The culinary corner

Hath maaluwa or the seven vegetable curry is a taditional Sri Lankan mixed vegetable curry together with loads of flavours. Normally it is served during the Sri Lankan new year season to balance the nutrients level with the busy life style as well as the oily food that people consume during the time. Sri Lanka is a tiny island gifted with natural beauty diverse geographies , different climates and variety of different vegetables grows from province to province. So this curry is different from province to province as they normally use the seasonal harvest in this curry. With our busy life style we always lack of having a balanced diet. This is a really nice way of doing a mixed vegetable curry to serve with rice or any kind of a bread. Instead of using the vegetables  I have used you can use mushrooms, green peas, snake beans,pumpkin, yam (root veggies) spinach or anything seasonal or as you wish. To give a little more flavour you can add some tomatoes too.  Seven...

Spring Onion Bread Rolls (Soft & Moist) Ingredients For the Topping 1 bunch spring onions/scallion cut finely 1 Egg 50 -70 g Butter 1 egg for egg wash For the 1st Bread dough 2 1/2 tsp Dry instant yeast (2 of 7g Satchets) 2 1/2 Tblsp warm water 2 Tblsp Sugar 225 ml warm water 425 g Bread Flour For adding after proving the dough 4 Tblsp olive oil 1 Egg 75 g Caster sugar 1Tsp salt 190 g  Bread flour 60 ml Water Method. Add warm water and sugar in to the dry yeast and leave in a warm place to activate about 10 min. Then add flour and yeast in to the mixing bowl and add water little by little while mixing. Knead the dough about 5 min. Then leave about 40 min to prove in a warm place covering with a damp cloth. After 40 min take the dough out  and punch down and add other ingredients except water & oil. Add water and oil while kneading. Knead the dough another 5-6 min. Then leave to rest 15- 20 min. Prepare spring onion and e...

There are two ways of doing cake pops. Do bake them in original pop maker or using ready made cake. The easy way of doing it to use the left over cake and crumble it, or make a cake and crumble it. You can either use one flavour or different flavours if you are making them in  bulk. This is a really easy and a quick way of making them for kids birthday parties or any other function. you can make them a day ahead and store in fridge to take them once you want them. Or even as a snack for the kids. When you crumble a cake and adding sweeteners it becomes little so if you want a lot you will need a big cake. From 500g of cake I made only 10. Cake Pops (Quick & easy ) from left over cake. Ingredients Cake (Specially leftovers) Strawberry jam/ or any other flavour. Bees honey / Molasses Sprinkles/pearls Shredded coconut/ Desiccated coconut Crushed mixed nuts Food colouring Lollypop sticks A bowl or a form board to hold the pops or a cake pop holder Choc...

Fried Egg Curry Ingredients - Boiled Eggs - Salt - Onion - Garlic - Pundan Leaves - Tomatoes - Green Chillies - Lime Juice - Cinnamon  - Fenugreek Seeds - Curry Powder - Tumeric Powder - Chillie Powder Method Add some oil in to a pot. When it is hot add the garlic,curry leaves, pandan leaves and onions. Cook several minutes. While frying the onions add cinnamon and the fenugreek seeds. Then add tomatoes and green chillies and cook another minute. Next, add the spices and salt to your taste. Then add coconut milk or cream. Cook until the sauce thickens. Then add the fried eggs. Cook several minutes. Serve hot.

Coconut Cup Cakes Ingredients  - 1 1/4 Cup of Self Raising Flour - 1/2 Cup of Milk - 1/2 Cup of Decicated Coconut - 3/4 Cup of Sugar - 2 Eggs - 125g of Butter For the icing - 1 1/2 Cup of Icing Sugar - Food Colouring   2 Tblsp hot water   Candies or pearls or sprinkles to decorate. Method… Preheat oven to 180. Spay or arrange paper on a muffin tray. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and cream it.  Then add other ingredients and mix well. Put equal amounts into the patty pans. Bake and cool them down on wire racks. Prepare icing and pour them on top. Add sprinkles or candies.

Lenti, Spinach & Vegetable Soup Ingredients - 1 Cup of Lentils - 1 Cup of Celery - 2 Stock Cubes - Spinach - 1 Onion - Leek - Potato - Oil - 6 Cups of Water   Cream   Cumin Powder   Salt & Pepper Method Add a table spoon ful oil in toa pan. Fry onion , garlic. Add celery,leeks, potato, and lentils. Cook 1 hour on low heat. Blend the soup. Add seasoning. Add spinach and cream. Serve hot.

