Month: November 2020

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Is More Good?

You know what feels really great? When you imagine a thing, and you make it, and it actually comes out the way you intended. I LOVE how this pumpkin curry tea towel came out! Kavi did the pumpkin and vines and leaf; I did the recipe and overall design. I tried to pick a cheerful, slightly child-like font that was similar to Kavi’s handwriting, which is neat and rounded.

Sri Lankan peeps, I feel like this would be a nice gift for Amma, don’t you think? 🙂 If you have a cooking Amma, that is.

I had thought it wouldn’t be affordable for me to sell tea towels in my own shop, with shipping multiple directions, etc., but it turns out that Spoonflower has a fill-a-yard option that works really well. I can fit 4 tea towels on a yard of fabric, which brings the per unit cost down considerably. So if you’re sewing yourself, this is a great thing to know about, and if you don’t sew, I can actually sell them.

They’re still not cheap, I’m afraid — I need to price them at $24 each to make it worthwhile. But you get a significant discount on them if you get them as part of a Patreon treat box (sign up by November 30th for the December boxes). (http://patreon.com/mohanraj)

I think we can offer some package options too, since that saves us on the shipping cost part — I’m thinking:

• 1 tea towel ($24)
• tea towel + curry powder ($28)
• 2 tea towels ($42)
• 2 tea towels + curry powder ($45)
• Feast paperback + tea towel ($50)
• Feast paperback + tea towel + curry powder ($55)
• Feast hardcover + tea towel ($60)
• Feast hardcover + 2 tea towels ($80)

• Feast hardcover + 2 tea towels + curry powder ($85)

Is it confusing, having so many options to choose from? I felt like more would be good, but maybe not…?

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Giving Up on Neatness

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sri Lankan cashew milk toffee (which is really closer to a fudge than a toffee, despite the name) with silver leaf applied to it, but I wanted to try for Diwali today, and I think it looks great!

Not at all easy to do neatly, even with the two sets of wooden tweezers that came with the silver leaf — it blows around wildly in the slightest breath of air. But if you give up on neatness, it works just fine. 🙂

These will be going in the December Patreon treat boxes — well, the ones Anand doesn’t eat will be going in the treat boxes. He adores milk toffee.

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Jaggery, Balsamic, and Cayenne

(35 minutes, serves 2-4)

I love roasting brussels sprouts on a weeknight — five minutes of prep and the rest happens in the oven (or toaster oven, in my case), giving you plenty of time to cook a few more dishes.

These brussels sprouts are sweet, tangy, and a little spicy. A nice addition to the Thanksgiving table, or for dinner any night of the week.

1 lb. brussels sprouts
3 T jaggery or dark brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T balsamic vinegar
3 T olive oil
1/4 t. salt (plus more to sprinkle)

1/2 t. cayenne

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Trim and halve brussels sprouts, cutting large sprouts smaller, aiming to have them roughly the same size so they’ll cook evenly.

3. In a bowl, mix together jaggery, garlic, balsamic, oil, salt, and cayenne. Add sprouts and stir to coat them well.

4. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper; spread brussels sprouts in a single layer.

5. Roast for 25-30 minutes — taste and sprinkle on additional salt as desired to finish (I like another 1/4 t. or so).

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Sri Lankan-Style Poached Chicken, with Saffron, Sultanas, and Wine

Confession — I don’t like chicken breast. Oh, it’s fine in a chicken salad, or in a sandwich with plenty of mayo, but on its own, for dinner? I would much rather have flavorful, moist thighs.

But sometimes my husband buys it, so what’s a girl to do? Poach them — at least poaching helps keep chicken breast as moist and flavorful as possible. Here’s a fusion approach with Sri Lankan spicing, adding in butter and wine.

I kept this dish mild; it felt appropriate for the gentle poaching process, and also meant my kids were happy to eat it. (But if you wanted to add a few chopped green chilies, that would also be fine.)

2 T oil or ghee
2 c. red or yellow onion, chopped fine
1 T ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods
3 cloves
1 stalk curry leaves (about a dozen)
1 t. salt
1/2 – 1 t. black pepper (to your taste)
3 large chicken breasts
1-2 pinches of saffron threads
1 c. white wine, plus water to cover
2 T butter
1 T lime juice

1/2 c. sultanas (golden raisins)

1. In a large pan (one with a lid), sauté onions in oil or ghee on medium-high, adding in ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and curry leaves. Stir as needed, until onions are golden-translucent.

2. Add chicken breasts, saffron, white wine, and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down heat to a simmer; cook 15 minutes, until breasts are cooked through.

3. Remove chicken to a plate and keep warm. Turn heat back up to high, add sultanas, and and boil liquid until reduced to a thick sauce, about a quarter of its previous volume. Stir in butter and lime juice, then taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

4. Return chicken to the pan and reheat with the sauce. Serve hot with rice or bread.

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Spiced Chocolate Gingerbread Dragon Eggs

This grown-up gingerbread has tremendous depth of flavor, with molasses, jaggery, plenty of ground ginger and a bit of cayenne taking it to the next level. It’s based on a recipe by Matt Lewis, but with a few tweaks heading it in a more Sri Lankan direction. The result is a sturdy, chewy cookie with a little heat — perfect for shaping into dragon eggs. A pattered cookie cutter makes that easy, and a little gilding gives these cookies a festive holiday glow.

NOTE: They’d also work well as sandwich cookies with creme, or ice cream sandwich cookies.

3 ¼ c. all-purpose flour
⅓ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T. ground ginger
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground cloves
1 T baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/4 – 1/2 t. cayenne (to your taste)
1 c. unsalted butter (softened)
1/2 c. jaggery (or dark brown sugar)
1 large egg
1/2 c. molasses
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate

a little vodka and gold luster dust for decoration, optional

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave at half power; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour with cocoa powder and spices; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with the jaggery / brown sugar on high until fluffy, about two minutes. Add egg, molasses, and melted chocolate, stirring to combine.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, beating on low until it forms a dough.

5. Divide the dough into two firm balls, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled.

6. Preheat oven to 350F, and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thick, and cut out cookies. If the dough is a little cracked, you don’t need to get it completely smooth — the cracks will add to the dragon egg-like appearance. Chill again for 15 minutes before baking, to reduce the chance of spreading.

NOTE: I found that with this particular cutter, if I pressed down far enough to cut the cookie out completely, the dough tended to stick and be hard to remove from the cutter. It was easier to press it most of the way, then remove and use a sharp knife as needed to free the egg from the dough. A little fiddly, but worth it!

7. Bake cookies for about 7 minutes; let cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

8. Once cooled, add a little luster dust to a bit of vodka (or extract, but extract can add more flavor / scent than you want), and use a food-dedicated little paintbrush to gild the eggs, giving them a proper dragon-ish glow.

Enjoy!