Category: Dinner

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.

Sri Lankan chicken curry — this one is just a staple. I probably ate it every week, growing up, and must have cooked it at least once a week for myself when I was in grad school.

For Kev and the kids, I cut most of the chicken thighs off the bones, but I throw the bones in to cook, because it adds immensely to the flavor.

Amma likes to crack the bones with her teeth and suck out the marrow; she’s hard-core. It’s her birthday today — thinking of her.

I came home from World Fantasy and almost immediately made myself comfort food — beef and potato curry, the first thing I really learned to cook, with some indulgent short-grain white rice.

I usually try to make rice with a lower glycemic index, because I had gestational diabetes with Anand, so I try to be a little careful of my sugars. But sometimes, you just want to indulge.

Kavi and Kevin love this curry too — Anand still can’t handle anything spicy, poor munchkin. Sensitive tongue!

I’m getting better at using these molds — it took about 30 minutes to cut and fill 5 pies (plus one empanada-style with the leftover pie crust).

And I used a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, which meant that there was only about 45-60 minutes of active cooking time (take pie shell out of fridge, let thaw, make filling, roll out and cut and fill fox and owl, brush with beaten egg), and then bake about 30 minutes.

If you choose to cut the eyes and other parts completely out, rather than just leaving an impression, be careful not to overfill, or they’ll likely break apart while baking.

Rich and tasty dinner, paired with a citrus-spinach salad to cut the richness.

A friend came by for lunch yesterday; we had talked about getting Indian takeout, but I’m trying to eat a little healthier, and I had time, so I ended up cooking Sri Lankan instead.

(Not to claim Sri Lankan is inherently healthier than Indian, just that my cooking is usually healthier than restaurant takeout.)

I’m trying to amp up the health aspects of some of my meals:

• I tried adding sweet potatoes to the chicken curry (good, but got a little overcooked, should have added them later in the process)

• did half-and-half basmati and Sri Lankan red rice (lower glycemic index than white rice, doesn’t take any longer to cook, adds a subtle nutty flavor)

• served with cabbage mallung, which is already pretty darn healthy (cabbage, onions, coconut, green chili, just a touch of veg. oil)

Tasty meal.

Technically, nasturtiums aren’t classically part of Sri Lankan kale sambol, but I grew these from seed, so I added them, and they’re so pretty and edible and why the heck not?

Nice to have enough time to make my favorite curry.