(PS excuse poor quality of photos… using iphone again instead of digital camera b/c computer is at capacity now after all high res photos taken during vacation to patagonia)

When I was little, any dinner party would have some combination of short eats: cutlets, patties, those rainbow sandwiches, chinese rolls and/or frikkadels.  These of course, are dutch in origin but are now quintessentially Sri Lankan and are savory meatballs that could be dry and chewy when made badly, but juicy, moist and flavorful when made perfectly.   I haven’t had these since those late-70s early 80s dinner parties, but a few years ago, I came across a New York Times recipe for “finnish meatballs.”  I read the recipe and realized that it was frikkadels with a little bit of a twist – namely gouda.  And cheese improves everything.  I made a few tweaks to hearken back to the Sri Lankan recipe as well and have come up with a delicious outcome.    We all have heard of swedish  meatballs, and the Times publicized the finnish meatballs, and here you will have Sri Lankan meatballs (and bit of our Dutch colonial legacy).

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole milk

3 slices white bread, crusts removed

6 ounces gouda – I used Beemster Vlaskaas, but you can use any mild gouda

1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced

3/4 cup onion minced

1 garlic clove crushed

2 large eggs

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper (or to taste, I just grind a ton without measuring, but be generous, as you have to flavour a lot of meat)

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp finely grated ginger (can substitute with ground ginger)

a few dashes of worcestershire sauce

1 lb. ground lean beef

1 lb. ground pork (I’m sure you can substitute ground turkey or chicken; in fact, I’ve made similar with ground turkey and it was delicious – just add a bit more nutmeg)

some flour (1/4 cup? enough to dredge)

oil for frying (you’ll need about an 1 -2 inches of oil in your pan)

Method:

1. Warm milk until just steaming and then remove from heat and press the bread into the milk and set aside.

2. Grate cheese with the large holes on a box grater and put it in a large bowl.  Add all the ingredients except the meat into the bowl.

3.  Stir together, and then add the meats, and the soaked bread and with a spoon, or your hands, mix to combine.  Stop as soon as it  has combined, you definitely don’t want to overwork this mix or else end up with the dried chewy frikkadel variety.

4.  Form into 1-inch (2.5 cm) balls.

Note:  I caution you to put on some nice music, sit in front of the TV or consider this your workout for the day because you will be rolling the frikkadels for a little bit of time – this amount of mix made me approx. 125 frikkadels!  I know!  So many!  But I froze most of them – just put them on sheets and freeze. Once they are frozen put them in a ziploc bag.  When you need them, just defrost slightly and move on to the next step.

5.   When ready, get your oil hot, and then dredge the frikkadels in flour and tap off excess.  If you had frozen your frikkadels, you can thaw them completely or if rushed for time, just thaw them enough so they’ll get the flour to stick on them prior to frying.  Beware of microwaving them b/c the cheese will melt.  This has happened to me, and I still fried them up and they were fine.  But it was a tad messy.

I used my mini cast-iron pan, and fried up a few for  a little snack to replenish my energy reserves after having made so many frikkadels.  Otherwise you can fry up a bunch at a time.

We usually serve them with toothpicks and eat them just like that, but if you’re familiar with swedish meatballs, and based on the NY Times’ finnish meatball article, apparently, after frying them, you can set them in a saucepan that has about a cup of vegetable or chicken broth simmering and let them simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, and then right before serving, add a drizzle of heavy cream. Serve with potatoes or pasta and some greenery.

Or you can put the fried frikkadels on a hamburger or brioche bun and melt some jarlsberg, or gouda, or any cheese of your liking on it and put a little redcurrant or lingonberry preserves and you’ve got yourself a frikkadel sandwich.

My Aunty Peppy even makes a curry with them – I think you slice up some garlic, onion, a cinnamon stick piece, a slice or two of ginger, put a few curry leaves, salt, pepper, a little chili and curry powder, if you want, and sautee ’til onions are soft.  Then add some frikkadels, and tomatoes and there you are!  Serve with rice of course.

Any way you have them, they are delicious.

You know us South Asians.  We can’t resist putting in a little flavor into everything – a little spice, a little heat.  This cool cucumber salad, can be made mild, or pack a wallop.  Its better for it to taste a little sweet, a little sour, a little hint of heat that just tickles the tongue, and a little soothing, creamy and cold. Its meant to be a counterpoint to the highly flavorful and often spicy other dishes in a Sri Lankan meal.

Or you can make it like my Uncle Stanley and put in enough green chilies to burn a hole in your mouth.  I remember once my Dad was eating Uncle Stanley’s curries, and they were all so spicy, that he decided to eat a huge bite of the cucumber salad, thinking it would cool his tongue, only to find that it was as hot as the rest of them!

