| Essential Ingredients |
| |
Big onion
These are the larger version of shallots and are used in almost
all accompaniments. The dry outer skin is peeled and the 'head'
and 'tail' lopped off. The shiny, purple layers are sliced for
sambols, chopped for curries and cut into rings for devils. |
| |
Red onion
Purplish, small onions and are concentrated in flavor. These
are mostly crushed or sliced for sambols and chopped for short-eat
fillings and used whole for monjus and pickles. |
| |
Garlic
These are often sliced or halved for vegetable curries, but
chopped for meat curries. Garlic is used very liberally when
cooking seafood dishes and is the secret behind a very good
seafood curry. |
| |
Chili
Different varieties of chili are used in Sri Lankan cooking
- mostly to flavor the dish. The tiny kochchi-miris is used
favored for sambols due to its fiery-flavor. The bulbous nai-miris has a very distinct flavor and is used very sparingly for badums. |
| |
Green chili
At least 3 or 4 fresh green chilies are sliced or chopped
into most accompaniments - mild or hot. These are rather mild
and are used more to flavor the dish. |
| |
Sun-dried
chili
When the green chili ripens, it turns a bright red. These are
dried in the hot direct Sun for days until it becomes reddish-brown
and crispy. These are used whole or pounded into flakes or powder.
The flakes are used mostly in devils and badums and the powder
is used in curries. The whole chili is often fried and salted
and eaten as an accompaniment. |
| |
Roasted chili
The ripened chili is roasted over very high heat and then pounded
into powder. This powder is used mostly to bring out the rich
color of red, brown and black curries. |
| |
Tomato
The most common variety used is the very ripe, large tomato.
These are sliced into curries and chopped into sambols. |
| |
Lime
At least ½ a lime is squeezed into sambols, mallums and certain
curries. The generous use of lime brings out the best in pol (coconut) sambol. |
| |
Tamarind
This is a large, velvety-brown pod with a sweet and sour gooey
pulp around a hard seed. The brittle pod is removed and the
pulpy insides are soaked for a couple of minutes in a few teaspoons
of hot water. Then the seeds are pressed away and removed. The
pulp concentrated water is used for cooking.
Please check the recipe box for the tamarind drizzle for starters |
| |
Gambole
This is rather like a huge dried plum, but very sour
and acidic to taste. This is used as a souring and thickening
agent in curries, fish and meat preparations as well as certain
vegetable curries. |
| |
Maldive fish
Mostly tuna are sun-dried (or baked) until it looks like a dried
twig. This is then pounded into flakes and used as a seasoning
in sambols, mallums and most curries. |
| |
Coconut
This is the base of all accompaniments and is used grated, flaked
or creamed. The coconut shell is first cleaned off its rough
fibers and then halved using a thick-bladed sickle. To grate,
the coconut is fitted into a special blade, which when rotated
via a handle scrapes away the flesh. For sambols and mallums,
care is taken only to scrape away the white flesh. If the flesh
is to extract the milk, then the brownish-flesh near the shell
is also scarped away. To extract milk, the flesh is either blended
or steeped in very hot water and then squeezed into a strainer.
The first extract is very thick and is added into curries at
the very end to bring out the creaminess in the curry. The second
extract is rather thin and the main ingredients of a curry are
boiled in it. |
| |
Coconut oil
This is the most popular oil for cooking. Care must be taken
to select the pure extract as otherwise a strong coconut flavor
overpowers all other flavors of the dish. Coconut oil is extremely
healthy. |
| |
Pandanus leaves
(rampé)
Also called screw-pine leaves and are used in all curries and
also to fragrant rice. |
| |
Curry leaves
(karapincha)
These are sprigs of small, pointed leaves and used in almost
all accompaniments.
Read
The Indispensable Curry Leaf |
| |
Lemon grass
This is a strongly aromatic grass-like leaf with a
hard white bottom and a leafy top. The top is discarded and
the white bottom is either chopped or sliced into mostly fish
and meat curries. |
| |
Ginger
Chopped or sliced, ginger is used mostly for fish and meat curries. |
| |
Cumin seeds
These are thin, almost flaky in appearance, brown to black seeds
that are used as a spice. |
| |
Fennel seeds
Also called sweet cumin, these looks very much like cumin -
only larger and paler and smell of aniseed and used mostly in
fish curries. The fresh fennel leaf is used as a garnishing
agent. |
| |
Coriander
seeds
These are usually roasted and grounded and used in curries as
a spice. |
| |
Fenugreek
seeds
These are hard, small, square yellowish-brown seeds with a strong
flavor. ¼ teaspoon or less is used mostly in white curries. |
| |
Cinnamon
Most curries, especially fish or meat curries require a 1 ½"
stick of cinnamon. Besides the additional stick, this is used
in all curries as a spice. |
| |
Turmeric
This is a bright orange rhizome, resembling the ginger root
somewhat. This is used mostly as a powder. A ¼ teaspoon or less
is added to curries for its cleansing properties. When marinating
fish, turmeric powder is liberally mixed into the marinating
mixture. |
| |
Cardamoms
The greenish-yellow pods are bruised and added mostly red and
brown curries as a spice and also as a fragrant agent when cooking
rice. |
| |
Cloves
These are very small spices and blackish-brown in color with
a star-like head. These are used mostly in red and brown curries. |
| |
Roasted curry powder
This is used mostly in hot and spicy brown and black curries. Besides the spiciness, it also contributes the rich color in the curry. Over moderate heat, coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek and peppercorns are lightly roasted separately until each becomes a dark golden brown. Raw rice is roasted until light golden brown. Curry leaves, pandanus leaves and lemon grass and dried in the hot sun and put into a blender along with the lightly roasted condiments. Cloves, cardamoms and cinnamon are added, ground to a very fine powder and stored in air-tight jars. |
| |
Un-roasted curry powder
This is mostly used in white curries. Over low heat, coriander, cumin and fennel are warmed until dry and crisp. Cloves, cardamoms and cinnamon are also warmed the same way. All these are put into a blender along with sun-dried curry leaves, pandanus leaves and lemon grass and ground to a very fine powder and stored in air-tight jars. |
| |
Jaggery (palm sugar)
A traditional unrefined sugar of either palm treacle or sugar sap heated to a very high temperature until it becomes a thick, almost solidified paste. This is an essential ingredient in most Sri Lankan sweetmeats and a popular nibble with self-drinking tea.
Please refer Jaggery, Jaggery Where Art Thou - Food Goz
|
| |
| |
| |