Date Chutney (Rata Indi Chutney) Ingredients - 350g of Dates -5-10 cloves Garlic  - 2 inches cleaned Ginger - 2 Tablespoons of Mustard Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon of Pepper - 1 1/2 Teaspoons of Chillie Powder - Several Cloves -5 pods or Cardamom Seeds - 2 inches Cinnamon - 1-2 cups Vinegar - Sultana    Salt  1/4 cup  Sugar Method Grind or process garlic,ginger, mustard ,pepper,chillie powder,cloves, cardamom seeds, cinnamon with a bit of vinegar. Add 1-2 cups vinegar in to a pot and leave it to be hot on the stove. Add the ground spice paste and salt  in to the vinegar and bring it to the boil. Add dates and sulthana, and sugar if you like it more sweeter. Cook several minutes until dates are fluffy. From the back of the spoon mash the dates. Put in serelized jars.

Cream of Pumpkin Soup.... Ingredients. 500g  Peeled Pumpkin 2 large Onions 1 large potato Salt  Pepper 1 Tsp Garlic 1/2 cup Fresh Cream. 8 cups Stock water Celery (If you like to add) Method Add oil in to a pan. Cook the the onions and garlic. Cook 2-3 min. Add potatoes and pumpkin, salt,pepper, and stock water. Once cooked mix cream and process it untill creamy. Serve hot

Chocolate Sponge Cake Ingredients - 3 Eggs - 2 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder - 35g of Corn Flour - 35 g of plain Flour - 35g of Self Raising Flour - 115g Caster Sugar Method… Preheat oven to 180. Spay or arrange paper on a 20 cm baking tray. Beat eggs until nice and creamy. Add sugar slowly while mixing. Fold the cocoa, and other flours slowly. Pour the mix in to the prepared tray. Bake 20-30 min, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Ham & Cheese Baked Potato Ingredients - Boiled Potatoes - Ham - Onion - Salt  - Pepper - Cream - Oil - Stock cube - Cheese Method Half boil Potatoes, Cool down & cut the top. Scoop the flesh out from the potatoes leaving the skin around. Mash the scooped potatoes. Cook onion and ham adding the stock cube.  Season with salt & pepper. Mix the ham in to mashed potatoes adding enough cream to make a thin smooth mix. Fill the potato shells. Top up with cheese Bake 180 about 20-30 min.

Bread is always available to do something or even to prep a sandwich when you are busy. You can always use stale or fresh bread to do this recipe. I prefer to use stale  bread as no one is interested about them. But once do something like this kids get impressed and will eat the whole load.  This is a very easy and a budget meal. When come from work its really hard to cook. something like this can help you to relax when you do all the preperations a day ahead. Cut  and pack them in sealed containers and arrange them when you are ready to bake.  Bread Pizza Ingredients    Bread - Spring Onions - Tomatoes - Green Chillies - Chicken  - Mozzarella Cheese - Tomato Sauce - Salt - Peppers Method Prep all what you need. Butter the bread. Add tomato or pizza sauce. Arrange chicken, and vegetables. Top up with cheese. Bake 180 about 10 min. Serve hot.

Luffa curry (Watakolu/ Ridge Guord ) With eggs Ingredients Luffa 3 Tablespoons of Coconut Milk - 3 Eggs - Curry Leaves - Onion - Salt  - Green Chillies - Pundan Leaves - Cinnamon  - Fenugreek Seeds - Tumeric Powder - Curry Powder Method Add all the spices luffa and coconut milk in to a pot. Add Salt and leave aside 10 min. Cook Luffa. There will be enough water when you leave luffa adding salt. Dont over cook. Add eggs and cook until the eggs are hard, Serve hot.

These buns are very simple to make.and they take me back to my child hood memories. In 1970's the availability of biscuits or buns were very limited. Compared to today can say its almost 1 %. But that time we really enjoyed what we had.  In every little village shop there were several huge bottle filled with these buns, tea rusks, Ghanakatha, or wiskiringha. As far as I remember we got 2 for 10 cents. I used to share with my one and only sister when we go back home from school.Those are the options we had to select from. The taste was awesome with the sugar on top. It overpowered the taste of bicarb as I understand now. But with a hot cup of ceylon tea............... nothing else goes well than these biscuits. We had the chance of going to the bakery directly to ask for the hot buns too. The smell spreds all over the village when baking. I thought of sharing this to keep our traditional way of baking for next generations. When doing this add eggs one by one to get the righ...