PS – this post is an ode to the few visitors other than my family and close friends who have visited this site and the couple who have left comments.  I thank you, and this post (and other more frequent posts) are for you

Sri Lankan Cucumber Salad

4 kirby cucumbers, or 1 or 2 regular or hothouse cucumbers – enough for approximately 2-3 cups cut.

1 large shallot

1 lime

1 green chili (I used the tiny thin ones I find at my Indian grocery, but any chili that packs heat will do)

salt and pepper

1/4 cup coconut milk or 2 -3 tablespoons dried coconut powder

1/2 tsp of sugar

Thinly slice the cucumber.  Leave the skins on for added color and texture, or peel them beforehand, depending on your preference.  Thinly slice the shallots crosswise, in roughly the same size and thin-ness as the cucumber.   Mix together in bowl.  Add salt and pepper, toss to coat.

And I like to add the following ingredients a little at a time, tasting in between to get the flavor just right.  It is hard to get the measurements right, so you use mine as only a guide.  Its different each time, depending on the heat of the chili, the sweetness of the coconut, and the acidity of the lime.

Add the coconut milk to the bowl.  Its easy to use the dried coconut powder because the cucumber exudes so much water, that it combines and creates the coconut milk.  If you are using fresh coconut milk, allow the cucumber to stand for a while, and drain off some excess – this is a salad, not a soup – so make sure its not too wet.

Thinly slice some of your chili – here is the trick – only add as much as you need to get a hint of heat.  This is a delicate dish, and it should just have the chili as a background note.  So thinly slice and  add a little at a time, mixing it up and having a taste.  When you think you’ve got the heat right, add the juice of half the lime.  Has the heat level gone down too much? Add a little more chili?  Does it need salt?  Lastly the pinch of sugar just balances the whole thing – you won’t taste the sugar, but every flavor will be better rounded.

You should be able to taste all the different flavors and it should intrigue your palate, not overwhelm in any way.  Real Sri Lankans add umbalacuda (dried maldive fish), but we know how I feel about that.

Allow the salad to sit for approx 15 minutes before serving.  Any less and the flavors won’t have melded, but it will still be good.  Any more, and the cucumber gets progressively less crunchy, but it is still delicious.

godamba roti, chicken curry, purripu, cabbage, and cucumber salad

Godamba roti or murtaba as it is called in Singapore is part of our street food culture.   In small “hotels” along the streets – aka restaurants, they would serve kotthu rotti – which is sliced up godamba roti, tossed with egg, vegetables and meat  – all on a hot griddle and served right away. My sister and I went traveling all around Sri Lanka by ourselves one summer and our father told us not to eat food from street-side vendors or those hotels.  Of course, we ignored him and ate some of the best vadai, kotthu roti, fruit and ice cream that we ever had.  And our tummies were fine.  The only time we got sick was when we over ate passionfruit.  But what are you going to do?  Its passionfruit!

Anyhoo, godamba roti can also be wrapped around a savory filling – my favorite.  And it can be served plain, with some curries.  I remember getting it in Sri Lanka, with ladlefuls of steaming curry on top.  I like to serve mine on the side because I don’t want my roti to get soggy.

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1 cup lukewarm water
½ cup oil

Mix together the flour, salt and the tablespoon of oil and rub together.  Then add all at once, the lukewarm water, and mix.  Knead for approximately 10 minutes.

Divide into equal-sized balls, and then cover with the ½ cup of oil (add more if necessary) and let rest for at least one hour.

Put a griddle on the heat – flat side up – or heat up the widest pan you have.

Take a little oil from the bowl and grease your cutting board (plastic or marble works best for this dough) and take one the balls and press it down flat, spreading the dough like you were smoothing a bedsheet out (thanks to Charmaine Solomon for the imagery).  Don’t worry about any holes or its shape.  We are not professional godamba roti men – who can spin it out like pizza dough into nearly translucent thinness.  Although I think I did pretty well towards the end.
Then transfer the roti carefully (this is hard, I admit) to your extremely hot pan, and cook for approx. 1 minute on each side – until golden brown spots appear.  You can set them aside as they are done, one on top of each other, and cover the whole thing with a lid.

Serve with curries and enjoy.  The godamba rotis also keep really well.  Just put it in a Ziploc and freeze or refrigerate it.  You can put it in the oven or in the microwave to heat up.

Plus, then there’s the fact that I’m a lawyer, and I work full-time, and was in the process of changing jobs, and that life got in the way.

