead of curry leaves). I threw in the coconut into the mixture and mashed it with the paste. In a small pot, I added in the bok choy and the paste and heated it for 2-3 minutes covered and 2-3 minutes uncovered. This was the weakest one of the bunch. I think if I blended the paste in a blender rather than by hand, it might have turned out better. But it just didn’t quite have the taste I was expecting.

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good meal.

Last year, I burned up my blender while cooking. (Ok, I also wasn’t using it as directed.) But today, my microwave went kaput. I was trying to melt some butter and it started buzzing after nine seconds and got really bright. It was almost as if there was metal in there, but there wasn’t. I tried it again a couple times later, with the same effects. And we’ve only had this microwave a couple years! So, needless to say, I know what we’ll be getting on my next paycheck.

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