Brunch at Priya’s

She was trying to serve a ‘light’ brunch, because we were going out to a fancy dinner that evening. This is our family’s idea of a ‘light’ brunch. 🙂

Also served with sliced bread, not pictured. Curry with pol (coconut) sambol and sliced bread is v. delicious, but you make the sambol a little differently to eat with bread, I think, if I was understanding my aunties correctly — more moist, maybe? It tasted different than Marina Aunty’s sambol the night better — both delicious.

Both of my aunties also chopped the pol sambol really finely, apparently with a ‘chopper’ that they promised to show me, but we never got around to it, so now I have to nag on Facebook — what is this magic chopper, Priya Vytheswaran?? I need a link!

Priya also served the curries with yams, and we got into a long conversation about what kind of yams they were (taro? manioc?), and what they were actually supposed to be, but I’ve now gotten them all confused in my head again. These are not the yams she was trying to find, I think.

There are many yams traditionally eaten in Sri Lanka, though, so I’m entirely unsure which ones she was aiming for. Here are some pretty photos, though:

http://science.sjp.ac.lk/…/traditional-foods-in-sri…/

All DELICIOUS

I know many of you are prepping feasts today — here’s one I got to enjoy last week when visiting my relatives in Connecticut. AFTER Marina Aunty’s plethora of appetizers (see photos from a few days ago), she ALSO put all this on the table.

Various curries (beef, shrimp, chicken, cuttlefish), potato poriyal, chicken roast, pittu, stringhoppers (red and white) and sothi, and a really excellent pol (coconut) sambol.

Not the most balanced meal, but this is what we do often for parties — I think the vast array of meats and seafoods are traditional for celebrating in my (Christian Tamil Sri Lankan) family. I promise, there are also lots of vegetable dishes in the cuisine — otherwise, I’d have had a lot more trouble putting together a vegan cookbook. 🙂

It was all DELICIOUS.

Chipotle & Pepper Corn Bread-Sausage Stuffing

Crumble cornbread into the seasoned sausage, onion, & peppers, add some chicken broth, and you’re done. Bake it a bit if you’d like a crispy top. 🙂

*****

Chipotle & Pepper Corn Bread-Sausage Stuffing

(30 minutes (plus 30 minutes for making the cornbread), serves 😎

4 c. cornbread, crumbled (best if made with chopped green chilies and whole corn (frozen works fine, thaw and drain); I just use two boxes of Jiffy for the cornbread)
1 large onion, chopped
a little oil for frying
2 lbs. mild Italian sausage (turkey sausage also works, less rich)
1 c. white wine
3 large bell peppers (red, orange, yellow), chopped
1 can chipotles, chopped (buy canned chipotles and use the sauce they’re in — if you want it less spicy, reduce how much sauce you put in)
1 t. salt
a few grinds black pepper

1 c. chicken broth

1. Make cornbread according to box directions.

2. Sauté (on medium-high) the onions in the oil until golden.

3. Add the sausage and sauté until cooked through and browned. De-glaze pan with wine.

4. Add the bell pepper and sauté until soft.

5. Add the chipotles in sauce, salt and pepper and stir well.

6. Break up and stir in cornbread.

7. Stir in broth.

Feeling Orange-ish

In goes a quarter cup of brandy — or in this case, Cointreau. I guess I’m just feeling orange-ish this year. Sometimes we do sherry. It’s all good. Now it’s all mixed together, covered, and left to soak overnight.

Will bake after work tomorrow…