We had a happy reminder of our Sri Lankan holiday this week when we spent an afternoon creating a wonderful Sri Lankan curry! We had brought various spices and ingredients back with us – including Maldive Fish which, before I saw it written down I thought was mouldy fish. Jo had also returned home with a huge wooden pestle and mortar for pummeling ingredients into submission, small pans like mini woks for cooking plain hoppers andsome earthenware cooking pots.
Maldive Fish and spices being ground down to make Seeni Sambol
Maldive Fish is a product made from tuna dried, smoked and chopped the end result has the texture of biltong and an intense fishy flavour which can – and is – be added to any curry or chutney!
Sooo... top left plain hopper, top right string hopper, bottom right dal, bottom middle yam & aubergine curry, left chicken curry, middle seeni sambol and pol sambol.
Fantastic!
A couple more pictures….
Plain hoppers - bowl shaped pancakes made from fermented rice batter
Wattalapam - a sweet pudding, set coconut custard, only wonderful like a Bounty bar! - Cheating a little, this was a packet mix we bought in Nuwara Eliya.
A reminder to anyone thinking of going to Sri Lanka that our guide for the trip was wonderful…