Hug Your Closest Sri Lankan!

Sri Lanka

The other day, I received an invitation to an event on Facebook. The event in question is "Hug a Sri Lankan Day," and it takes place on February 4th. That's FRIDAY! Sri Lanka is located off the southern coast of the Indian sub-continent. It is an island nation. In honor of this day, and my friend Ladali, who is Sri Lankan, I decided to make a fitting dish, complete with how-to instructions, just in time for you to cook dinner on Friday. I chose a Chicken Curry dish, also known as Chicken Dopiaza. The original recipe can be found here. I'm sure that you could make this with other types of meat as well, and for you vegetarians out there, I have a feeling that these flavors would work very nicely with some tofu (you'll have to adjust times a bit, that's all). Now, let's start with what you'll need:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 small onions/shallots, halved

2 bay leaves

8 green cardamom pods

4 cloves

3 dried red chilis

8 black peppercorns

2 big onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 inch piece of fresh root ginger, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground turmeric powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

4 tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped (I used canned, diced tomatoes)

1/2 cup water

8 chicken pieces, skinned

plain rice, to serve

This seems like a lot of ingredients, I know, but it's actually a very simple dish, and it's delicious. I happened to have these spices on hand, but if you don't, you can find them at your local grocery store, or order them online if you have a few days before you plan on cooking this dish. Now, of course, the first step is your mise en place. But, for mine, I combined the ingredients for each step into separate bowls, to make it easier for me. If you want to do it that way, this is what should be in each bowl:

Bowl #1: Shallots

Bowl #2: Bay leaves, cardamom pods, cloves, chilis and peppercorns

Bowl #3: Onions, garlic, and ginger

Bowl #4: Coriander, cumin, turmeric, chili powder and salt

Bowl #5: Tomatoes and water

Bowl #6: Chicken

We're ready to begin cooking! Before I start with the main part of this dish, I put the rice and water into the rice cooker since that usually takes about a half an hour to cook. Rice cookers are a fabulous invention. All you have to do is press the cook button, and it turns off when the rice is done. When I cook rice, I always use the ratio, 1:2. If you use a cup of rice, you should pour in 2 cups of water. That goes for any measurement of rice...double it for the water. Then, set it...and let it go!



Now, on to the main course, right? It's about time! I promise things are going to go quickly from here! I made this dish in a wok, but you can also use pretty much any large pan. Be sure that it's large enough to fit all the things you are going to put in it.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the wok, or large pan, and fry the halved small onions/shallots until soft (I used shallots). Remove and set aside. Make sure those shallots are really soft, because otherwise, they are going to be a very overwhelming flavor in the finished product. Shallots get sweeter as they cook.



Add the remaining oil and fry the bay leaves, cardamoms, cloves, chilis and peppercorns for 2 minutes. Be careful here...as the cardamom pods get hot, they can pop. One almost knocked my EYE out!



Add the big onions, garlic, and ginger. Fry for 5 minutes.



Add the spices (coriander, cumin, turmeric, and chili powder) and salt and cook for 2 minutes.



Add the tomatoes and water to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.



Add the chicken pieces and cook for 15 minutes more. Once I added the chicken and it had begun to cook, I found that the sauce needed a little bit more water because it was evaporating quickly. Don't be afraid to trust your instincts and add something if you feel it needs it.



Add the reserved shallots back to the pan, and then cover and cook for another 10 minutes until the chicken is tender. I cut about 4 minutes off this time because I found that my chicken was done, and I didn't want to over cook it. However, it all depends on the size of your pieces, the parts that you choose to use and the temperature of your pan, so you be the judge. Once it looks tender and cooked through, take it off the heat so that the meat doesn't get chewy. Serve over rice.

This was a delicious meal, and I found it to be an educational experience. I have friends from all over the world, and it is always a treat to learn about their cultures and cuisines. It's not every day that you see a Sri Lankan restaurant, or even think about cooking a Sri Lankan meal, so I'm very happy that I took this opportunity to learn about this fascinating cuisine. I will definitely be trying more in the future, and I'll be on the lookout for a restaurant too. I'm intrigued! And a great big thank you goes out to Ladali for pointing me in the right direction for this post. I will be giving her a GREAT BIG HUG on February 4th!