“Cookery is a wholly unselfish art: All good cooks, like all great artists, must have an audience worth
cooking for.” – Andre Simon
At sunshinestories, we all love Thursday’s not only is our yoga and surfing in full swing but Thursday evenings are spent in the kitchen with our wonderful head chef Bandula. Yes chef, No chef, aprons on, spatula’s at the ready. We are excited.
On the menu tonight is the Sri Lankan traditional rice and curry, green bean salad, grated carrot salad, eggplant salad and home made papadums. Yummmmmmmy!! Pangs of hunger set in just even hearing about the menu we are about to make and enjoy.Rice is first to be prepared as it takes the longest Bandula tells us, so we pour rice grains into the rice steamer, with an inch and half of water to simmer for 20 minutes. Easy!
For the dal we used roasted curry powder, mustard powder, coriander powder, chili flakes, turmeric, curry leaves, cinnamon lemongrass, onion, garlic, tomato, coconut milk, grated coconut and lentils all in one big pot. Add in water (closed lid) and heat for 10 minutes.
The dal starts to turn yellow, Bandula tells us it is time to add in the fresh coconut milk opened by the coconut grinder …. not your average tuna fish can opener a bit more muscle is required here, but nothing that four days of hard core paddling in the Indian Ocean can’t handle.
Shortly, we start to smell the beautiful curry aromas as all the spices and herbs start to infuse and blend together. The dal starts to turn yellow, Bandula tells us it is time to add in the fresh coconut milk opened by the coconut grinder …. not your average tuna fish can opener a bit more muscle is required here, but nothing that four days of hard core paddling in the Indian Ocean can’t handle. Keep the lid off for the remaining 3-5 minutes. Slightly stir the pot and enjoy taking in all the flavours that are simmering nicely. It smells just sooooo good.
We all happily taste test and agree for such a simple salad it tasted so delicious, light and fresh whilst, also, providing a nice orange colour pop to the white plates.
The grated carrot salad is next, grate some carrot, add in fresh grated coconut, sliced onion, 3 teaspoons of fresh lime juice and season with salt and paper. We all happily taste test and agree for such a simple salad it tasted so delicious, light and fresh whilst, also, providing a nice orange colour pop to the white plates.
Eggplant salad (also known as aubergine) is prepared next. Fry the eggplant with onion using coconut oil, add in chopped tomatoes, 3 teaspoons of lime juice and season with salt and pepper. This salad certainly tantalised our taste buds, the pangs are getting stronger. Not long to go, Bandula reassures us.
Now for the greenery. Green bean salad is next. Place the green beans onto the wok, using coconut oil of course! Add in garlic, curry leaves, 2 cinnamon sticks, with a pinch of salt and chili flakes and fry for 2-3 minutes.
Last, but not least, is papadum time, the majority of us have never done this before. Bandula allows us to cook them in boiling coconut oil, turning them quickly is key. Gradually they turn a golden brown signalling they are ready. Success. On that note we are ready to plate up, serve and eat – the best part!
We ask him what is his secret to making such amazing food? He answers “being happy, I love to smile when I cook and that makes all the difference”
The Sri Lankan curry is just one of the beautiful cultural dishes we have during the week, but what makes this dish really special is learning from Bandula. With over 26 years of experience coming from a 5 Star hotel in Colombo, where he has clearly trained so hard, we know we are so lucky to have him at Sunshinestories. We ask him what is his secret to making such amazing food? He answers “being happy, I love to smile when I cook and that makes all the difference”
With that, we all sat down and shared another beautiful dinner together with also the biggest smiles on our faces. Thanks Bandula!
The cooking lessons is a part of the weekly schedule here at Sunshinestories. We’re making a blog post about each and every activity, you will be able to find them in this category.
One Comment