But now, I’m sick with a terrible cold.  Let me tell you  – I fought it, I thought I’d escape, as I’ve done a couple of time this winter, from actually getting sick.  But alas, alas, I succumbed to a nasty head cold with wracking coughs.  I’m quite toxic.

But this is a food blog, you say.  You are not interested in the fact that I go through about a box of tissues a day.  But I say unto you, this is the time to unveil a old Sri Lankan cold remedy.  Well, I don’t know how many other Sri Lankan mothers have made this for their children, but my mother made it for me, and now I make it for me and my husband whenever we have a cough and/or cold.  I studied some Ayurveda, and I actually think that the properties in this remedy is also good when you have stomach problems.

It is just three ingredients.  Coriander seeds, fresh ginger, and honey.  Coriander is typically cooling, but when combined with ginger, and the heat that it brings, it provides a balanced heat that soothes your tight chest, sore throat and head cold.  Honey also balances out the heat and cooling properties, as well as is antibacterial and provides sweetness.  I don’t claim to be a vaidya (an Ayurvedic healer) by any means, but I know I find this drink to be delicious, comforting, and helpful in soothing you when you feel like crap because you have a cold.

ginger and coriander

Ingredients

3 inches of ginger, sliced
½ cup of coriander seeds
honey to taste

Place ginger and coriander in a pot, and add about 6 cups of water.  Boil it down until it becomes approximately 3 cups.

Strain into a cup, sweeten to taste with honey and drink.

coriander ginger tea

To your health!

To be fair, I am currently bitter about London getting the 2012 Olympics and not NYC.  Of course this is old news, but I’ve got PMS, and I want to be angry about something so why not this?  What will they show for their opening ceremony, I ask you?  Tea-drinkers, Beefeaters, brawling drunken fools in football jerseys and the Queen? really I ask you? REALLY.

But if New York had the Olympics? We could just randomly pull anyone off our streets – preferably from a borough other than Manhattan and say – bring something that your mother cooked you, and dress in your ethnic garb, and we’d have a show.  It’d be like the UN on parade.  Plus, we could just play Ken Burns’ documentary on big screens all around.  Does London have a Ken Burns documentary about it?  No.

I have now worked myself up to the point that I’ve nearly forgotten the purpose of this post.  MY 100.  Mine.  Totally biased, haphazardly thought out and I’ve tried to leave out the stuff that the other guy had on his list.  But PB&J is a definite experience that everyone should have.  So a few will be the same.  Its also got some Sri-Lankan dishes, that I’ll post recipes for on this site someday (soon).

Here goes:

My 100

1.    pizza from a pizzeria (NOT brick oven fancy pizza)
2.    coconut sambol
3.    peking duck
4.    dim sum
5.    kiri buth (coconut milk-rice)
6.    indian food from a hole in the wall that only cab drivers frequent
7.    barbecue ribs (kansas city style or dry rub, either is fine)
8.    bagel with cream cheeze, lox, capers, red onion and tomato
9.    blueberry muffins
10.    salmon sashimi
11.    tzaziki
12.    swedish meatballs
13.    wasabi mashed potatoes
14.    tarte tatin
15.    lobster roll
16.    congee
17.    cheese fondue
18.    steak tartare
19.    caesar salad
20.    boquerones
21.    peanut butter and jelly sandwich
22.    bibimbop
23.    cochchii chilies (sri lanka hot pepper in the house!)
24.    bhel puri
25.    arepas
26.    chicharones
27.    candystripe figs (my latest food glutton experience)
28.    pina colada
29.    french onion soup
30.    tacos from some guy in a cart
31.    sopapillas
32.    sweetbreads
33.    southern biscuits
34.    fried chicken (NOT from KFC)
35.    grilled cheese sandwich
36.    philly cheesesteak (WITH velveeta)
37.    muffaletta
38.    chicken wings
39.    cheese fries
40.    rambutan
41.    mangosteen
42.    alphonso mangoes
43.    tamarind
44.    honeysuckle flower nectar
45.    iberico ham
46.    rocquefort (the queen of all blues, imho)
47.    nutella
48.    masticha
49.    mochi
50.    cardamom
51.    McDonald’s french fries
52.    The “oysters” from a roast chicken
53.    Guanciale
54.    Pork belly
55.   Fried Zucchini flowers (stuffed or not stuffed)
56.    Twinkie
57.    Fried Dough (holla at me, street fair food)
58.    Corn dog
59.    macarons
60.    Kimchi
61.    devilled pork
62.    Roasted peanuts
63.    Goldfish (the crackers)
64.    Toro
65.    Hoppers (appa)
66.    cassoulet
67.    Cranberries
68.    Shirred eggs
69.    cheesecake
70.    periwinkles
71.    Caramel apple
72.    Gummi bears
73.    Vadai
74.    Whole roast pig
75.    Spaghetti carbonara
76.    Coconut layer cake
77.    rasam
78.    sorrel
79.    Marrons glaces
80.    red velvet cake
81.    watalapam
82.    bacalao
83.    Bananas foster
84.    pineapple with salt and pepper and maybe also a pinch of chili powder
85.    Pickled okra
86.    Toll house chocolate chip cookies
87.    Jamaican beef patty
88.    kulfi
89.    Pumpkin ice cream
90.    conch fritters
91.    horchata
92.    Crackerjack
93.    Buffalo milk yogurt
94.    Scotch eggs
95.    Thick sliced bacon
96.    scrambled eggs with tabasco sauce
97.    Kentucky bourbon
98.    lemongrass
99.    pisco sour
100.    japanese curry

