Category: Dinner

(I didn’t have quite enough oil to really deep-fry, but as long as you don’t crowd the pan and stir occasionally, you’re fine…)

This is called devilled eggs in my cookbook, which always confuses people, because Americans mean something very different by devilled eggs. But I swear, that’s what we call them in Sri Lanka.

It’s really devilled onions with eggs — you hard-boil the eggs, and then slice them in half and top them with devilled onions. (I didn’t slice these yet, because they’re for a party on Sunday and I’m cooking in advance; I’ll do that step just before the party to maintain egg freshness.)

You can use devilled onions for whatever you like — even use oil instead of ghee and then they’re vegan. They’d be great on a sandwich with grilled mushrooms or eggplant, for example. And if you’re not vegan, then consider grilled chicken or pork. Yum!

The basic process is to:

– that’s basically it — this is one of the first things I learned to cook in college, and I made it just like that — but if you want to fancy it up a bit, you can add a little lime juice, jaggery, and some curry leaves for added complexity

Actual recipe in Feast, of course. Vegans, would it be helpful to have the devilled onion recipe in Vegan Serendib? I hadn’t planned on it, but it’s easy enough to add…

Vegan Serendib Kickstarter running here (stretch goal: a cocktail party recipe book!) — https://www.kickstarter.com/…/vegan-serendib-a-sri…

A traditional Sri Lankan curry from our Muslim community, featuring fried eggplant, plantain, and potato, simmered in a rich coconut milk curry.

vegetable oil for deep frying

2-3 c. water (enough to cover)

1. To prevent discoloration and add a little flavor, once you cube eggplant and plantains, submerge them (separately) in bowls of water, each seasoned with 1/2 t. turmeric and pinch of salt.

2. Heat oil for deep frying in a large, deep pan. Drain eggplant (water will make it splatter when it hits the oil, and can be dangerous). When the oil is hot, working in small batches, fry eggplant until lightly browned, then remove to a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat process with plantains and potatoes.

3. In a large pot, heat 1/2 c. oil (you can use the frying oil), then add sliced onion and sauté, stirring, until golden-translucent.

4. Add ginger, garlic, cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, curry leaves, pandan leaf (if using), curry powder, cayenne, jaggery, tamarind paste, salt, and 1/2 c. coconut milk.

5. Gently stir in fried ingredients; add enough water to cover, bring to a boil, cover, and turn down to a simmer. Simmer 10 minutes; vegetables should be cooked through.

6. Remove lid, add remaining coconut milk, stir very gently to combine, taste and adjust seasonings; you may want more salt or a little more tamarind. Simmer 5-10 more minutes, to a thick, rich gravy. Serve hot (or room temperature) with rice; dal is a nice accompaniment to add protein and make a complete meal.

We frequently get a whole tandoori chicken from local restaurant Khyber Pass, but day-after takeout tandoori chicken can be a little dry. Usually I like it fine on sandwiches with a little mayo and some chopped green chili, but sometimes I get motivated to do a little more:

– add cooked pasta

Several more meals for the family…

(serves 2-4, 15-30 minutes)

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the most fabulous — the base version of this whole eggplant fry uses just a few ingredients (cayenne, turmeric, salt, and hot oil) for delicious and dramatic results. It also dresses up beautifully for a fancier night out, offering grace notes of shallot, green chili, and cherry tomato.

oil for deep-frying

salt & lime juice to taste

1. Make eight slits down the sides of the eggplants.

2. Mix the cayenne, turmeric, and salt, and rub the spices into the slits (it’s fine if they’re detached completely at the bottom, which will make it easier to rub in spices).

3. Heat oil for deep frying (around 375F if using a thermometer) and fry the whole eggplants until they brown evenly, about 3-5 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

NOTE: You can stop the recipe here and just eat the fried eggplants as is, with rice. Delicious! Or you can add a few more steps for a more complex version.

4. To a sauté pan, add a few T of the oil from deep frying, and add diced shallot, diced chili, curry leaves, and tomatoes. Cook on medium-high, stirring, about 5 minutes, until onions are golden-translucent and tomatoes have softened.

5. Add whole fried eggplant to pan and cook an additional 5-10 minutes, stirring; taste and adjust seasonings — you may want to add 1/2 t. salt, or up to a T of lime juice at this point. Serve hot with rice, and enjoy!

(20 minutes + marinating time, serves 2-4)

This is definitely a fusion dish — I combined our Sri Lankan ginger-garlic chicken recipe with a traditional marinated tofu recipe, for a result that I found delectably more-ish — I didn’t even wait to make rice, but just kept nibbling pieces right off of the serving plate. Yum!

sesame seeds, chopped chives, chopped cilantro to garnish

1. Combine tofu, spices, 1 T lime juice and 2 T oil in a bowl and stir gently to combine. Marinate for 20-30 minutes (or longer, if you like), for additional flavor.

2. Heat oil in a sauté pan and pan-fry on high, stirring, for about 5 minutes. (You may deep-free or bake, if preferred. If you deep-fry, you’ll likely get more textural contrast between the crispy outer tofu and the soft interior.) Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil.

NOTE: You can stop and eat it at this stage, but it will be even tastier if you continue…

3. In the same pan, sauté sliced shallots on medium-high (adding oil if needed), stirring, until golden-brown and slightly crispy.

4. In serving bowl / plate, top tofu with shallots, then garnish with another 1-2 T of lime juice (to your taste), a little white sesame seed, chives, and cilantro. Chopped cashews would also be nice as a garnish. Serve hot with rice.

(10 minutes + marinating time, serves 2-4)

My son would like to be vegetarian, so we’ve been working on developing recipes he’d enjoy — he gobbled up quite a bit of this last night, so I think we can declare seitan a success.

Seitan is wheat gluten, made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch granules have been removed, leaving only the gluten. The resulting mass can then be cut into small pieces, which expand on cooking. For those looking for a chicken substitute, this has come the closest out of my attempts, in texture and flavor.

An easy and satisfying weeknight dish; I recommend trying it with rice and an eggplant or mango curry.

oil to fry

1. Combine seitan, spices, lime juice and 2 T oil in a bowl and stir gently to combine. Seitan will break up into small pieces as you stir. Marinate for 20-30 minutes (or longer, if you like), for additional flavor.

2. Toss gently in flour.

3. Heat oil in a sauté pan and pan-fry on high, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve hot with rice or naan and a vegetable curry or sambol.

NOTE: Seitan can be made easily from scratch, if you’d prefer to buying it ready-made.

(10 minutes + marinating time, serves 2-4)

This was my first attempt at a variation on Sri Lankan ginger-garlic chicken, and I think it works fine — IF you like the texture and flavor of tempeh, which is pretty distinctive. Tempeh is a traditional Javanese soy product that is made from fermented soybeans. Personally, I can enjoy a little bit of this — I’d like it tossed in a salad, for example, but don’t necessarily want a lot of it straight up as an entree.

2 T oil + oil to fry

1. Combine tempeh, spices, lime juice and 2 T oil in a bowl and stir gently to combine. Marinate for 20-30 minutes (or longer, if you like), for additional flavor.

2. Heat oil in a sauté pan and pan-fry on high, stirring, for about 5 minutes. (If you prefer, you can either deep-fry or bake the tempeh.) Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve hot.