FOUND IN TRANSLATION
From the coconut plantations of Sri Lanka via the kitchens of northern Italy, chef O Tama Carey brings us a cracking autumnal lunch menu.
From the coconut plantations of Sri Lanka via the kitchens of northern Italy chef O Tama Carey brings us a cracking autumnal lunch leavened with sultry spice and characteristic flair.
My cooking career has been, in a word, eclectic. I started kitchen life in a modern British restaurant in London before globe-hopping back home to Sydney only to land in a French bistro. From there I had a brief moment in a less-than-traditional Japanese joint, after which I moved to China (or at least an outpost of China on Crown Street in Surry Hills). There I stayed, gaining an appreciation of produce, provenance and the delights of cooking in a wok. From there I went one suburb over to a shiny new spot where I was given free rein. The only caveat: it had to be Italian. Happily, I complied, curing meats, making pasta and focusing on the seasons. Slowly, though, curry leaves crept in.
All this country criss-crossing has had an effect. I look at the similar threads in these cuisines and let that inform and inspire my cooking. When I begin building a dish or a menu, I start with a particular country’s cuisine in mind. This, coupled with a particular ingredient or season, becomes the base to which I add other flavours.
The food of my Sri Lankan heritage is the anchor to the recipes here. The pipi dish, for instance, had its inspiration in a curry cooked for me on a coconut plantation. I added anchovies for sea-richness and speck for its hint of smoke and unexpected appeal with the creamy coconut milk. From here the ideas grew and suddenly we have a collection that brings to mind a Sri Lankan cooking in northern Italy in the autumn. Serve any of these dishes alone and you’ll find flavour aplenty; together they’re a banquet of complementary delights.
The seeni sambol on the eggs is a traditional Sri Lankan condiment yet also echoes the flavour of an Italian agrodolce. The clams are sauced with bay and curry leaves that work like a perfect marriage of two different cultures. The beef dish has a stronger, darker flavour, tangy with tamarind that, along with the spicy, sharp rhubarb pickle, cuts through the fattiness of brisket. The cabbage dish, flavourful yet understated, adds crunch. Then there’s curd and kithul, for dessert – again, simple ingredients that come to a refreshing end.
The love cake is another story, a strictly traditional Sri Lankan recipe, by way of Portuguese rule, that gets better with time. Make it in advance, then, as you cook all these recipes for what I hope will be a perfect dinner party, you can eat it mid-afternoon with a cup of tea to give you the strength to carry on. These flavours and ideas are an amalgam of my experiences in the kitchen and at the table – I hope they become part of yours. The Lankan Filling Station food stall will be at Carriageworks Farmers Market on Saturdays from 22 April; 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh, NSW, lankanfillingstation.com.au
Fried eggs with seeni sambol, coconut and turmeric “I first cooked a version of this dish – inspired by the excellent deep-fried egg dish at Billy Kwong – while working at a restaurant in Sri Lanka,” says O Tama Carey. “The lattice-like eggs are doused in a creamy turmeric curry sauce and topped with seeni sambol, a sweet-spiced caramelised onion relish. This dish is equally perfect for an indulgent breakfast as it is served as part of a larger meal.” The recipe for the seeni sambol makes more than you need, but to get the right balance of spices you need to make at least this much. It keeps refrigerated for up to three weeks; use as an onion relish. The curry sauce can be made a day or two ahead.
Prep time 30 mins, cook 25 mins
Serves 6
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying 4-6 eggs, at room temperature
Seeni sambol
2 cm piece cinnamon quill
2 cloves
Seeds from 4 cardamom pods
3 tsp Maldive fish flakes (see note)
½ tsp hot chilli powder
2 tbsp ghee
400 gm (about 3) Spanish onions, thinly sliced ½ cup (loosely packed) fresh curry leaves 10 gm ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
Juice of 1 lime
Curry sauce
1 tbsp ghee
½ onion, thinly sliced
½ cup (loosely packed) fresh curry leaves 5 gm ginger, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
1 long green chilli, thickly sliced
1 tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp ground turmeric
2 cm piece cinnamon
Pinch of fenugreek seeds
400 ml coconut milk
1 For seeni sambol, finely grind cinnamon, cloves, cardamom seeds, 2 pinches of coarsely ground black pepper and a pinch of salt with a mortar and pestle. Add Maldive fish flakes and pound until they break up (a few chunkier pieces are fine), then stir in chilli. Warm a wide saucepan over medium heat, then add ghee. Once melted, add onion, curry leaves, ginger and garlic, and sauté until onion starts to soften (4-5 minutes). Add spice mix and stir until fragrant (about a minute). Stir in sugar and tamarind, then increase heat to high and cook, stirring often, until onion starts to caramelise but retains some bite
(6-8 minutes). Remove from heat, add lime juice and stand to cool. 2 For curry sauce, melt ghee in a saucepan over low heat, then add onion, curry leaves, ginger, garlic and chilli. Season well with salt and coarsely ground white pepper, and sauté until onion softens (5-6 minutes). Add spices and fry until they’re fragrant and start to stick to the bottom of the pan (5-6 minutes). Add coconut milk, stir to combine and bring to the boil, then remove from heat and blend in a high-speed blender until smooth. Keep warm.
