Just another lunch at my Aunty Dora's flat on Park Street
I didn’t title my cookbook Rice & Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cooking for nothing. The best Sri Lankan food your are likely to get in country or abroad, for that matter, is not in a restaurant, but rather at someone’s home. Don’t get me wrong: I love to eat out when I’m traveling and check out new places, but sometimes you get food fatigue on the road. The best remedy for that is a home cooked meal. You know exactly where the food came from, who cooked it, and you can have it as spicy as you like–and as much of it as you like as well!
My Aunt Dora’s flat on Park Street in an area called Slave Island, is usually my base of operations when in Colombo. It’s centrally located, and my regular trishaw driver Nimal hangs out at the temple under the Bo tree across the street. I call on him to make many of my lunchtime excursions because he knows all my regular spots, and can weave in and out of gridlocked traffic to get me where I want to go, no problem. It’s sometimes a hairy ride, but never a dull one.
One Saturday, I was ready to take my cousin Sam’s family out to lunch somewhere, when his wife Charmalie started complaining that they had too much food in the house. Iraesha, the cook, had left several curries in the fridge, and they would apparently go bad if we didn’t eat them that day. Far be it from me to waste good food. Plus, I had been eating out almost every day for both lunch and dinner since I had been in Sri Lanka, and I needed a little break.
rice, the starting point of any good meal
parippu or dahl, when added to rice makes a perfect protein
miris malu or red fish curry
polos or young jackfruit curry
mallun or sauteed greens
fresh gotu kola salad
a gotu kola sambol
curried brinjals or eggplant
potato curry with kiri hodhi
fried onion sambol
I counted 10 different dishes–including rice–and all of them were good. I certainly didn’t expect such a grand lunch, but then I realized that this is how they eat everyday. And why on earth would you want to go out if you had food like this? They must look at me like I’m crazy or something.
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Paneer
Hi Skiz, I have been looking for a gotu kola recipe but the only problem is here in the States we don’t have gotu kola. is there another herb that you recommend? Also, do you have recipes for gotu kola including any of the ones you posted on this article? They all look so delicious! I’m half Sri Lankan and my mom is Filipino who does not know very many Sri Lankan dishes so I am trying to learn them myself. Any help would be so great! =)
Hi Rochelle:
I love gotu kola, too, but unfortunately it is not available here. I’m told that gotu kola is a member of the parsely family, though, so maybe parsley might work. I have Sri Lankan cookbooks with recipes for gotu kola, but it seems useless to publish them since you cannot get it here.
Best,
Skiz
Just a note that I found Gotu Kola at the Blue Mont Nursery in Leesburg last year. I planted it outside and it came back again this year..it grows like a weed. Suprisingly, the nursery also called it “Gotu kola”..so check out the local nurseries.
Thanks, Arunie. I will definitely check that out. Would love to have some fresh gotu kola sambol!