Here are the rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
There were four things on this list that I had to look up, and only three things that I crossed out – horse, because I love them, and I ride them, and so cannot eat them and whole insects, and roadkill, for what I hope are obvious reasons. I am just not that cool. But this was totally fun! of this list, I’ve only got 21 things left to eat before I whack them all (barring the 3 I refuse).

PS — what I found particularly hilarious was the inclusion of hostess’ fruit pie. I mean really? I loved their cherry pies when I was little, and lord have mercy did I eat a ton of those totally sweet delicious and utterly fake things. Now I know why – just to tick it off the omnivore’s 100.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

One of the dishes my mother makes for whenever we’ve gone upstate for apple-picking or camping or to a lodge, is kadala. She uses dark chickpeas and tempers it with a mixture of mustard seeds, onions, chilies and then adds coconut. It is easy, it is delicious and it is healthy.

Ingredients

3 cups dark chickpeas – also known as kala chana
one large onion, thinly sliced
5-6 tbsp mustard seeds
5 curry leaves
5-6 whole dried red chili peppers
1 cup whole coconut cut into small chunks
salt
pepper

Soak the chickpeas overnight. And then if you have a pressure cooker, cook it in that for approximately 3-4 steams. If you don’t, then boil it until the chickpeas are slightly tender and edible, but not mushy. Drain any excess water and set aside.

In a pan large enough to hold the chickpeas, add the onions to some olive oil and caramelize. While it is cooking, also add the mustard seeds and the chili peppers. When the onions are a lovely brown and the mustard seeds have popped, add the chickpeas. Stir to mix it well. Add salt and pepper to taste. I sometimes salt only a little bit at this point and then, when the mixture is cool, add some sea salt or kosher salt so that when you bite into the kadala you also get a crunch of salt.

When the mixture has cooled, add the coconut chunks. Done! This is an excellent snack, but it can also be an appetizer or a side.

So the fruit is eaten as a vegetable for its first two stages of life – as a young fruit, it is pollos and it is tender, and meaty, with a light flavor. Then as it ages, it becomes cos, and when you cook it, it is much starchy and sticky – more like an extra glutinous potato. And when it is ripe, varaka, it is stinky, fruity, overripe in aroma, and only the hard core Sri Lankans eat it. This includes my mother. I used to always eat cos curry – so good, so unavailable in the US, so reminiscent of my grandmother’s house. But never pollos curry and never varaka. And then I turned 30, and decided to have a small piece…

I was an idiot, for so long! What was my problem?! I could have been eating pollos for decades, but I’m only now just getting into it and making up for lost time.

Who knows? Maybe one day I will eat varaka as well. (shudder).

Where to find pollos? Go to the Asian section of any grocery store. Look for the thai products. It is canned. You can get it fresh – if you try hard – and why suffer? I use canned. It is delicious. This is a one pot, throw it all in at once, easy cooking curry.

Pollos Curry

Ingredients

One can of pollos

one cup thick coconut milk (you can make it from powder, or use it from a can – just make sure its unsweetened)

2 shallots thickly sliced

3 curry leaves

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp curry powder

2 tbsp tomato paste

3 pieces of goraka (see note) or 1 tbsp tamarind paste

2 sliced small green chilies (you can seed them)

1 small piece of cinnamon

salt

black pepper

1/2 lime

Chop the pieces of pollos to bite size pieces, and put it in a pot with the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine — the color should be a nice light orange, from the combined turmeric and tomato paste. Cover and simmer over low heat for approx. 1 hour, or until the pollos is tender. Stir occasionally to make sure that nothing is sticking to the bottom. If the liquid is evaporating too much, you can add some thin coconut milk (just dilute the coconut powder/or canned coconut milk with more water) or simply add more water and stir. This is not a dry curry dish, nor is it a gravy. Just that lovely point in between.

