Month: April 2021

Posted on

Finalizing Recipes

Okay, and here the recipes still to finalize, I think. Coming soon! Although there are 24 here, and only supposed to be 15 or so, so some may be cut — if there are recipes here you’d particularly like to see, let me know!

Grains:
* jaggery rice– serve with plantains
* kundu thosai
* kurakkan (millet) roti
* hal piti roti (onion-chili bread)

* steamed roasted appams

Soups and Gravies:
* dhal rasam

* fenugreek gravy

Savory Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables:
* whole eggplant fry
* kaliya curry (Muslim dish, eggplant, plantain, and potato)
* spicy long beans

* spicy mashed green gram balls

Fake Meats:

• “Beyond” chicken curry?

Accompaniments:
* rose & hibiscus salad
* ginger sambal

* tomato & passionfruit jam

Snacks:

• bonda

Desserts:
* bibbikan, mixed spice coconut slices
* vatalappam with aquafaba (might not work!)
* sesame, date, and coconut balls
* Dutch flower cookies
* mashed banana fritters

* green gram pudding

Drinks:

* pineapple and cinnamon sherbet

* beetroot juice with cardamom and lime

Posted on

Working On the Table of Contents

Spending a little time this morning trying to figure out what I want to include in Vegan Serendib. I’d really like to finalize the table of contents by the end of April, and I think that’s do-able. The plan was to remove all the meat and fish and egg recipes from Feast (about 40), and replace those with 40 new vegan recipes from Sri Lanka.

The problem isn’t finding those — the problem is narrowing down which ones to include. So far, I’m pretty happy with all of these, which means I probably have room for about 10-15 more. I kind of lost track of my test cooks last fall when things got busy (I blame the pandemic and switching to online teaching), so I need to ask people to start test cooking recipes again.

I kind of love that the Vegetables section has expanded to Savory Fruits, Flowers, and Vegetables. There’s a rose & hibiscus salad coming, for example. 🙂

*****

SAVORY FRUITS, FLOWERS, and VEGETABLES:

• Bottle Gourd and Spinach Curry: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161550809829616

• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Jaggery, Balsamic, and Cayenne:

https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161625256254616

• Green Chili Curry: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10162062139529616

• Green Tomato and Lentil Curry: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161542190374616

– tested by Taylor, Lucinda, Jennifer, Linda

• Dried Hibiscus Poriyal: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161534798914616

• Hibiscus (Shoeflower) Curry / Sembaruthipoo Kari: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161535931054616

• Pineapple Curry with Coconut Milk and Saffron: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161949008449616

• Mild Green Plantain Curry: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161568742619616

• Spicy Plantain Curry: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161568698699616

• Tempered Green Plantain Peel: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161570297779616

• Pumpkin Curry: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161581447339616

ACCOMPANIMENTS:

• Green Tomato Chutney with Apples: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161531491924616

– tested by Jude and Jessica

• Quick-Pickled Cucumber-Carrot Relish: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161534135234616

– tested by Maya

• Eggplant Pickle / Brinjal Moju: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161597857279616

• Spicy Pineapple Pickle (Achar): https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161948554219616

• Plantain Sambol: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161569885339616

• Roasted Pumpkin Seeds: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161582154884616

SOUPS:

• Curried Pumpkin Soup: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161582206649616

GRAINS:

• Keerai (Spinach) Pittu: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10162072391064616

• Milk Rice / Kiri Bath (with Bottle Gourd variation): https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161553704479616

• Tamarind Rice with Black Lentils: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161951228944616

• Toasted Coconut and Sesame Rice, with Black Lentils: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161952261869616

SWEETS:

• Lime & Coconut Scones, with Lime Glaze: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161969747104616

• Mango-Ginger Scones, topped with Jaggery: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10161854232729616

• Irasavalli Kizhangu Kanji / Purple Yam Pudding or Porridge: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj/posts/10162109419154616

Posted on

Irasavalli Kizhangu Kanji / Purple Yam Pudding or Porridge

(30 minutes, serves 4)

This is one of the prettiest Sri Lankan dishes — the color is sure to delight dinner guests and children. It’s healthy too! Yams are good for you, and so is coconut milk; you can feel happy serving this dessert to one and all. Irasavalli is also often eaten for breakfast, in the same way as a rice congee (or oatmeal).

Purple yam (Dioscorea alata), also known as ube (Philippines) or isu ewura (Nigeria), is native to Southeast Asia. It can be found fresh and frozen in your local Asian grocery stores.

2 c. purple yams, peeled and diced
2 c. coconut milk
1 c. water
1/4 c. sugar or honey
1 T lime juice
pinch of salt

1 drop rose essence, or pinch of cardamom (optional)

1. In a saucepan, combine yams, coconut milk, and water. Bring to a boil and cook ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until yams are cooked through.

2. Remove from heat and either mash with the back of a wooden spoon, or use a blender (an immersion blender makes it easy) to puree the yam and combine it with the coconut milk.

3. When well blended, return to heat, add remaining ingredients, and simmer 10-15 minutes more, stirring, until pudding is thick and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.

4. Serve hot, with your choice of garnishes — ripe banana, ripe mango, coconut flakes are all good options.

NOTE: If you’re using frozen yams, they may have lost some color in the freezing process. If the purple is not sufficiently purple for your delight, do feel free to add a drop or two of food coloring.

Posted on

Sri Lankan Sesame Seed Balls Experiments

Well, that was a little frustrating. I tried making two different versions of Sri Lankan sesame seed balls, hoping to include one in Vegan Serendib, and I’m afraid I didn’t like either one. They’re both Jaffna recipes, Ella Urundai (sesame fudge) and Sesame Seed Pori Ma, and both made with roasted sesame seeds, rice floor, and jaggery.

They came out looking fine (though I did need to add a little sesame oil to help them bind together). But I just don’t like the taste — it has an edge of bitterness, and the roasted rice flour is kind of grainy even after binding with the flour and jaggery.

It might’ve worked better if I’d done a jaggery syrup, and combined in that? I’m not sure. But I think I’m going to try a different approach if I do this again — there are Sinhalese recipes for sesame balls made with jaggery and coconut — no rice flour, and that sounds better. I’ve also seen variations adding in Medjool dates, which sounds yum. (I’m not positive I actually like sesame candy, though, which might be the real problem.)

Alas. Sometimes, experiments don’t work out. We still learn things. Science!

Posted on

Easter Menu:

• lamb shanks braised in red wine with onions and carrots
• sliced ham
• roasted new potatoes
• roasted asparagus
• roasted sweet potatoes and onions
• sautéed sugar snap peas
• Hawaiian rolls with salted Irish butter
• clementines and strawberries
• candy-coated chocolates

• forsythia/pandan cake

Good mix of kid-friendly and adult-fancy dishes, and all relatively easy cooking too. All the roast veggies were just tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper.