Kiri Malu (Milk Fish)

"Kiri Malu" would translate to "milk fish". It would actually mean fish cooked in coconut milk and spices. It is a mild dish compared to "Miris Malu", which would translate directly to "Chili fish", probably no explanations needed.

Ingredients: Fish (preferably sea fish), dilute coconut milk, thick coconut milk, chopped onions, garlic and green chili, goraka (Malabar tamarind), turmeric, chili powder, mustard seed, fenugreek seed, curry leaves, rampa and salt.

Method: Cut the fish into chunks of about 1 1/2 - 2 inches. Pour about 1 1/2 cups of diluted coconut milk into a saucepan and add the onions, garlic, green chili, turmeric, chili powder (just a little), mustard seed, fenugreek seed, curry leaves, rampa, goraka (be careful when you add, since too much and your curry could get really sour) and slat to taste. Add the fish and let it cook well with the saucepan covered. Once the fish is cooked well add about 1/2 a cup of thick coconut milk and cook for a minute or two.

Note:

• We use dilute coconut milk to avoid curdling while cooking for a long time.
  
• Dilute coconut milk can be made by adding water to the thick coconut milk.
• If you are using delicate fish, create the gravy or sauce and when done, just drop the fish in for a few minutes.
  

Black Chicken Curry

Chicken curry can be prepared in many ways. Here is "black chicken curry" (Nop the chicken you are going to curry need not be black). It is spicy and full of aroma. The black (dark brown rather) colour is created because of the roasted curry powder used.

Ingredients: Chicken, chopped onions and garlic, tomato, ginger, tamarind, chili, roasted curry powder, curry leaves, mustard seed, oil and salt.

Method: Cut the chicken into pieces. Add some oil to a saucepan and add mustard seed and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add chili powder and curry powder and let it fry for a few seconds (Keep the exhaust fan On or your windows open). Add the onions, garlic, tomato and ginger. Dissolve the tamarind in about 1/2 a cup of water and add it to the mix (do not add to much tamarind since it could make the curry very sour). Add water to make the amount of gravy you like. Add salt and check if the taste is according to your preference. Next add about 1/2 cup water for the chicken to cook in. Add the chicken to the gravy and allow to cook with the lid covered.

Note:

The chicken can be replaced with beef, mutton or lamb. Fish too can be cooked the same way but then "Goraka" (Malabar Tamarind) is used instead of tamarind.

Nasi Goreng

"Nasi" means rice and "Goreng" means fried in the Malay language. So effectively it is "Rice Fired" or "Fried Rice", but I like to call it "Lazy Rice", since I usually make it when I'm too lazy to make more than one dish. It is much more spicier than the Chinese fried rice and can be enjoyed without any other dishes.

Ingredients: Rice (preferably Basmati or Samba - nop not the Latino version), Chicken/beef/mutton/lamb/cuttlefish/shrimp or some sort of meat (even fish that doesn't breakup when fried would do), Eggs, chopped onions and garlic, chill, cloves, cardamoms, curry leaves, Soy sauce, Oyster or Fish sauce, tomato sauce, oil and salt.

Method: Cook the rice and use the reverse side of the spoon to separate the rice grains (need to do it while the rice is still warm). Chop the meat into cubes of about 1/4 inch. Add a little extra oil to a pan and add the chopped meat and a little salt (more salt can be added later if required since the sauces too contain salt) and let it fry well. Add the onions, garlic, cloves, cardamoms, curry leaves and chili and let it fry till the onions are golden brown. Add soy sauce, fish or oyster sauce and tomato sauce according to preference. Beat two eggs in a bowl. Move the contents of the pan to one end and add the beaten eggs to the other end (do not let it mix with the meat). Constantly mix it to get mashed egg. One the egg is well cooked mix it with the rest of the content in the pan. Add the cooked rice to the mixture, one spoon at a time and mix well. Leave on heat for about 3 minutes till the rice is fried in oil.

Note:

Remove cardamoms and cloves before serving. Best way is to remember how many cardamoms or cloves you added and make sure you find them. Another option is to add clove and cardamom powder.

Rice Porridge

Rice porridge is pretty easy to cook and a good meal when you are not having much of an appetite (even better when you feel lazy to cook). Coconut milk soothes your stomach and the porridge is easy to digest. Also fenugreek seed is very good for you stomach and used in many herbal medicines (including herbal hair oil :-))

Ingredients: Raw rice (rice that gets sticky when over cooked), fenugreek seed, coconut milk and salt

Method: Put the washed rice into a pot and fill it with water (about 2 inches of water above the rice). You do not require a lot of rice since the quantity becomes a lot more that when cooking normal rice. Add some fenugreek seed (not too much since it can get taste bitter). Let the rice over cook, if you need add more water. Finally add the coconut milk and salt to taste. Let it cook for a minute or two.

