Gotu kola salad
30g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
15g mint, finely chopped 50g freshly grated coconut Juice of 1 lime
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a small red onion, thinly sliced
A handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 anchovies, finely chopped Optional:
1 green chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 spring onion, finely chopped 1 celery stick, thinly sliced Handful of pomegranate seeds
Put the parsley and mint in a bowl. In another bowl, add the coconut and season with the lime juice and some salt and black pepper.
Stir well and add to the
beef carpaccio using meat from the cattle on the ranch, and go foraging. “Wyoming had the best rocket I’ve ever had, really spicy and white-dotted,” she says.
Always be curious about what you’re eating
That inquisitiveness hasn’t faded, and comes in handy when trying to navigate Sri Lankan produce on her annual trips to the country. “I’ll go to a market and point at a vegetable and ask, ‘What is this?’ And they’ll say, ‘Madam, it’s 50 rupees’, and I’ll be like, ‘No. What’s it called?”
Emily’s egg hopper street food stall is on hiatus, but she runs supper clubs and pop-ups and herbs along with the onion and tomatoes.
Add the anchovies (these are a must if you aren’t vegetarian) and any of the optional ingredients you like.
If you are serving with a spicy curry, avoid the green chilli and serve as a refreshing salad, seasoned well with lime juice and salt.
SERVES 2 AS A SIDE
dreams of running her own restaurant. “I’m always cooking, I feel my most relaxed when I’m cooking — it really calms me down,” she says. “I put all my creativity into food. It’s a mindful thing, it’s very artistic and creative. All the colours and textures, it’s how I express myself.”
Weligama: Recipes From Sri Lanka by Emily Dobbs, photography by Issy Croker, is published by Seven Dials, priced £25. Available now There are lies, damned lies and now something called the International Statistic of the Year.
This has been chosen by the UK’s Royal Statistical Society and it reveals — drum roll — that more Americans are killed by lawnmowers every year than by jihadi terrorists. Shhh. Don’t anyone tell Donald (left). He’ll order air strikes on the garden centres.
The UK Statistic of the Year is much more mundane. Something to do with “continuous urban fabric”. This is what happens when you allow statisticians to chose a winner. Nine out of ten times they opt for dull. Clever PSNI officers have been using the recent snowy, frosty weather as a means of spotting cannabis factories in local houses.
A tell-tale sign, they point out, could be a roof where snow melts while all around stays frosty and white. The plants need heat so the cannabis producers have to keep their place toasty.
Then again, a defrosting roof could also just be caused by poor insulation. And criminals, I suppose, could also fake a snowy roof with those spray cans you get in the craft aisles. That said, good try, PSNI. I doubt the cannabis cultivators are now dreaming of a white Christmas...