Ray McVinnie in Sri Lanka

Good, fresh, flavourful food is easy to find in Sri Lanka and worth taking some time to replicate at home.

Last year I was lucky enough to go on one ofthe chef’s tours hosted by the Fernando family, owners of the Dilmah tea company. Unlike India, where the feeling of geographical vastness can be overwhelming and the Biblical Epic-sized crowds often make me feel I am about to be involved in a fatal stampede, Sri Lanka, the tear drop-shaped island at the bottom right hand side of India, seemed to be on a very human scale.

With such manageable distances, it was easy to travel all over the island visiting Dilmah tea estates, seeing how their tea is made — a process that is sustainable and takes into account workers’ welfare. We also visited some of the many charitable ventures run by this philanthropic family. The variety in the landscape was striking. We travelled up to the mountain area of Nuwara Eliya, 1800 metres above sea level, where the air felt like a crisp Queenstown morning and the hotel was a Tudorbethan confection complete with rose gardens.

We stayed in a beach resort convincingly modelled after an old Dutch colonial fort — all long verandas, teak roofs and white stucco, with pounding surf just beyond the pool. We passed through small towns and villages, and since my driver completely got what I was about, we stopped off at cashew sellers (cashews fried in sweet coconut oil, the best I’ve ever tasted), at a spice garden, pineapple sellers, a small local market and what seemed like every genus of roadside tropical fruit tree in fruit so I could get pictures.

I also spent time in bustling Colombo where I enjoyed plunging into the madness of Pettah market to buy sarongs, then strolling along Galle Face Green (which is not a green, whatever that is, but a beach) wolfing down freshly fried prawn and dhal fritters.

The cultural side of Sri Lanka also has plenty to offer. It is a Buddhist culture so temples are everywhere and the nerve centre is the city of Kandy and the Temple of the Tooth, where they claim to have a tooth of the Buddha. In Kandy I saw a traditional fire-walking ceremony complete with an ensemble that accompanied the walkers with heart-throbbing drumming, I suppose to keep their spirits up.

Naturally it was the food I was interested in. I soon developed an addiction to string hoppers, steamed bundles of tender thin rice flour noodles that go with curries. I breakfasted on egg hoppers — a wafer thin coconut milk and rice batter that is baked over charcoal in a cup shape, served with a fried egg inside and spicy coconut sambal on the side.

I particularly liked pittoo — rice flour and coconut steamed in hollow pieces of bamboo. The curries and sambals are characterised by their freshness, Sri Lanka produces its own high-quality spices, and also by the use of coconut in all its forms. I was often reminded of Malaysian food when eating in Sri Lanka.

As Sri Lanka is an island, it wasn’t surprising that there was plenty of seafood on the menu, often flavoured with the sharpness of tamarind. Bananas (I was told there are 12 kinds) and juicy pineapples as well as mangoes, rambutans and mangosteens not only hung from the trees (not the pineapples, they grow in the ground) but all seemed to be jumping off market stalls and hotel buffets.

Water buffaloes seem to be the cattle de jour in Sri Lanka and their rich milk is used to produce yoghurt, or “curd” as they call it. It was sold in the thick terracotta dishes in which it is made and was rich, creamy and so thick you could cut it with a spoon. Some enterprising producers are also making mozzarella which had the right sweet cooked milk flavour with none of the slightly sour yoghurt notes we get with some New Zealand versions.

One can eat very well for little money in Sri Lanka and good food is easy to find. The following are my versions of a few of the dishes I liked when I was there.

Coconut roti with dhal

Serves 6

I enjoyed a free demo on how to make these roti when I watched a very deft woman turning out rotis for lunch atone of the Dilmah philanthropic institutes. Unlike Indian roti, the Sri Lankans add coconut, chillies, onion, curry leaves and sometimes a little grated Maldive fish (sun-dried smoked skipjack tuna) to theirs. The result has a rich flavour and a slightly chewier texture than a soft Indian roti. The following, although my version, tastes as I remember them. I buy curry leaves from my local Asian shop, freeze what I don’t use and then use the rest straight from the freezer when needed. They don’t taste of curry but have a citrusy smell and flavour. The name just comes from the fact that they are used in curries. Aromatic pandan leaves are also available from Asian grocers.

Coconut roti

2½ cups flour
1½ cups long thread coconut, soaked for 5 minutes in a little warm water then well drained
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp chopped curry leaves
1 tsp salt dissolved in 1 cup water
2 Tbsp coconut or vegetable oil

1. Put everything except the salt water and oil into a mixing bowl and mix well. Add the water and oil slowly, mixing continuously. Mix well so that you have a soft dough.
2. Divide into 6 even balls. Roll each ball out on a clean floured surface about ½ cm thick and about 20cm in diameter.
3. Heat a heavy frying pan over moderate to high heat. Lightly wipe a paper towel dipped in oil over the surface of the pan and cook each roti for about 4 minutes each side or until well browned.
4. Keep warm, wrapped in a clean cloth. Serve with the following dhal.

