Dee-Licious Sri Lankan Dinner!

Hello Foodie Friends! I know you have been waiting very long for this special post! Thank you for your patience. A dear friend of mine, Dee Gunawaithe, is from the lovely and amazing Land of Sri Lanka. Dee is an absolutely fabulous cook! She loves to cook, and make people happy with her delicious concoctions.

She came to my house one day recently, and taught a group of our friends how to cook several Sri Lankan dishes. She works so fast in the kitchen that it was hard to keep up with everything she was doing!! We took notes as best we could, and today I am going to share 2 of her recipes with you. Dee, like any professional cook, does not use exact measurements, so I have tried to give you an idea of how much she used of each ingredient. You can add more or less of anything depending on your taste. Give these recipes a try. You wont be sorry!

Chicken Curry (so tender and yummy)

6 lbs of chicken, cut into cutlet pieces

½ onion, sliced

½ inch thick slice of ginger, minced

3 small hot peppers, sliced down the side to open but left whole

7-8 cloves of garlic, minced

7 tablespoons veg. oil

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin powder

6 oz tomato paste

Less than one tablespoon tamarind

Salt, to taste (Dee uses lots!)

1 ½ cans coconut milk

Water

Directions-

Mix onion, ginger, pepper, garlic in large saucepan and saute with the vegetable oil on high.

Add chicken into spices, turn to low.

After evenly covered, add chili powder, cumin, tomato paste, tamarind, salt and coconut oil. Also refill the empty can 1 ½  times with water, getting the coconut off the edges of the can and pour that in too. Mix evenly and leave on high for about 2-5 minutes..

Switch to low, cover and let it cook for about 20 minutes.. garnish with parsley and serve.

                                                                   

                                            What a magnificent main course!

Sri Lankan Rice  (this is no ordinary rice, let me tell you)

10 cups white basmati rice

½ onion, in long slivers

6 cinnamon sticks

7-8 cardamom (nuggets?) cracked open with the handle of a knife

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

14 cups cold water

Directions-

Rinse rice in strainer

Saute the onion slivers, cardamom, and cinnamon sticks in the vegetable oil in a large saucepan on high for about 5-7 mins..

After sauteed, put all ten uncooked cups of rice in sauce pan with mixture. cook that way for a few minutes.

Then, pour all of the cold water into the rice and spices. Bring to boil on high.

Turn to low after boiling.

Turn and stir periodically until water is absorbed.

Dee cooked so many different things that night! It was fabulous.

Hopefully Dee will teach me more Sri Lankan cooking techniques soon. Thank you Dee, for an amazing meal!