Sri Lanka has wonderful food with abundant fruit and vegetables, an amazing variety of fish and everything fresh, local and organic - the qualities we strive for here. They focus on rice as the main food, served in large quantities with small bowls of delicious spicy additions to go with it, including pol sambol, spicy grated coconut and lots of fresh chutneys. Cashew nut curry was a disappointment though - maybe Rick Stein had a different version. In fact, it was always a struggle to get really spicy curries as the locals are very wary of giving their own strength curries to westerners with delicate palates. One delicacy is hoppers, very thin rice pancakes cooked in a bowl shaped pan, and then with an egg in the centre - marvellous!
I won't be trying to recreate the food we had there - it is the context, the climate and the ingredients you can't really replicate in my experience - even greek salad, now quite a staple in this country, tastes so much better under a Greek sky. I shall add onions, curry leaves (if I can get them) and fried whole spices to my dhal, which I often had for breakfast - yum.
Back home, shopping for the first meal, and it is a chicken because you can always make quick and easy meals from one chicken. Roasting the whole thing is the obvious way but for 2 people (or more), jointed is a better option as you can get several meals out of it then and not waste a scrap.
Joints, say half the chicken, cut up into 5, can be given a flavoursome coating and baked in 40/ 45 minutes in a roasting tray, with or without veg added. You can, of course, use a packet of thighs instead. Honey chicken is a family favourite.
Honey Chicken
Mix 1oz melted butter with: 1 tbs honey, 1 tsb english mustard, 1/2 tsp turmeric. 1/2 tsp curry powder or chilli powder.
Season the joints and then roll them in this and leave a half hour or so if you have it.
Roast in a lightly greased shallow tray or dish No 4 up to 40 mins, checking carefully that they are not burning.
Variations:
1tsbs honey melted first, 1/2 tbs W.Sauce, 2 tbs HP, 1 tbs tomato ketchup, 1 tsp tomato puree.
Or 1 oz butter, 3 tbs malt vinegar, 2 tbs dark soy sauce, 2 cloves garlic smashed, 1 tsp ground
ginger.
Or 2 tbs olive oil, 2 tbs wine vinegar, 1 tbs dark soy, 1tsb honey,good shake chilli powder.
Or juice one lemon, 2 tbs olive oil, good sprinkle dried oregano and some chopped fresh rosemary.
All these measures are open to variation in quantity; you can increase the hotness or the sweetness as you like.
You can add cut up potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers and any other veg so that you have a complete meal in the pan.
I won't be trying to recreate the food we had there - it is the context, the climate and the ingredients you can't really replicate in my experience - even greek salad, now quite a staple in this country, tastes so much better under a Greek sky. I shall add onions, curry leaves (if I can get them) and fried whole spices to my dhal, which I often had for breakfast - yum.
Back home, shopping for the first meal, and it is a chicken because you can always make quick and easy meals from one chicken. Roasting the whole thing is the obvious way but for 2 people (or more), jointed is a better option as you can get several meals out of it then and not waste a scrap.
Joints, say half the chicken, cut up into 5, can be given a flavoursome coating and baked in 40/ 45 minutes in a roasting tray, with or without veg added. You can, of course, use a packet of thighs instead. Honey chicken is a family favourite.
Honey Chicken
Mix 1oz melted butter with: 1 tbs honey, 1 tsb english mustard, 1/2 tsp turmeric. 1/2 tsp curry powder or chilli powder.
Season the joints and then roll them in this and leave a half hour or so if you have it.
Roast in a lightly greased shallow tray or dish No 4 up to 40 mins, checking carefully that they are not burning.
Variations:
1tsbs honey melted first, 1/2 tbs W.Sauce, 2 tbs HP, 1 tbs tomato ketchup, 1 tsp tomato puree.
Or 1 oz butter, 3 tbs malt vinegar, 2 tbs dark soy sauce, 2 cloves garlic smashed, 1 tsp ground
ginger.
Or 2 tbs olive oil, 2 tbs wine vinegar, 1 tbs dark soy, 1tsb honey,good shake chilli powder.
Or juice one lemon, 2 tbs olive oil, good sprinkle dried oregano and some chopped fresh rosemary.
All these measures are open to variation in quantity; you can increase the hotness or the sweetness as you like.
You can add cut up potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers and any other veg so that you have a complete meal in the pan.
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