Canned Mackeral Curry Ingredients -1 Can of Mackerel - 1 Onion - Curry Leaves - Coconut Milk - Garlic - Salt - 2 Tomatoes - Tumeric Powder - Pepper  - Cinnamon - Chillie Powder - 1 Teaspoon of Curry Powder Method Pour the liquid in the mackeral in to a pot and add all the ingredients except fish and coconut milk. Cook several minutes. Add coconut milk and cook several minutes. Add fish but do not stir. Cook few minutes. Serve hot.

Singapore Noodles Ingredients - Rice Vermicelli - Prawn Meat - 3 Eggs - 200g of Chicken - 1 Cup of Green Beans - 1 Cup of Spring Onions - 1 Mushroom - 3 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce - 3 Tablespoons of Rice Wine - 2 Tablespoons of Curry Poweder - Ginger - Garlic - Salt  - Pepper - Frozen Peas - Green Chillies - Sugar Method Boil a pot of water and soak the rice vermicelli in it for a minute. Leave the vermicelli aside. Add a tablespoon oil into a pan. Add chicken and prawns. Then add ginger garlic & green chillies. Meanwhile in to the noodles add soy sauce & curry powder with rice wine. You can add any amount of soy and wine to your taste. Leave aside to marinate. Add veggies to the chicken and rest of the curry powder. Cook a minute & add noodles.  Serve hot.

WInter Vegetable Bake Ingredients 2 Broccoli - Cauliflower - 1 Onion - 50g of Butter - 50g of Flour - 2 Cups of Cheese - Carrots Stock cube Salt & Pepper Method Cut the Vegetables. Steam them. Arrange them on a baking tray. Make the white sauce adding flour and butter and making a roux. Then add milk and a stock cube & make a thick sauce.  Pour the white sauce over the top of the vegetables and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake on 180 about 20 min.

Chicken Kiev Ingredients Chicken breast 1Tblsp garlic 1/2 Cup Parsley 1/2 Cup Butter Salt & Pepper Bread crumbs Egg 1 Cup of Milk 1 cup Flour Method Clean the breast and cut a hole in the breast and run the knife through. Make the garlic butter adding garlic ,parsley & butter. Prepare the egg wash. Pipe the garlic butter through the cut. Seal the cut and flour and egg wash and crumb the kiev. Pan fry first & put in the oven or spray & put in the oven directly. Bake 180 about 20-30 min.

Chicken & Vegetable Parcels. Ingredients - 250g of Chicken - 1 Large Onion - Green Chillies - Ginger - Garlic - Pepper - 1 Stock Cube - 1 Leek  - 1 Egg - Puff Pastry - Salt - Carrot Method Saute onion and galic and add chicken. Cook several minutes. Add vegetables and cook until no gravy. Make parcels. Cut the pastry in to 4 and put a spoon ful mix in the middle. Seal edges while bringing them to the middle. Brush with eggs Bake 180. About 30 min.

Double Chocolate Muffins Ingredients - 95g of Plain Flour - 1/2 Teaspoon of Bicarb - 65g of Caster Sugar - 50g of Brown Suagar - 1 Egg - 100g of Chocolate Chips - 3 Tablespoons of Milk - 75ml of Cream - 50g of Butter - 2 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder Method Cream Butter and sugar.  Add eggs. Next add cocoa, plain flour and bicarb. Add milk & cream while mixing. Finally mix chocolate chips. Fill six muffin holes. Bake 180 about 20-30 min.

Vegetable & Barley Soup Ingredients - 1/2 Cup of Barley - Leeks - Oil - 3 Stick of Celery - 1 Carrot - 2 Onions - 6 Cloves of Garlic - 1 Stock Cube - Potatoes - 1 Parsnip Method Add oil in to a pan and cook onions and garlic. Add all the vegetables , Stock and cook for 1 hour. Serve hot.

Thai Eggplant & anchovy fry (Thalanabatu Haalmasso Baduma) Ingredients - 250g of Thai Eggplans - Anchovies - Green CHillies - Chillie Flakes - 1 Onion - Pundan Leaves - Curry - Leaves - Garlic - Margarine - 1 Stock Cube  Method Add margarine in to a hot pan. Add garlic, onions,curry leaves & the panda leaves. Then add anchovies and fry 5-10 min until golden brown. Then add the chilli flakes and green chillies with the thai egg plants. Add stock cubes and cook until the eggplants are tender.

