Red Rice and Coconut Milk: A Breakfast Porridge

1 cup Red Cargo Rice

Wash rice and soak in water overnight.

In the morning, strain the water, add 2 cups of water to a heavy bottom pan and cook rice until tender. Transfer the well cooked rice to a blender with a dash of salt, 1 tbsp of unsweetened coconut milk powder, and some water. Blend coarse. Transfer back to the pot you cooked rice in. Bring it to boil while stirring with additional water if necessary. Taste for salt. Garnish with some cracked black pepper.

Samolina with Carrot and Spinach

This needs to be made when you are ready to eat. Silkier the better...melts in your mouth. Just delicious!

Pan roast1 cup of thin semolina for 4 people. Don't let it change color. Keep it aside.

Grate 10 baby carrots. Take 4 hands full of baby spinach. 1 hand full of Cilantro leaves. Keep aside.

Rub a heavy bottom pan with a light cooking oil. Add the following in the given order.

4 curry leaves
1/2 white onion chopped
1/2 Serrano chili sliced
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 ginger chopped

Then add the grated carrots. A dash of salt and black pepper. Add 2 cups of water, cover and bring to boil. Add the semolina and reduce the heat. Stir and mix very well. Cover for few minutes. Add the spinach and Cilantro. Mix well and take out of the stove. Keep the lid on for 10 minutes before serving with a rounded scoop.

 
 

Shrimp Boil

Good aromatic medium grain white rice needs to go in the rice cooker to accompany this!

2lb fresh shrimp with all their crustacean body parts intact 
2 tbsp Sambal Belachan paste
1 tsp powdered turmeric
1 tsp hot red chili powder

Wash shrimp well. Pat them dry and rub all the above ingredients on them and keep them covered in the fridge not more than 2hrs.

1 tbsp Sambal Belachan paste
I medium red onion chopped
2 Serrano chili whole
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger chopped
1 sprig curry leaves
3 medium size red skin potatoes quartered 
 
Heat a heavy bottom cylindrical pan. Add the Sambal Belachan paste. This has oil. So you don't need to add any more. then add the curry leaves. Once they start to emit their signature aroma, add the rest of the ingredients and stir fry on medium-high heat. When everything is coated well, add 1.5 cups hot water cover and let the potatoes cook. Once potatoes are just under cooked, add the marinated shrimp. Mix everything well. Cover and cook for good 20 minutes stirring few times in between on medium heat. Serve over steaming hot white rice and be ready to get your hands and face dirty!

Kale Mallung

Simple ingredients, simple healthy goodness!

 

Get a bunch of Kale, wash, remove hard stems, pat dry and chop as above.

Add the following ingredients to a heavy bottom pan.

1/2 medium size red onion chopped

1/2 Serrano chili

3 curry leaves

1/8 inch piece of cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp dry Fenugreek

1/4 tsp powdered turmeric

1 heap tbsp unsweetened medium flake desiccated coconut

Salt and black pepper 

1/4 cup cold water

Cook on medium heat covered until you see the almost dry state below:

Now, increase the heat to high, add chopped Kale and mix well. The moment green turns to a bright green, remove from heat and plate on a pre-cooled dish. Why it's very important to plate in a cool dish is to stop cooking right away. Otherwise your greens will turn to a dark overcooked state.

  

This is absolutely delicious over steamed white rice.

Sprouted Red Mung Bean Salad

I take one cup of dry red mung beans for four people. Remember they double in quantity when cooked.

Sprouting:

Wash and soak dry red mung beans in water overnight. They should be nice and plump the next day. Drain the water. Take a shallow tray. Double layer the tray with wet paper towels. Spread the red mung beans evenly. Place the tray in a place where there is no direct light such as the cupboard under the kitchen sink. Spray the mung beans with a spray bottle twice a day to retain moisture. In about 4-5 days it's well sprouted and ready for a salad. You may leave it longer if you need bigger sprouts.

