Janins’ between Colombo and wherever blog

And yes the dehi in the title of this post is Lunu dehi.
It’s a tomato and lime pickle which require no cooking and has a sweet and sour chilli kick !

The base ingredient is lime pickle which you can purchase off the shelf either the "MD" or "Larich" brand. I find the "Larich" brand easier to get a hold of here, but I prefer the "MD" brands taste just a bit harder to find sometimes.

I believe that there is an "MD" brand shop in Colombo. I think they have a distribution control thing going on with the supermarket chains here in Colombo.

So to make enough dehi for about 20 servings :
You will need :
350g Lime pickle
2 tomatoes, de seeded and finely chopped 1 onion finely chopped
one and a half tablespoons sweet paprika
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt

Add all the ingredients together and mix. Use as you would a relish or as a spread.

For all you guys reading this who need something to put on (That’s my bit done for health and education at least for this month.)

The wrap in question in the title of this post was prompted to me a few months back in a post in Sumnas’ blog.

In the post he mentions:
"Q. Tell me about Sri Lankan Kandyan Sari

A. Well, I asked a girl I know about this. She said there are two ways to wear a Sari. Either the Indian style, or Kandyan way. According to her there are some small differences, to do with the ‘pota’ (the bit that is draped). I will tell you more as I get more information."

Which is where wrap in the title of this post comes from as a Sari consists of six yards (five and a half meters) of cloth, wrapped round the waist or hips, with pleats in front, and a "fall or pallu" thrown over the shoulder.
The word is of Indian origin and examples of it’s use are :
"Was she wearing sari?"
"Yes, and it had a beautiful pallu."
"The Brahmin sari is worn with the tail between the legs, like Granny"

On the subject of wearing things…. it’s the reason for the link at the start of this post.

The Kandyan sari is the style associated with the women of the Kandyan kingdom also called "osariya" in Sinhalese. It do’s not have any pleats and is worn with a frill at the waist and a pleated "fall or pallu"

There remains debate as to which sari Kandyan or Indian is the national sari of our country (Sri Lanka).

The half sari is called "lama sari" in Sinhalese and is a junior version of the sari. Little girls and young adults before they graduate to the grown up version of the sari wear the half sari.

Other versions of the sari include :

The Gujarati version: This version of draping, commonly known as the seedha pallu way, is also found in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. Instead of opening to the left, the pleats are tucked so that they open to the right. Then, the pallu is taken to the back and brought over the right shoulder. It is then spread across the chest, and the left edge is tucked in the petticoat at the back.

The Maharashtra version: Instead of the usual five and a half meters, the sari in this version measures eight meters. One portion of the sari is drawn up between the legs and tucked in behind at the waist, while another portion is draped as a pallu over the bosom. Thus it forms a kind of divided sari, allowing greater freedom of movement.

The Tamilian way ( also known as the Brahmin sari ): Like the Maharashtra version, the sare in this version, too, measures eight meters. After wrapping around the waist, the pleats are positioned along the left leg. The rest of the sari is taken over the left shoulder, wrapped once again round the waist and tucked on the left side.

The Bengali version: The sari is worn pleatless; it is wrapped around the waist, brought back to the right side and the pallu is thrown over the left shoulder. The pallu is then brought up under the right arm and once again cast over the left shoulder.

So "thats a wrap" as they say in the movies and see ya next time.

Thanks to Moju for his recipie which is most appropriate given his logo.

On the subject of vegetables. This would be as good a time as any to introduce the final curry powder which was mentioned in my original posting. The un- roasted curry powder :

As it’s name states the spices in this mix aren’t heated prior to grinding. As a result the aromatic oils (which contains all the flavours) in the spices are not fully released at the time of spice mixing. Instead they are released when the spice mix cooks with it’s accompanying ingredients in the dish it’s used in. This results in a different aroma, look and taste to the completed dish in which this spice mix is used in, when compared with the roasted variety.