Boondi  Ingredients - 3 Cups Caster Sugar - 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder - 1 Cup Plain Flour - 1/2 Cup of Water   Colouring Oil for frying Flavours./ citric acid. Method Make a smooth mix from flour, water and baking powder. Add 2 table spoons sugar to the sugar make a thick syrup  Leave it on the stove on low heat. Add the mix to a piping bag and and cut the end. Press the mixture little by little to the hot oil. Fry them until well cooked and transfer to the sugar syrup.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Ingredients Chicken Breast Swiss cheese Ham Salt & Pepper Bread crumbs 1 Egg Garavy for serving Method Butterfly the chicken and cut in to two from the middle. Then Put one glad wrap on the chicken and tenderize the meat using a meat hammer. After place ham and cheese on top and roll from wider end to the smaller side Cover it with glad wrap and rool like a toffee . Egg wash and crumb the chicken .  Pan fry first or spray the chicken and bake 180 about 20-30 minutes.

Fish Burger  Ingredients - Fresh Fish - Salt - Pepper - 1 Onions - Lime  - Parsley - Curry Leaves - Dhill Leaves - Green Chillies - Salt - 4 Mashed Potatoes Sliced cheese Method Mash the potatoes. Leave a pot with a table spoon oil on the stove. Add onions,chillies and herbs cook several minutes. Add fish and potatoes. cook a minute. Then butter the burger. Assemble lettuce /tomatoes,onion .cheese and  the fish burger. Add any dressing to your taste

Chocolate & Cinnamon Babka Ingredients 600g of Plain Flour 2 Whole Eggs 4 Egg Yolks Teaspoon of Vanilla Teaspoon of Salt 1/3 Cup of Caster Sugar 200g of Softened Butter 200ml of Warm Milk 12g of Dry Yeast For the FIlling 75g of Butter 110g of Brown Sugar 30 g of Cocoa Powder 1 Teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder 100g of Chocolate For the topping 210g of Icing Sugar 30g of Butter 2 Tblsp water Method Add yeast and warm milk with sugar in to the mixing bowl and leave to activate. Add Add flour and eggs and mix. Add milk little by little. Knead the  dough 10-15 min. Then knead about 5 min on the bench top adding flour if needed. Make a bowl put in to a greased bowl and leave in a warm place until double in size. Mix all the ingredients for the filling and leave a side. Punch down the dough and and roll in to a rectangle. Sprinkle the mix all over the dough and roll in to a log. Leave again to prove about 30 -40 min. Brush the top...

Tofu & Vegetable Noodle Soup Ingredients 500g Tofu 4 Cups of Stock Water 1 Can Cococnut milk 1 Packet rice noodles 11 cup of Cabbage 1 Cup of spring onions Fish sauce Soy sauce Lime 2 Green chillies 2 inches of ginger 2 Lemongrass Garlic Sugar Method Deep fry the tofu Add stock water,chillies, Soy sauce,fish sauce,ginger lemon grass & garlic, sugar Let that boil for several minutes. Strain & discard all the spices. Add carrots and then the other vegetables. Boil water and soak the noodles in the boiling water. Devide the noodles among four bowls. Pour the broth with vegetables equally among the four soup bowls. Adjust the salt level adding soy and fish sauce or salt. And top up with fried tofu. Serve hot.

Kithul Palm is a very beautiful tree with lots of flowers  and leaves. Some used to grow them in front of the houses for its beauty. It supplies us treacle, toddy, and this flour I used to make this slice. People fees elephants with leaves and trunks too. The wood is taken for building houses and household items. When cut down a tree people use to crush the tender part of the trunk and then soak in water and collect the flour for their cooking. It believes that it has lots of aurvedic medicinal values too, specially for high blood pressure. Long time ago when i was doing my difficult service I used to buy from the little shops along the roads in Meda Mahanuwara.  Kithul Piti Kenda/ Thalapa Ingredients - 250g of Kitul Flour - 125g of Sugar or kithul palm treacle - 1 Can of Coconut Milk - Water - Salt Method Add all the ingredients to a bowl. Mix well. Cook on low heat until it thickens. if making Kenda add more water and cook runny. Serve hot or ...

Isso Wade (Prawns topped Spicy Split Pea Patties) Ingredients 500g Split pea 2 large onions Corriander leaves or curry leaves. Chillies 1 cup flour water Fresh prawns Salt Oil for frying Method Soak the peas for 6-8 hours. Clean the prawns and devine them Add soaked split peas in to a food processor.  Add salt, chillies, onions, and curry leaves and process. Make a thick batter out from the flour and water. If the pea mix too wet to handle add flour and make a smooth paste. Make round thin patties. If sticky wet your palm, or use flour, Brush the top with the stcky flour batter and stick press prawns on to the pattie. Deep fry until golden brown.