Dhal

150g channa dhal (or yellow split peas), well rinsed, soaked for 1 hour in cold water and drained
2 large red onions, one finely chopped the other thinly sliced
1 green chilli, sliced
1 pandan leaf
2 stalks lemongrass, bulb ends squashed
2 large sprigs curry leaves
½ tsp ground turmeric
2 Tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 small dried red chillies, rinsed and dried
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp mustard seeds

1. Put the dhal, chopped onion, green chilli, pandan leaf, lemongrass, one sprig of curry leaves and the turmeric into a saucepan. Add enough water to cover by 3cm.
2. Bring to the boil and simmer 40 minutes, or until the dhal is soft and the mixture thick.
3. Discard the pandan leaf and lemongrass. Add the lime or lemon juice and mash the dhal coarsely with a potato masher. Taste and season with salt.
4. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the sliced onion, the leaves from the other sprig of curry leaves, the dried chillies and garlic. Fry gently for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the mustard seeds and fry until they pop. Sprinkle this mixture over the dhal and serve with the warm rotis.

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Fried fish with eggplant pickle

Serves 4-6

The eggplant pickle seemed to feature in most of the meals we had in Sri Lanka and became a favourite of mine. The following is a simplified version, taken from my notes

Eggplant pickle

4 Tbsp vegetable oil
500g oval or long eggplants, cut into pieces about 10cm long and 2cm thick
1 onion, finely chopped
3 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
Large pinch chilli flakes
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large sprig curry leaves
3 green chillies, split in half lengthways up to the stem
½ tsp ground turmeric
10 pitted dates, sliced
1 large tomato, cut into 2cm dice
2 Tbsp coconut or rice vinegar
¼ cup coconut cream

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over moderate heat and add the eggplant pieces. Fry until golden, then remove from the heat. Add the onion, ginger, chilli flakes, cinnamon stick, garlic, curry leaves and green chillies. Fry gently over low heat for about 10 minutes or until the onion is soft.
2. Add the turmeric, dates and tomato and fry 5 minutes.
3. Add the vinegar and mix well. Fry until the vinegar has evaporated.
4. Add the coconut cream, mix well bring to the boil and simmer 1 minute. Taste and season with salt. Serve at room temperature with the fish.

Fish

3cm piece peeled ginger, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 bulb lemongrass, sliced
1 Tbsp lime juice
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground turmeric
Large pinch chilli flakes
¼ tsp fenugreek
4 Tbsp coconut cream
600g skinned, boned, firm white fish fillets
Vegetable oil for frying
Steamed rice for 4, for serving
Lime halves for serving

1. Put the ginger, garlic, lemongrass, lime juice, salt, turmeric, chilli, fenugreek and coconut cream into a small food processor and process until smooth.
2. Put the fish in a bowl and add the spice mixture. Spread all over the fish and marinate 10 minutes.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan over moderate heat and fry the fish for about 3 minutes on each side until just cooked through and browned.
4. Remove from the pan and serve with rice, lime halves and the eggplant pickle.

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Vatalappam with pineapple salad

Vattalappam, a baked spice-flavoured coconut custard, could be classed as one of the national dishes of Sri Lanka. Though it may look unassuming, it has one of the most delicious spice flavours of any dish I know. The pineapples and cashews in Sri Lanka were magnificent and the following salad goes well with the custard. Jaggery is gooey dark, caramel-flavoured dehydrated sugar cane juice used in both India and Sri Lanka. I get it from Serandib, the Sri Lankan shop in Auckland’s Dominion Rd, which I notice has an online shop. If you can’t get jaggery, use grated dark palm sugar or dark brown sugar.

Serves 6

250g soft jaggery
¼ cup water
6 eggs, beaten
450ml coconut cream, plus extra for serving
Large pinch of salt
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves

1. Heat the oven to 170C. Put the jaggery and water into a saucepan and gently melt over low heat. Once the jaggery has dissolved, remove from the heat and cool to warm.
2. Put the eggs, coconut cream, salt and spices into a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Pour this into 6 small heatproof bowls or cups.
3. Place a roasting dish in the oven and fill with enough hot water so that when the bowls of vatalappam mixture are put into the roasting dish of water, the water comes halfway up the side of the bowls.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until well set. Test by inserting a small knife into the middle —it should come out clean. Serve with extra coconut cream and the pineapple salad on the side.

Pineapple salad

3 cups 3cm-diced fresh pineapple
Large pinch salt
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
1 kaffir lime leaf, central stalk removed, leaf very thinly sliced
50g palm sugar, grated
½ cup golden raisins, soaked for 30 minutes in hot water then drained well
½ cup cashew nuts, roasted and coarsely chopped

Put everything into a serving bowl and mix well. Reserve 10 minutes for the sugar to melt and gently mix again.

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