This is another way we like our chicken. It’s one part Mama Farook’s recipe, one part mine. In other words, inspired by her cooking with some tweaks.

The biggest tweak is the use of Dijon-style mustard.

We’ve only recently discovered that we love Dijon-style mustard in our curries. I make my own, mixing mustard powder with vinegar and a bit of salt, then letting it sit at room temperature until it’s ready, which for us is two days since that still gives it a bit of bite, which we like. Then it goes in the fridge and the jar I made lasts less then a month.

And happiness reigns.

And this chicken dish is one of those little happinesses.

Spicy Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons oil (we use coconut)
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 3 green chillies, sliced lengthwise
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons prepared mustard (Dijon or the like, not ballpark mustard)
• 750 grams chicken, cut into pieces (about 1 1/2 pounds)

Directions

1. Put oil into a hot pot, then add curry leaves and onions and temper for a minute or two.
2. Add the green chillies and temper another minute.
3. Add the garlic, seasonings, and mustard and mix well. Add the chicken and a little water if necessary to prevent sticking and cook until the chicken is done, stirring occasionally, about 30-45 minutes.

Notes

If you don’t have curry leaves, omit – there is no substitute. Adjust salt to taste. Use any hot chillies you like, seeded or not as you prefer, or omit if you don’t want to add them. If you want to tone down the spice levels further, replace some or all of the cayenne with black pepper.

Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

I made another batch of Kaiser Soze Rolls, this time with the no-honey substitutions, and it turned out beautifully!

Lunchtime came around, so I made myself a sandwich. Kaiser Soze Rolls with shredded curried chicken; bell peppers, cucumber, and onion; and of course homemade mayonnaise.

Yum!

Tags: lunch, bread, rolls, kaiser rolls, mayonnaise

I think "life is an experiment" is a phrase I take way too seriously.

I needed a recipe for buns – I’d been craving a Subway meatball sub, and since the nearest Subway is in India, I figured the only way I was going to get a meatball sub would be to make my own.

I have no idea why I opted on a kaiser bun recipe, except that a kaiser bun has a similar texture, crumb, and hole that I was looking for in a bun, so I figured, hey, why not? Like I said, I think I take "life is an experiment’ way to seriously.

The recipe was already in grams and already converted to wild yeast. All that was left for me to do was halve it and, well, make it.

Oh, yeah. In case you’re wondering about my sanity, Fahim’s the one who comes up with the crazy titles. Kaiser Soze Rolls is his creation.

Kaiser Soze Rolls

Makes 6 monster buns or 8 hamburger-sized buns

Ingredients

• 140 grams (1/2 cup) sourdough starter
• 125 grams (1/2 cup) water
• 1 egg (large, about 50 grams)
• 13 grams (1 tablespoon) olive oil
• 26 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) sugar
• 335 grams (2 3/4 cups) flour
• 7 grams (1 teaspoon) salt

Method:

1. Mix the ingredients until they come together, then let sit for 20-30 minutes (autolyse). You can then do stretch and folds or knead for 5 minutes, cover the dough and allow it to rest for 5 minutes, and then knead for another 5 minutes.
2. Once the stretch and fold has been completed, or once the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough into 12 more or less equal sized pieces.
3. Roll the dough into balls as if you were forming little boules.
4. As you form the rolls, set them aside and cover them so they won’t dry out and let the dough relax about 20 minutes. While the dough is relaxing, put a sheet of parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Once the dough has relaxed, form into rolls or buns or whatever is the shape of the day.
5. Pre-heat your oven to 425 F (220 Celsius). I strongly suggest steaming the oven as you put the rolls into the oven. Just before baking the rolls, flip them over so they are cut side up. Bake for 15 minutes, turning the rolls half way through the bake. Immediately put the rolls on a cooling rack. You want a crisp and nicely browned crust. More than half of bread’s taste is in the crust, and it is developed by browning – don’t shortchange yourself on the flavor you can get out of the roll by underbaking it.

Fahim doesn’t like honey, and to him, the taste and smell of the honey in this bread is noticeable, so I subbed it out with water and sugar. Didn’t do that the first two times I made the bread, so I’m listing an untried-but-close-enough-that-I-feel-comfortable-posting-it variation on the recipe.

The first time I made this, I formed the dough into hoagie-type buns for sub sandwiches. I was, unfortunately, in a time crunch to get them done in time for a specific meal, so they didn’t rise as much as they should have, and given that my oven is still broken (that’ll be still broken until it dies enough to buy a new one), I didn’t get enough oven spring to compensate.

I served them as meatball subs with my pickled Nai Miris (cobra peppers – hottest in the world) on top. Yum!

The second time, I shaped these into round buns of roughly the same size, but not entirely, so I had a couple that were entirely a lot bigger than the others. All told, though, they were all bigger than hamburger buns. The two biggest were quite the monsters, in fact. Tasted good, nice and fluffy (I let them rise for the proper amount of volume increase this time), but huge.