Curry Leaves Salad Ingredients 50g Curry leaves 1/2 Cup Fresh coconut Salt Lime Juice Green Chillies 1 Clove Garlic 1/2 tsp Pepper. Method Take the leaves out from the curry leave sprigs. Add all the ingredients in to the food processor or in to a motor. Crush it or process it until becomes a smooth mix. Serve as a side for rice.

Devilled Tofu Ingredients 550 g Tofu cut in to cubes Corn Flour 3 Sweet Capsicums Ginger  Garlic 2 -6 Tblsp vinegar Salt Tomato Sauce/ ketchup Carrot 3 Tomatoes Spring onions Pepper Tumeric powder Chillie Powder A stock Cube Oil for frying and tempering Method Leave pan with oil for deepfrying on the stove. Cut the tofu in to large squares and deep fry them. Add oil in to a pan add ginger garlic paste & fry for a minute. Then add carrots and cook several minutes. Then add tomatoes, stock cube and the spices. Add sweet capsicum, vinegar, and tomato sauce or ketchup. Add onions and mix and add spring onions and fried tofu. Mix and serve hot.

Water spinach or Kang kung is a very famous plant all over Asia. In Sri Lanka we find it every where there is enough water for it to grow. When we were kids Still I can remember the famous little river in Galle  ( we called that Kunu ela) was full with Kang kung. You cant see a drop of water as water spinach has covered it. When we wanted a bunch we had the chance of picking them from paddy fields or even from our own yard. Once  hand picked them and cook it the taste is devine than what buy from shop grown with lots of fertilizers. In restaurants this dish is a very famous & an expensive dish. You can all ways adjust the amount of garlic that you like and also the spices. Water Spinach with Garlic Ingredients Water Spinach  Garlic  2 Onions Vegetable Stock  Chillies 2 Tablespoons of Fish Sauce Green Chillies Salt Method Wash and cut the water spinach in to stems and leaves seperately Leave a pan on the stove with oil to be ...

Turkey Breast Roast Ingredients 1/2 of a Turkey Breast Salt and Pepper mix Rosemary leaves or sprigs Carrots Potatoes Parsnip 1/2 tblsp flour 1 cup stock water Piece of butter 1 Whole garlic. Method Put rosemary leaves and the vegetables in to a roasting dish. Add salt and spray vegetables. Put the fingers through the skin and add a knob of butter garlic and rosemary leaves. Rub the turkey breast with salt and pepper. Leave to marinate 15-30 min. Bake 180 about an hour or until the juices runs out clear. After baking leave the meat to rest before carving. Take the juices out from the tray. Put the juices in to a pan and add the flour. add stock water and cook until it slightly thick. Serve hot with the gravy.

Banana flowers can be cooked in different ways. This is one way. This tastes awesome and can store for weeks. If you have a banana tree the right time to pick a flower is after it produces all the bananas and then after 2  or 3 petals fallen. Then cut it out and use fresh.  And make sure you pick the correct variety as some kind you cant eat at all. They are very bitter. So make sure when you buy these banana blossoms buy fresh and the correct type. In Sri Lanka we find a huge number of different varieties, the good ones for cooking is Ambulkesel, Seeni kesel or Alu kesel. They taste really creamy. When buying try to pick small to medium sized ones. Large ones comes with a hard stem. When cleaning take the first few petals out. When you cut it take the middle stem out. It can make your curry or seeni sambal bitter. Adding it to salt water takes a bit of bitterness out and avoid it becoming browning. Add some lemon or lime juice in to the water too. Banana flowers are fu...

This is a really easy and very moist cake that really goes well with a cup of tea or coffee as well as a warm dessert. If you want to serve this as a dessert warm them up in microwave or pour hot custard over. You can serve this with cream and ice cream too. Lumberjack Cake Ingredients for the cake - 450g of Granny Smith Apples - 1 1/2 Cups of Dates - 230g of Plain Floour - 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla - 1 Cup of Caster Sugar - 1 Teaspoon of Bicarb - 125g of Butter - 1 Egg Ingredients for the Topping - 70g of Butter - 1 Cup of Shredded Coconut - 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar - 1/2 Cup of Milk Method Preheat oven to 180. Grease 20x20cm cake pan. Peel core and grate the apples. Chop the dates for the cake. Add grated apples and dates in to a bowl. Add 1 tsp bicarb in to that. Then add a cup of boiling water. Leave aside for 10-15 min. Mean while beat sugar butter & then with the eggs until fluffy. Add flour and the fruit mix. Mix well....