The spice blend consists of :
1/4 cup ground coriander
1/4 cup ground fennel
1/8 cup ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon ground fenugreek
10 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/4 cup shredded (or desiccated) coconut
1/8 cup of rice

Add the rice into a warm pan heat until lightly brown, then add coconut and shake until golden. Remove from the pan, place in a coffee grinder with the raw spices and blend to a powder.

Variation :
Add 2 cloves of garlic a 3cm piece of ginger sliced to the mix and blend.

Any contributions are most welcome, please feel free to comment. There is a new link for those of us who prefer rice to noodles check out "sticky rice".

I was recently asked "Are roasted and unroasted interchangeable?" - Well to a traditionalist they strictly aren’t but the results will be different.

    I was also asked "any idea why it’s called thuna paha??" - Well I think that traditionally the mix was of five ("thuna") spices, and even though it is more elaborate now a very basic powder mix would consist of five of the base spices in the originally posted recipe.

    In an attempt to bring some balance to my blog postings. I got on the phone to my tamilian friends soon after posting, to ask if they knew of any other curry powder recipes. Well the good news is that they did it was for a far hotter version of the roasted curry powder. It is made traditionally in a "Thaachi" which they described as being a large pan of sorts. The ingredients are sufficiently different from the sinhalese version that I will describe them below :

500g dry chillies
100g black pepper
200g white cumin
10cm of un- ground tumeric or use 5g of ground
500g coriander
100g sweet cumin
50g fenugreek (optional)
a handful of curry leaves

Break the dry chillies into large pieces (use gloves if needed).
Place the chillies, coriander, pepper, tumeric and curry leaves into your dry pan and dry roast on a medium fire until the curry leaves go crisp. Keep the mixture moving to avoid burning, remove and set aside.
Mix the sweet cumin, white cumin and fenugreek and dry roast until cumin seeds are golden brown in colour.
Mix all the roasted ingredients and grind as before in small batches in a coffee grinder or work-out using a pestle and mortar.

Store the resulting powder in an air tight container away from humidity.

Note:
To temper the mix should it turn out too hot - Add between 250 and 500 grams of roasted coriander. Alternatively use more coriander to chilli in the mix.





 

If you got here via a referral as a result of me posting a comment on your blog then welcome. I promise to keep the rants and raves on other peoples blogs and off this one.

At the heart of the cuisine in Sri Lanka is the curry powder in my opinion.

It varies from one family to another and is often the reason why the same dish can taste different when compared between households. There are basically two types the roasted and un- roasted. Interchangeable in their use in either meat or vegetable dishes, ( fish and shellfish has it’s own unique curry powder details in a future post ). The roasted variety is often stronger in flavour and if your a vegetarian and require a more robust flavour for a soya dish for example it’s worth using the roasted variety. And yes I know here in Sri Lanka we can buy these curry powders ready made there is the "Ma’s" and "McCurry" brands or you can take your spices to William Grinding Mills on the Galle road and they will roast and grind them.

But never mind, my mother used a heavy iron pan to dry roast the spices individually. Starting with the larger spices then finally the more delicate fenugreek and tumeric. You can decide for yourself how light, dark or very dark you want the spices to be when you roast them, the darker they are the stronger the flavour. The smell that fills the house when you roast at home I find quite amazing and hard to describe in words.

 

Roasted curry powder :
2 cardamon pods
1/2 cup coriander seeds
10 ( a handful) curry leaves
10cm of rampe (also known as Pandanus leaf) cut into four
3 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
6cm lemongrass stalk (base white part only)
1/4 cup of cumin seeds
1/4 cup of fennel seeds

Roast the lemon grass and cinnamon stick whole until brown then add coriander seeds, curry leaves, rampe, cardamon and cloves for a minute after the lemon grass and cinnamon stick is brown. Remove from heat and add cumin and fennel these will cook with the heat of the pan. Grind in a coffee grinder in small batches or "work-out" with a pestle and mortar.

    To use mix the powder with some grated coconut and water into a paste and store in the fridge. Keep the remaining powder in an airtight container and away from moisture.