with Mary Anne Mohanraj
Made Sri Lankan grilled halibut yesterday to eat with the grilled eggplant and mushrooms from the other day — tasty, but string hoppers are dry without sothi!
It was all right with some yogurt sauce, but today, I made sothi and pol sambol, and it was so much better. Some food combos are just classic, and shouldn’t be messed with too much. 
(30 minutes, serves 2)
I’m trying to start eating fish a little more regularly again — when I lived alone, it was one of my standard proteins in rotation, but Kevin doesn’t like seafood (alas), and so I’ve gotten out of the habit.
But fish is so good for you, and I do love it, so I think I’m just going to start making it more often; thankfully, Kevin’s perfectly capable of feeding himself (and the kids) as needed. The kids also aren’t so used to fish as a result of all this, aside from fish fingers, which they do like, so I feel like I need to start just including fish on the family rotation. Tuna noodle casserole, perhaps, to ease them in.
But for me, it’s hard to beat a Sri Lankan fish curry. I did a quick weeknight version of this on Tuesday, and less than 30 minutes later, was sitting down to eat fish curry and uppuma. Yum.
I just made enough for a few meals for me, so this is a pared down amount, compared to my usual recipes which are typically intended to feed 4-6 people. Dinner, plus lunch at work today, plus dinner again tonight, probably with a vegetable added. I’m thinking broccoli varai.
1 t. salt
1. Marinate swordfish with cayenne, curry powder, and lime juice — this will flavor the fish and also firm it up a bit. If you have time, marinating it for 20-30 minutes will add even more flavor, but it’ll be just fine if it just sits while you’re prepping the onions.
2. Sauté onions in oil on medium, stirring occasionally, with mustard seed, cumin seed, and garlic/ginger paste. (If you’re being fancy, you could also add in a 2-inch cinnamon stick, 2-3 cloves, 2-3 cardamom pods. And 6-12 fresh curry leaves are always welcome.)
3. When onions are golden-translucent (5-10 minutes), add marinated fish, water, and salt. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until fish is cooked through and liquid has reduced to a nice curry sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired — if it’s too spicy for you, a little coconut milk is always a nice addition.
4. Serve hot with rice, roti, pittu, uppuma, idli, or whatever grain your heart desires. If you’re making uppuma, you can do it in 5 minutes while the curry sauce is cooking down. Efficient! If you’re looking for an accompaniment, a bright mango pickle will go nicely.
Finishing up the California launch party photos on my phone. Basic process for making a tender seafood curry — make the curry sauce, get it to just the way you like it, slip the seafood in, and cook it just long enough, uncovered, to cook through. A little water will usually come off the seafood, thinning the sauce, but then as you cook it through, that will evaporate again, so you should end up with deliciousness in just a few minutes. Works for salmon, other fish, scallops, shrimp, crab, squid, etc.
Salmon curry recipe here: https://serendibkitchen.com/2019/09/13/party-prep/
Lunch with Roshani yesterday before she went off to Florida for a few weeks of glorious vacation. I am not going to lounge on a beach, but I did get a very nice seafood risotto at Little Gem (half for lunch, half saved to fill out dinner).
Costco has shrimp cocktail, also cilantro-lime shrimp. If you alternate them on a pretty platter, they look trés fancy, with almost no effort on your part. This is half of each container, so you can set aside the rest in the fridge for refilling if needed.
Sometimes you just want to indulge yourself, even if no one else in your house will eat crab cakes. (Fools.) I had stopped by our local butcher and food store, Carnivore Oak Park, to drop off some hand-sewn masks for the staff, and they had these gorgeous ramps in the refrigerator case.
Now, I’ve never eaten ramps before, or even seen them, but they were so pretty, I had to try them. I brought them home, along with some asparagus and fresh made crab cakes from Carnivore, looked up recipes, and discovered the consensus was to treat them like leeks or scallions, and that they would respond well to grilling.
A little olive oil, salt, and pepper later, voila! I even plated it up pretty, even though it was just for me. Well, and for you guys. I did the asparagus and crab cake in the toaster oven, sliced the ramps in half (both because they wouldn’t fit in my grill pan otherwise, and because I thought the onion-y parts and the greens might need different cooking times), and twenty minutes later, I tore into this deliciousness.
The white and red ends of the ramps are sweet and onion-y; the green leaves are just slightly bitter, and they pair beautifully with the the roasted asparagus and crab cake (which I tossed on the grill pan a bit at the end, just to brown it nicely), esp. accompanied with a bit of tartar sauce.
There’s lots of both roasted asparagus and grilled ramps left (crab cake all gone, thank you very much), and my tentative plan is to take some of the chicken stock I froze a month or so ago at the start of all this madness, and turn it into a soup. Toss them in a pot, add the stock, add cream, simmer for a bit until blended, then use a hand-blender to puree into creamy deliciousness.
The only problem is, I really would like to top that with a little fresh crab — I might have to go back to Carnivore later today…
This was ALMOST very frustrating. I grilled these beautiful jumbo shrimp with chili-salt-lime, thinking I’d make a sort of mango-shrimp salad with them. The shrimp themselves were fabulous; I ate three of them straight off the grill pan because I just couldn’t resist. But when I chopped them up and combined them with chopped mango, the result was v. disappointing. The mango was quite green, and somehow the end version was just meh. I hate eating meh food. It was late by then, so I went crabbily to bed, complaining to Kevin that I’d ruined the shrimp.