This recipe is supposed to be for six 3 1/2 ounce Kaiser Rolls, which is also a great size for hamburger buns. Except, no. They’re much bigger than that.

The second time I made these, I made an oven-baked barbequed chicken, onion, & bell pepper dish that I served as sandwich filling. Oh yeah, baby!

Tags: wild yeast, sourdough, kaiser rolls, buns, hoagie rolls, bread

We opted to get outside food this Eid. It’s so much less work and so much less tiring. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as good as homemade.

We ordered the mutton biryani package from Miami Catering.

The mutton biryani came with six hard-boiled eggs and 1 kg mutton (minimum! they say).

It also came with 1 kg roast chicken (minimum 1kg! they say), along with wattalapam, pineapple slices, onion & date chutney, Maldive fish sambol; and a curry with peas and cashews. Dishes subject to Rs. 100 deposit while the entire package came to Rs. 2750.

And, as a side note, when you go to catered events, like weddings, this is pretty much what’s served. The exact same type of biryani,  pea & cashew curry, Maldive fish sambol, onion & date chutney, roast chicken, pineapple. That particular selection of dishes – it’s quite the done thing.

Starting in the upper left corner is the beef curry that Fahim’s mom made. Very good, of course, although I was only allowed one piece (not good for me. )

To the beef’s right is the roast chicken. It came whole, so Fahim’s mom ripped it apart before bringing it to the table.

Next we have the four yellow plastic containers. Starting at the top and working our way down and to the left, we have the pea & cashew curry, then the date & onion pickle (elsewhere it would be called a chutney – six of one, half dozen of the other), the pineapple slices, and the Maldive fish sambol. Next we have the teeny tiny remnants of this morning’s pol sambol.

Right of all that is the mutton biryani with a fairly enormous amount of rice. After we finished eating, we gave half of the rice and mutton (along with most of the rest of the remaining everything) to the neighbor’s and still have enough left for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow for Fahim and his parents. That’s because tomorrow, they start the second round of fasting, the six optional days at the end of Ramadan. It’s not necessary to do them, but it brings more, uh, merit, although I’m fairly sure that’s not the correct way to word it.

Below the mutton is the wattalapam from Miami Catering. We gave that to the neighbor’s, too. We had Fahim’s mom’s wattalapam, which is far superior to anything anyone else makes.

This is the wattalapam Fahim’s mom makes. Comparing the pictures of the one from the catering place to Fahim’s mom unfortunately won’t work very well – different lighting and so on – and, while I was going to take a picture of the two side by side, I didn’t actually tell anyone that I had that in mine, so by the time I was ready, the catering wattalapam was already gone to the neighbor’s. Uh…

So. Let me tell you, then. The catering’s wattalapam was several noticeable shades lighter in colour to Fahim’s mom’s wattalapam. Catering places, restaurants, what have you are all concerned with their bottom line. They want to make a profit. They can’t do that – they don’t think – without skimping on ingredients that they figure no one will notice anyway.

No, really, we do notice.

And that’s what makes Fahim’s mom’s wattalapam so superior. Fahim’s mom doesn’t skimp on ingredients. So her wattalapam comes out the way it should.

And really, I will share her recipe with you sometime.

Other entries about Eid ul-Fitr:

• Ramadan starts today
• Eid al Fitr
• Ramadan starts tomorrow
• Shopping for Festival
• Id-Ul-Alha (Hadji Festival Day)
• Breakfast on Eid ul-Fitr
• Lunch on Eid ul-Fitr
• What happens on Eid ul-Fitr?

Tags: Eid ul-Fitr, lunch, biryani, wattalapam, chicken, beef, eggs, rice, curries, sambol, chutney, pickle

Eid ul-Fitr is the day marking the end of Ramadan for Muslims. Eid is one of the most important days for Muslims, similar to Christmas for Christians.

Breakfast isn’t eaten until the men return from the mosque for festival prayers at around 8:30 am. Today was a fairly typical breakfast for Eid ul-Fitr or other special occasions.

Starting at the upper left corner are the short stubby bananas, kolikuttu bananas, which are considered to be the best bananas. They’re sweet and flavourful.

Just below and to the left of the bananas is a bowl of Pol Sambol. Pol Sambol is an absolutely delightful dish and one of my all-time favourite foods. It’s a mix of freshly shredded coconut with Maldive fish flakes, red chilli pepper powder, salt, lime juice, and onion. Fahim’s mom always makes extra when I’m around since she knows how much I love it.

To Pol Sambol’s right is a white stein filled with a syrup made from coconut milk and jaggery. This is for the, ah, dessert portion of breakfast. And yes, it’s good stuff!