Notes:

Beef or chicken boiled with some salt, pepper, vinegar and spices can be added to this mix. It is famous among the Muslim community in Sri Lanka to add chopped beef curry to the rice porridge, which is used for breaking fast during the month of Ramadan (Ramazan).

A less thicker rice porridge can be drunk with a piece of Juggery [A sugar made from the sap of the kittul (Fish-tail palm) flower or sap from the pol (coconut) flower].

Tempered Potato

It is a dry potato curry with a really nice texture.

Ingredients: Potatoes, mustard seeds, chopped onions and garlic, dried chili pieces, chili powder, curry leaves, rampa, Maldive fish chips (optional) or Tiny dried shrimps [kunisso/koonisso (Sinhala)] (optional) and salt.

Method: Peal and chop the potatoes into cubes of about 1 inch. Deep fry the potatoes until they well cooked and a thin crust forms outside. Let the oil drain well from the fried potatoes. Add oil to a pan and when heated add mustard seeds, curry leaves and rampa. Let it fry till the mustard seeds start to pop. Add the Maldive fish chips or tiny dried shrimp, chili pieces, onions, garlic and a little bit of chili powder. Let it fry till the onions are golden brown. Add the fried potato and mix well. Add salt to taste.

Notes:

A variation of the texture can be obtained by frying boiled and cubed potatoes.

Another variation could be by adding boiled and cubed potatoes without frying. If so it is important that the amount of oil used during tempering should be increased.

Lentils or Dal or Parippu

Masoor dal and Gram dal (Chana dal). These usually mixed into many other dishes, which is very frequent in India since a lot of people are vegetarian. They are most commonly cooked alone is Sri Lanka, where the curry is referred to as Parippu. Gram dal can also be deep-fired and sprinkled with salt and chili powder to make a nice snack (extremely good when you're watching a close cricket match, since it gives an alternative to finger nails).

Dal Curry (Parippu in Sinhala)

Ingredients: Masoor or Gram dal, onions, garlic, mustered seed, green chili, turmeric, chili powder, curry leaves, rumpa (Pandanus leaf), coconut milk and salt

Method: Wash the dal well (if you are using Gram dal soak it in water overnight). Put into a saucepan and add the chopped onions, garlic and green chili, curry leaves, pieces of rampa, mustard seed, a sprinkle of turmeric to give colour and flavour, chili powder to give that little tinkle to the taste buds and cover with water till about 1 inch above dal. Let the dal cook really well, adding water if required. Next pour the coconut milk and mix well. Do not boil for long after adding coconut milk, since the milk tends to curdle. Finally add salt to taste.

Notes:
Do not add salt till end since most types of dal or as a matter of fact the bean family or pulse family do not boil well in salty water and takes ages to boil.

Additionally some may "temper" this:

• Pour a little bit of coconut/vegitable oil to a pan. When the oil is hot add some curry leaves, rampa, mustard seeds and let it fry (watch out when the mustard seeds start to pop ;-)). Add some chopped dried red chili and onions and let it fry. Add a little bit of chili to give colour. Pour the dal curry into the hot pan and mix well (else you could pour this mix into the saucepan with the dal curry.

If you do not like the pasty dal curry, you can try adding some salt when boiling, it is a variation of cooking Parippu.

The art of Tempering

Tempering is used in many forms of South Asian and specially Sri Lankan cooking. It may be a compliment to some other curry like dal, or may be the base of a curry, for example like tempered onions or egg-plant.

Ingredients: Coconut or vegetable oil, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, chopped onions and garlic, curry leaves, rampa (Pandanus leaf), chopped dried red chili, chili powder

Method: Pour a little bit of oil into a pan. When oil is hot add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds (optional), curry leaves, chopped rampa. Fry till mustard seeds start to pop. Add onions, garlic (optional) and dried red chili. Let fry until onions are golden brown. Add a chili powder and let fry for a few 30 seconds. Watch out for your eyes and nose – better leave a window open when tempering :-). It is important that you constantly mix the ingredient throughout the tempering process.

Godamba Rotti with Chicken Korma

Godamba Rotti

Ingredients: Flour, salt to taste, Oil (coconut or vegetable), little bit of sugar (NOT to taste but to make it soft) and water

Method: Mix the flour, salt and sugar well. Add water and knead until the dough has an equal texture and does not stick to your hand. Add just that little bit of extra water to make the dough just that little bit softer and stickier. Make small balls of the dough (a little larger then a golf ball). Coat them with a considerable amount of oil and leave to rise (in a warm place) for one to two hours. Oil a smooth flat surface and stretch the small balls of dough as thin as you can. Note: A special technique exists to throw godamba like an Italian chef has a technique to throw a pizza, but I find it challenging to explain (It's not as easy as explaining to ski).

