An old-ish man in our neighborhood does occasional yard work for us. Today, he stopped by to see if we had any work for him, so Fahim got him to clean up the ditch in front of the next-door property since they’re blocked with a foot-deep amount of mud, plant matter, and other refuse, which means that rain- and drain-water don’t drain properly, and that also means breeding mosquitoes. And we definitely don’t want breeding mosquitoes.

When the man was done, he brought us a huge bunch of leaves called Anguna Kola. I don’t know either its scientific name or a name in English or any other language. He told Fahim that I should make it into a sambol with onion, green chillies, Maldive fish flakes, salt, and lime juice. In other words, the usual sambol but with no freshly shredded coconut.

These leaves have odd little sort of star-ish things on them that I’m guessing are immature flower buds. The leaves had some papaya mealybug on them, but it wasn’t too bad and was easy enough to wash off what little was there.

The neighborhood man also said that the leaves should be cut very finely across the width of the leaf only. If the leaves are cut in other directions, it’ll increase the slight bitterness of the leaf.

I followed the instructions, but of course, I can’t cut anything as finely as people like my mother in law can – my fingers don’t work so well, and neither does my wrist. So the individual slices were probably twice as wide as they should have been. Unfortunately.

The end result?

I wasn’t too fond of it – it was entirely too bitter. Part of the problem, Fahim tells me, is that I tasted it straight without rice, like I do with gotakola or thebu sambol. Both are great straight. This one, not so much. Fahim said that, mixed with rice, which is how people here eat their curries, mallungs, and sambols, it’s not so bad. Plus it’s supposed to be good for the heart and good for other things.

If someone brings us these leaves again, I’ll give it a try, only next time, I’ll add freshly shredded coconut and see if that helps any.

Life is an adventure and an experiment, right?

Tags: anguna kola, sambol, Sri Lankan cuisine

A little over a year ago, when our house helper lady came to work, she brought us some stalks of thebu. She does this sometimes – brings edible vegetation. Miscellaneous leaves or stalks of this or that. I don’t mind – I’m up for the adventure.

The thebu she brought is Costus speciosus. That’s basically a type of ginger plant. The variety she brought is not ornamental, but edible, and we planted the stalks.

These ginger leaves – called thebu here – have a faint gingery taste and were actually quite tasty. She made it into a sambol – mixed with freshly shredded coconut, lime juice (or perhaps a sour tangerine variant called norang), salt, and onion. Very nice. The flavour was pleasantly surprising and definitely something we’ll willingly have again.

Never thought I’d eat ginger leaves.

A year later, and my thebu patch is quite established, although briefly damaged by the papaya mealybug that’s infested so many plants here. But the papaya mealybug wipes off easily enough from these leaves, so it made sense to salvage what was still edible and make it into a sambol.

Thebu Sambol

Ingredients

• 2 cups thebu, sliced finely across the leaf
• 2 green chillies, minced
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 lime, juice of
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Maldive fish flakes
• 1 cup coconut, freshly shredded

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly.
2. Serve immediately.

Sri Lankans will insist that all sambols taste better if they’re mixed with your hands. They’re probably right. My mother in law squeezes the lime juice onto the Maldive fish flakes, lets that sit for a minute or two for the fish flakes to absorb the liquid, then sort of mashes the Maldive fish flakes in with the green chillies and onion, then with the coconut and then the thebu or other leaves. This makes the Maldive fish flakes softer and also ensures the flavours are thoroughly combined. And I do it the same way.

Tags: thebu, costus speciosus, sambol, Sri Lankan cuisine

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