When you are finished, add the juice of 1/2 lime, just to highlight the tanginess. This curry is more on the tangy side, with the acidity of the tamarind/goraka and lime, counteracting the coconut and complementing the pollos perfectly.

If you are using goraka, remove the pieces before you serve.

NOTE: Goraka are the dried rinds of a small pumpkin like gourd, and it provides a tangy sourness to any dish. I have not been able to find it in the US, I get mine from sources in Sri Lanka. It is also called Malabar tamarind if you happen to come across it. No worries- tamarind and lime do the same thing.

But this is a post about bean curry. Like purripu, this is one pot cooking with hardly any prep. You know, as I write these posts, I realize how easy and available, Sri Lankan cooking really is. We don’t prep too much and typically, everything is thrown into a pot, and simmered and served. I admit, some ingredients may be exotic, but those ones aren’t crucial – they can be substituted or even omitted. The ingredients in this dish, for instance – you can use those yard long, dark green and wiry string beans that’s sometimes known as the chinese long bean, or you can use regular green beans, or even haricots verts. The picture below is using the long bean because I went to Patel Brothers in Jackson Heights and they had some lovely bunches.

Ingredients

one bunch long green beans; or three large handfuls of green beans

two shallots

3-4 curry leaves

1 tbsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

2/3 cup -1 cup of coconut milk

black pepper

salt

small piece of cinnamon

oil

Clean and prep your string beans -cut into bite size pieces. Thinly slice the shallots. In a frying pan or skillet or saucepan, heat some oil (I always use olive oil). Then add your shallots, and the mustard seeds, cinnamon, curry leaves and turmeric. When the mustard seeds pop, add the string beans, and black pepper and salt to taste. Sautee it a little bit, so everything gets nice and coated, and then add your 2/3 cup of coconut milk. I was flexible with the amount of coconut milk b/c if you want it lighter, use less, if you want it to be more richer, add more. This is not a curry with a gravy, as everything cooks, the coconut milk will practically evaporate and coat everything with this unctuous blanket of creaminess. Then cook until the beans are slightly tender. I don’t like cooking things to death, you want them to have some life, still. If you are using the long beans, though, cook a little longer, as that tastes better when it is completely tender. If you want a little bit of kick, you can add dried red chilies. However, this is a simple dish, and the mustard seed is all you need. And of course, I am sure that people add maldive fish. Go ahead! But not in my house.

Anyway, Purripu, or dal, and rice is a comfort food for me. It is quick, healthy, and a complete meal. It is also served with other curries – I like purripu b/c it binds all the curries and rice together. And it is the first Sri Lankan dish that I ever cooked because it is so easy to make.

purripu

First. What dal do you use? Masoor dal (split or whole red lentils. Where can you get them? If in NYC, any Indian store, Kalyustans in Manhattan or Patel Bros in Queens, for instance, but also grocery stores carry them.

Here’s a picture of whole purripu, rather than the split kind. This will just take a little longer to cook, but there’s no difference.

red lentils or purripu or masoor dal

Ingredients:

masoor dal – however much you want – let’s say 2 cups,

a couple of curry leaves

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1 small onion, quartered

black pepper

1/2 tsp. turmeric

salt

Wash the lentils, and then put it in a pot, and cover with twice as much water as lentils (4 cups). Then throw in the cinnamon,  curry leaves, the onion,turmeric and black pepper to taste. Do not add salt yet. Bring to boil, and then reduce to a simmer, partially cover it and you will see the lentils absorb the liquid and soften. About 5 minutes in, add salt. Then cook approximately another 10-15 minutes. If you think you’re running out of water, then add some boiling water to it, if you think it is too watery, keep cooking it. Purripu is served in a porridge-like consistency.

Right now, it is somewhat bland. But the next step is to temper the purripu. When you temper a dish, you add a flavorful addition at the end to enhance the flavors – in this case, by frying some onions, red chili and mustard seeds and then adding it to the mixture.

2 shallots finely sliced.

2-3 dried red chilies (this is to taste)

1 tsp of mustard seeds

a curry leaf or two if you want.

Add the chilies and shallots to olive oil and caramelize the onions.  Then add the mustard seeds, and curry leaves, if using. After the mustard seeds pop, pour the whole thing into the purripu and mix it in.

Variation: Add spinach when you are cooking the purripu – just take a box of frozen spinach, add it to the purripu and cook it together. it is delicious! This and rice is the best lunch to take to work with you, or to eat when you want comfort food.