But in the morning, I took another stab at it; I pulled the chopped shrimp and mango out and put them in the food processor, figuring I’d aim for more of a spread, rather than a seafood salad. I added some mayo and processed a bit — better. But the seasonings seemed off — it needed more lime, more salt, and something sweet. Mango jam to the rescue — mango chutney would’ve been even better, I suspect, but I was out of that, and I had a bit of the jam left.
I don’t have a picture of it, but the end result was respectable enough that people at brunch were complimentary and asked me what was in it. Whew. Rescued! This is the result of 20+ years cooking, you know — ten years in, I don’t think I would’ve had a hope of knowing how to fix this dish, which would have been very sad!
Amanda Daly took some great photos at our Collaboration Brunch today. 
So good to get some of her bagels; it’s been too long!
(I, um, may have eaten three so far today, and am eyeing a fourth….)
I was too busy talking to folks to take many photos — a great group for today’s Daly Bagel brunch, and a particular shout-out to my high school friend, Carmela Diosana, all the way down from Madison. Great to see you again and delighted to pass your Feast of Serendib orders to you!
Lovely brunch all around. Much fun foodie conversation!
For today’s brunch, Karina had suggested a kithul treacle & strawberry shmear, which we’d seen at a fancy hotel in Sri Lanka that had a bagel bar in their Western section. That gave me an idea — I had some sugar pumpkins that had come in our imperfect produce order, that I hadn’t figured out what to do with yet. So I split one in half and roasted it, then scooped that out and combined it with whipped cream cheese and kithul (palm) treacle. Makes a great bagel shmear, as it turns out — I had mine on an Amanda Daly chai bagel. Mmm….
My standard Sri Lankan curried salmon + cream cheese = yummy curried salmon shmear with a little bite to it. The shmear bites back.
The last few days have been so harried that I was eating very badly – I didn’t have time to cook, and was often running from event to event, so there were a few days of just grabbing whatever random snacks I had around the house, making mediocre sandwiches, etc. One dinner this week? Rice cakes + chocolate, both snacks I had in the car. Gah.
This was bad in two ways: a) this was generally way less healthy than I normally eat, and b) it makes me cranky and sad, eating bad food.
By yesterday, I had hit my limit, and finally caved and ordered some Japanese & Thai takeout from Bua Hana up the street – that was good, because eating some fresh seafood was such a relief, taste and health-wise. And their Thai green chicken curry with rice has fed me for three straight solid meals. But it also makes me wince; that cost $40 to feed the family, and I know if I’d cooked, I could have made meals just as healthy and delicious for $10 or less.
We do what we must, and sometimes, there just isn’t the bandwith to cook, even for someone like me, who loves cooking. But I wish I’d thought ahead a little, and made some protein on the weekend to carry me through the week. A few weeks ago, I did a batch of Sri Lankan grilled shrimp, and that was perfect – I threw them into Caesar salads, with quinoa and a tangerine dressing, and into sandwiches and quesadillas. The spicy flavors made me happy, and the extra protein made my body feel great.
So here’s a new recipe that’ll be in Gluten-Free Serendib, along with a resolution to try to remember to grill up a batch on Sunday. If you buy peeled, raw shrimp, it takes almost no time to toss them in a spiced yogurt marinade – then go off and do something else for a while, let it work its magic. When you come back, a few minutes on a grill pan on the stove is enough to make a week’s worth of happiness.
NOTE: This will, of course, also work with scallops, chicken (thighs are tastier than breast, but both will work), steak, eggplant, mushrooms, etc. Just adjust grilling time appropriately.
*****
Sri Lankan Grilled Shrimp
2 lbs. raw shrimp (either fresh or thawed from frozen), peeled and deveined
½ c. yogurt
1 T Sri Lankan curry powder
1-2 t. cayenne
1 t. black pepper
1 t. salt
juice of one lime (2-3 t.)
oil to spray on grill pan
1. Combine ingredients and marinade one hour (or four hours in the fridge; or even overnight).
2. Heat a grill pan to high heat and spray with oil. Add shrimp and cook 2-3 minutes on one side. Flip and cook a few more minutes on the other side, until shrimp are pink-orange and cooked through. Serve hot or cold, with whatever you like – rice, naan, quinoa, salad greens, eggs, or just straight up as a snack.
(30 minutes, serves dozens)
My mother is known for these delicious, fussy little appetizers. They present beautifully for a cocktail party.
1 lb medium raw, peeled shrimp
2 medium onions, minced
enough vegetable oil to sauté (about 3 TBL)
1-2 rounded tsp cayenne
ketchup to taste (about 1/4 cup)
1 t. lime juice
1/2 – 1 rounded tsp salt
cilantro or curly parsley for garnish
either buttery crackers or slices of white bread
butter to spread
mustard to spread (optional)
Optional: Cut small circles of white bread and toast in an oven for a few minutes. Spread with butter, or butter mixed with mustard. Alternately, use crackers.
1. Sauté onions in oil until golden; add cayenne and sauté on high a minute or two until darkened.
2. Add shrimp, ketchup, lime juice, and salt; turn down heat to medium and cook, stirring, until well blended.
3. Serve on toast or crackers, placing 1-2 pieces of shrimp on each one and garnishing with a sprig of parsley or cilantro.