Just below the stein are the string hoppers. This time, we got the string hoppers from outside, or from a vendor somewhere – Fahim dealt with that. String hoppers are made from rice flour, in this case red rice flour, although white rice flour can also be made. The dough is pressed through a device with tiny holes to let strings of the dough out and onto a bamboo woven round mat. The string hoppers, mats and all, then go into a pot and steam until they’re cooked. Fahim’s mom makes better string hoppers, but they’re a lot of work.

To the right of the string hoppers is a bowl filled with hodi, a yellow liquid. We frequently have bittera hodi, which is eggs in the gravy. This gravy is not like North Americans think of gravy – it’s more like a thin sauce. Hodi is made from coconut milk with turmeric, red chilli powder, salt, onions, tomatoes, and green chillies added. Fahim’s mom makes a great hodi. This hodi came with the string hoppers and wasn’t as good.

Below the string hoppers and hodi is a bowl with chicken curry, made yesterday.

And the hand you see spooning out the yellow hodi is Fahim’s.

First, string hoppers are eaten with the chicken curry, pol sambol, and hodi. The string hoppers are mashed with the hands and the other items are mixed in before you pop it in your mouth. All eaten with hands, of course. Generally, in their own homes, Sri Lankans eat with their hands.

Then, after the first bit is done, more string hoppers hit the plate along with a banana and the jaggery/coconut milk syrup is poured over top. The banana is mashed into the string hoppers and then you pop them into your mouth. At the end, you slurp up whatever syrup is left over.

Other entries about Eid ul-Fitr:

• Ramadan starts today
• Eid al Fitr
• Ramadan starts tomorrow
• Shopping for Festival
• Id-Ul-Alha (Hadji Festival Day)
• Breakfast on Eid ul-Fitr
• Lunch on Eid ul-Fitr
• What happens on Eid ul-Fitr?

Tags: Eid ul-Fitr, Ramadan, Sri Lankan cuisine, festival

Because it’s Ramadan, and it’s difficult for Fahim to eat a full meal when breakfast has to be done by 4:30am, enough to carry him through the next 14 hours until he can eat again, he gets to make requests. At the beginning of Ramadan, Fahim had asked for his mother’s chilli potatoes. While she’s taught me quite a few of her recipes, I haven’t learned everything, or perhaps I cooked it with her but forgot to write it down. I can’t always keep track of what I’ve got and what I don’t.

So the next time Fahim’s parent’s were in town, Fahim asked his mom to make them and show me so I could learn her recipe. She did, and here it is – one of Fahim’s favourite potato dishes.

Mama Farook’s Sri Lankan Chilli Potatoes

Ingredients

• 3-4 tablespoons oil
• 2-3 curry leaves (optional)
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 green chillies, split in half lengthways
• 2 teaspoon red chilli pepper powder (or cayenne or paprika or red chilli pepper flakes)
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons Maldive fish flakes (optional)
• 4 medium potatoes, boiled in salt water, drained and chunked
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Put oil into pot over medium-high heat.
2. When the oil is hot, add the curry leaves, onion, garlic, and green chillies. Stir constantly. The oil should be hot enough to bubble.
3. Add the red chilli pepper powder, turmeric, and Maldive fish flakes. Stir to ensure even distribution of spices.
4. Add potatoes and stir gently so as to not break up the potatoes. Make sure potatoes are even coated and heated all the way through, around 5 minutes.
5. A minute or two from the end, add boiled eggs or chicken (if using) and stir to combine.
6. Remove from heat.

We use virgin coconut oil for our cooking – it gives Sri Lankan curries a subtle but important flavour. If you can’t get it, use an unflavoured oil.

I’ve marked both curry leaves and Maldive fish flakes as optional because there is no real substitute for either. If you can get those ingredients, the curry would, of course, taste better.

Use less red chilli pepper powder if you/your family doesn’t handle spices well. Alternately, substitute a portion of the red chilli pepper powder with black pepper powder.

You can use whatever type of hot chilli pepper you like, or you may omit.

Optionally, you can add four boiled eggs – Fahim tells me that’s done commonly enough. This time, at Fahim’s request, I added some deep-fried chicken cubes. Recipe follows.

Deep Fried Chicken Cubes

Ingredients

• 500 grams chicken, cubed
• 2 teaspoons red chilli pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients and set aside for an hour or so for the chicken to marinate.
2. Heat oil in deep fryer or pot.
3. When the oil is sufficiently hot, add the chicken cubes, a portion at a time, and deep fry until the chicken cubes are golden brown.
4. Remove from the hot oil and drain.
5. Repeat with the remaining chicken cubes.

The chicken complimented the potatoes very well and, yep, it turned out Fahim had no problem eating this at 4am. Hallelujah!

Even better, I loved it, too.

Tags: Sri Lankan cuisine, curry, chilli potatoes, potatoes, spicy