Salad:

Steam the red mung beans in a steamer until they have no raw taste left. Sometimes I add slices of ginger to the boiling water to infuse red mung beans with ginger flavor.

3 red shallots finely sliced
4 Curry leaves
1/2 Serrano chili sliced
1/8 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Salt and pepper

Lightly rub a shallow pan with extra virgin olive oil and heat. Add the Curry leaves first, then the sliced shallots. When shallots start changing color add salt and pepper. Then sliced chili. Toss in the steamed red mung beans and coconut flakes. Serve warm.
 

Beet Root Rolls and Cucumber Triangles

 

This was one of the most common school lunches as kids growing up in Sri Lanka. Our mom would make these the night before and have our lunch boxes ready for the next morning. How efficient?

Beet Root Rolls

Cook one large Beet Root with a dash of salt and water in a pressure cooker whenever you have time. Drain the water, let cool down, place in a plastic bag and leave it in the fridge until you need it. This can stay in the fridge up to 3-4 days.

When you are ready to make the Beet Root Rolls, take the cooked Beet Root, peel it and cut it in to thin slices. Sprinkle with black pepper if you like.

Take pre-sliced  bread at room temperature, cut the crusts off and lightly apply a soft spread. Place the Beet Root slices on one side. Using plastic wrap roll it like a sushi roll. Twist the edges of plastic wrap like a popular candy and keep it aside for awhile. Make whatever the number of rolls you need this way. Then open the wrapped rolls, toss away the plastic wrap and cut the roll diagonally to expose the pretty color. Chilled is the best.

Cucumber Triangles

Remove seeds from a Serrano chili and chop it fine. Thinly chop some Cilantro leaves. Take about 1/2 cup of any soft spread for a loaf of bread, mix in chopped chili, Cilantro, salt, and pepper.

Thinly slice an English cucumber and spread them on a clean towel to get rid of excess moisture. 

Spread slices of bread out. Apply a very thin layer of jazzed up soft spread on every slice of bread. Spread cucumber slices on one half of the slices. Close sandwiches. Shave off the edges cleaning the knife often with a wet paper towel so that edges stay clean. Cut them in the middle diagonally in to triangles. Serve chilled.

Caramel Flan

Oh my! This was the most common dessert we had growing up. Simple goodness, basic ingredients, easy to make!

Until our mom felt comfortable giving us something made with store bought canned condensed milk, she would substitute condensed milk with baby formula and cut the sugar to 1/4 and make kids' special Caramel Flan while she made the original for the adults.


For the Caramel:

1/2 cup white granulated sugar
A round cylindrical heat proof glass dish with a lid. This dish should easily fit your steamer.

Add the sugar to a heavy bottom preferably a nonstick pan.  Add some water just enough to wet all the sugar. Start cooking on medium heat.

If your pan is dark, you have to be careful not to burn the caramel because it's hard to see.

Watch your pan closely. At one point you will see a golden spot of caramel develop. Reduce heat. Hold the pan with its handles and move the liquid inside a little. When all the liquid is golden, immediately pour it to the round cylindrical heat proof glass dish. Rotate the dish to cover the bottom and the sides with golden caramel. Keep it aside. You have to be super careful working this as this hot caramel can burn you bad.


Get your steamer going with the pasta insert.

Now it's time for the flan:

1 can condensed milk
4 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Add all the flan ingredients to a deep mixing bowl. Make sure to scrape all the condensed milk out of the can. Fill half of the empty condensed milk can with water. Wash it well with a spoon. You will see the water turning to milky white. Add to your mix of ingredents. Do the same three more times. Beat with a cake mixer for 2 minutes at high. Now pour this into your glass dish with the caramel bottom. Close the dish with a lid and place it in the steamer. Make sure there's enough water in the steamer to last 45 minutes at high. Once done, let it cool down completely before placing in the fridge.

If you are up for the challenge of turning this upside-down for better display. Once it's completely chilled, take blunt tip knife along the inside glass edge. Cover it with your display dish and do a vertical 180 flip on to the display dish.