Heat a pan with oil and bake the godamba as it is. If your pan is small like mine, fold the godamba into a rectangle and bake.

If you want to make a variation of a godamba, put the unfolded godamba on the heated pan, break an egg onto the centre of the godamba (break the yolk too) and fold the godamba over the egg to form a square, Voila! you have an "Egg Rotti".

PS: If you are married, please make sure you remove you ring when kneading the dough to avoid having to un-knead the dough or worse avoid an unpleasant visit to the dentist.


Chicken Korma

Ingredients: Chicken, garlic, onions, tomatoes, ginger, curry leaves, turmeric, ground pepper (or chilli powred), oil, cloves, cardamoms, cumin, cinnamon and salt.

Method: Cut the chicken into 1 1/2 - 2 inch chucks (I presume you have cleaned and washed the chicken and most importantly that its dead). Chop the onions, garlic and tomatoes. Cube the ginger into 1/4 inch chunks (chunks so that you can take them away before eating and avoid the unpleasantness of munching a piece of ginger, which can be a terrible experience and could ruin your meal). Put oil into a saucepan and when hot add the curry leaves, cloves, cardamoms, cumin and cinnamon and let fry for a minute. Add the onions and let it fry till golden brown. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, salt and pepper (to your taste). Add the chicken and turn them around so that the chiken is coated with the mix and allow to cook for two to three minutes. Add water to cover the chicken. Cook till half of the water has evaporated and you have thick gravy (most important check if the chicken is cooked please..!)

NOTE: The best way is to grind/blend the garlic, ginger and cumin but there is a risk of getting you quantities wrong.

PS: Some say presentation matters, to me taste matters more. If you need to present this well pick some leaves form you garden (preferably poisonous), slice a tomato and decorate the chicken and offer it to the person you hate the most.

Please read the license agreement before using this recipe - note that I do not bare any responsibility for any consequences of your use of this recipe :-).

Tips and Thoughts

Before trying out these recipes there are some thoughts I’d like share;

• Rule No.1, DON'T COOK BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO COOK!
• Rule No.2, THERE ARE NO MORE RULES! (Break all rules except rule No.1)
• There are no quantities mentioned - mentioning quantities is like old school, we need cooks not robots (how can someone a million miles away on another planet may be, who has never met me know how much chili I like in my beef curry). My mom never followed quantities, she trusted her instincts and experience and she is the best cook I know. Mentioning quantities kills the natural cook in you. Try out and see what you come up with, if you don't like it change and retry until it tastes good. The world was not built in one day, so... don't worry about not getting it right the first time.
• Cooking tastes best when you constantly meddle with it. If you put it on the stove and comeback in 15 mins, Oh! I can imagine what it will taste like (grrrr… shivers down my spine). Stir and mix frequently. Taste once in a while and see what is missing, add more salt or chili or pepper or cream... etc. etc.. Ahhh and then you get the real taste. (If you want to watch your favorite TV program while cooking, sadly you will not enjoy either)
• Don't worry if your cooking does not taste like Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, it is more likely that Alain Ducasse can't get his cooking to taste like yours. Do not worry of what others think of your cooking, but with three exceptions 1. Your mother-in-law, 2. Your children, and 3. Your spouse’s friends (note the order of importance)
• EVERYBODY IS A GREAT COOK ... the only difference is whether they can eat, let alone whether someone else can eat their cooking. So don't worry about others if you can eat, so can others. The best chef in Korea would make a delicious "monkey brain", but will the world majority eat it?... most... not even in their dreams. But that does not make him a bad chef? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, taste is in the tongue of the eater :-)
• The best taste cooking is COOKING GONE WRONG!

All are welcome to add to the list. Enjoy your cooking, that is what is important.

Let the "Experiments" Begin..!

Interesting thought... food, arts & crafts, song & dance, architecture and traditions are probably the key features that define a culture (I'm no social scientist so don't argue). If one visits a second culture, nothing would be more embedded in ones mind (other than a very .... hmm.. imaginative experience) than the food one ate. Sometimes so delicious that one would long for it and sometimes so terrible one tends to ask oneself "how do they eat this s***?".

Being in Sweden for a month and a half it seems a pretty funny thing that I seem to enjoy cooking for others, it makes me wonder whether I'm in the right field, or whether some where down the line I made a wrong choice on not becoming chef. On the other hand I may enjoy cooking, but others may not be enjoying eating what I come up with... hmmm another interesting thought.

Well any way I thought I'd document my experiments (experience) in creating edible (inedible) things, which I call food (you may call them what ever you please). People with milder taste buds may call my food "Hell fire" .... any way so my journey begins to experiment what no man(woman) has experimented before.