Category: Dinner

On the podcast interview this morning, they asked me what was a good starting dish in Vegan Serendib — I said if you like spicy, you could start with deviled potatoes, which was one of the dishes I learned in college, as a very novice cook. It’s incredibly easy, but also incredibly yummy. I still find it addictive now, thirty years later, and Kevin loves it too.

And yes, it uses ketchup, because that’s what Amma used. If that offends you, you can take chopped tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, and salt, and cook those down until they’ve turned to ketchup, and then use that.

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Deviled Potatoes

This was the first vegetable dish I learned to make, and I still find it addictive. It’s great with rice and another curry, but also works quite well mashed up as a party spread with triangles of toasted naan or pita. For a little more protein, you could add canned and drained chickpeas when you add the potatoes.

3 medium onions, chopped
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
¼ tsp. black mustard seed
¼ tsp. cumin seed
1-2 Tbsp. (or more to taste) cayenne
3 medium russet potatoes, cubed
3 Tbsp. ketchup
1 rounded tsp. salt
½ cup coconut milk, optional

1. Sauté onions in oil on high with mustard seed and cumin seeds until onions are golden / translucent (not brown). Add cayenne and cook 1 minute. Immediately add potatoes, ketchup, and salt.

2. Lower heat to medium and add enough water so the potatoes don’t burn (enough to cover usually works well). Cover and cook, stirring periodically, until potatoes are cooked through, about 20 minutes.

3. Remove lid and simmer off any excess water; the resulting curry sauce should be fairly thick, so that the potatoes are coated with sauce, rather than swimming in liquid. Add coconut milk, if desired, to thicken sauce and mellow spice level; stir until well blended. Serve hot.

Do you have boring old leftover rice? Are you in the mood for a spicy, tangy, flavor EXPLOSION??? This is the recipe for you. (You can skip or reduce the cayenne and dried red chilies if spicy is not your favorite thing.)

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Tamarind Rice with Black Lentils

(10 minutes, serves 4)

Ever since I had children, I’ve become a little more focused on trying to get some protein into every meal, if possible. Lentils are protein powerhouses, and these lentils don’t even require any soaking or boiling in advance — they just fry for a few minutes, and end up as crunchy little bites mixed in with the tangy tamarind rice. This rice is delicious with fried plantains, but to be honest, I often just eat it straight up, right out of the pot.

You can make fresh rice for this, but it’s also a terrific way to revive day-old rice!

2 c. cooked rice
2 T vegetable oil
1 T urad dal (black lentil)
1/2 t. black mustard seed
1/2 t. fennel seed
4 dried red chilies
1 stalk (about a dozen) fresh curry leaves
1 T cayenne
1 t. ground jaggery or brown sugar
1 t. salt
1/2 t. ground turmeric
6 T tamarind juice (1 T tamarind paste dissolved in 5 T hot water)

NOTE: This recipe moves quickly, and it’s worth having all the ingredients prepped in advance. You can measure out the whole spices into one container, and the ground spices into another, and dissolve the tamarind paste in advance.

1. Heat oil on medium-high and sauté lentil, mustard seed, cumin seed, dried chilies, curry leaves for two minutes, stirring constantly — be careful not to burn.

2. Stir in ground spices, then add tamarind juice. Bring to a boil and let simmer a few minutes, until thickened.

3. Remove from heat and stir in rice, mixing until well-blended. Serve hot!

Yesterday was one of those days that just went super-fast, one thing after another. I made Sri Lankan lunch for six, cooking way too much, just as my mother trained me — you want an abundance of food at a party, so no one hesitates to go back for seconds.

– Sri Lankan red rice & basmati rice, with saffron and sultanas
– tamarind pork curry
– classic chicken curry
– curried beets with green chili and coconut milk
– kale salad with coconut, onion, & cherry tomatoes
– mushrooms sautéed in butter, curry powder, and lime
– chili leeks
– yogurt (just in case it was still too spicy for anyone)
– toasted naan (from Whole Foods)
– mango fluff for dessert (not pictured)

I cooked the pork curry Thursday night, but the rest was cooked Friday morning in a bit of a mad frenzy. It would’ve been calmer, but I had a Serendib Zoom meeting in the middle of the morning, and not one I could skip, since we’re prepping for launch of Vegan Serendib on Tuesday! It felt weirdly appropriate that I was cooking throughout that meeting.

I was in a bit of a strange mood all day, I think because it was my mother’s birthday. Amma has moved to a memory care facility, and while we’re still figuring it all out, it’s looking like she’s probably going to need to continue living there, for her own health and safety. She isn’t able to answer the phone and understand me at this point; I thought about trying to call, but I didn’t think there’d be any point to it. I’m not sure she really recognizes me when I come to visit.

But my sister and her family were able to visit yesterday, along with my aunt and her son, and the staff took a nice photo of them all. I wish Amma could’ve joined us for lunch yesterday. She would have liked tasting the food — the chicken curry and leeks in particular, are exactly how she used to make them. All my cooking skills — the flavors, the complexity, the ability to cook masses of food at speed — start with her.

Curried beets! I asked Kevin if he had any requests for this Sri Lankan lunch — he’s teaching now, but he’ll have it for dinner tonight — and he immediately asked for beets. They are awfully yummy, so I don’t blame him.