3 Half-fill a wok with oil, ensuring wok is stable, and heat until oil starts to shimmer. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into small bowls. To see whether the oil is hot enough, drop a little eggwhite in the oil – it’s ready when the white immediately rises to the surface sizzling and browning. If the oil isn’t hot enough you won’t get the perfect crisp bits; too hot and they will darken too fast. Slide the eggs gently into the oil (cook eggs in 2 batches) and fry until they rise and start to set, then carefully spoon hot oil over eggs and cook until eggwhites are lacy, golden brown and crisp (1-2 minutes). Lift eggs from oil, drain on paper towels, then transfer to plates.
4 Cut eggs to release runny yolk. Ladle warm curry sauce over and around them and serve topped generously with seeni sambol.
Note Maldive fish flakes are available from
Sri Lankan grocers.
Wine suggestion Cloudy prosecco col fondo.
Pipis with bay leaves and gentle curry sauce
“This is a delicately spiced curry dish with lots of green flavours – bay leaves, green chilli – and a light curry powder,” says Carey. “The base has speck in it, which gives a lovely smoky note, as well as adding richness. This dish uses some of my favourite flavours from both Italy and Sri Lanka.”
Prep time 15 mins, cook 25 mins
Serves 6 (pictured p104)
1 kg pipis, soaked in cold water for 2 hours to purge them of sand
100 ml dry white wine
3 fresh bay leaves
80 gm speck, cut into 5mm dice
4 anchovy fillets
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup (loosely packed) fresh curry leaves 3 golden shallots, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 long green chillies, thinly sliced
200 ml coconut milk
200 ml chicken stock
Lime cheeks, to serve
Spice mix
1 tbsp coriander seeds 2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds
1 tsp white peppercorns 1 tsp ground turmeric 1 For spice mix, finely grind whole spices and
1 tsp sea salt flakes with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, then stir in turmeric (see note).
2 Heat a wide saucepan over high heat until hot, then tip in pipis, add wine and bay leaves and cover with a lid. Give the pan a jiggle now and then until pipis start to open (2-3 minutes). Remove lid and, working swiftly, remove pipis to a bowl as they open. Once they’re all rescued, along with the bay leaves, discard liquid, wipe out saucepan and return to heat. Add speck, anchovies and oil, and stir until anchovies dissolve (3-4 minutes). Add curry leaves, shallot, garlic and chilli, and fry until curry leaves start to crisp (3-4 minutes). Add spice mix and cook, stirring occasionally, until spices start to stick to the pan (2-3 minutes), then return pipis and give them a good stir. Add coconut milk and stock, bring to the boil, then remove from heat, taste and adjust seasoning, and serve with lime cheeks.
Note Substitute the spice mix with an unroasted Sri Lankan curry powder, available from Sri
Lankan grocers and Herbie’s Spices (herbies.com. au). You’ll need 2 tbsp.
Wine suggestion Golden bottle-aged riesling.>
Black braised brisket
“The flavours of this dish are based on a dry black curry traditionally made with wild boar,” says Carey. “The secret is in toasting the spices until they’re almost but not quite burnt. Rich with sweet spices and soured with tamarind, this is a robust, spicy and hot dish.” Serve this with cabbage mallung and rhubarb achcharu.
Prep time 20 mins, cook 3½-4 hrs (plus resting)
Serves 6
1.8 kg piece of brisket, removed from the fridge at least 20 minutes before cooking 50 ml grapeseed or vegetable oil
4 golden shallots, thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped 10 gm ginger, finely chopped
1 cup (loosely packed) fresh curry leaves 2 long red chillies, thinly sliced
1 large lemongrass stalk (white part only), coarsely chopped
120 gm ( 1/ cup) tamarind concentrate
3
Black curry spice blend
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1½ tbsp nigella seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp brown mustard seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp cardamom seeds
½ tsp cloves
2 (5cm each) cinnamon quills, coarsely broken 2½ tbsp hot chilli powder
1 nutmeg, finely grated
2 pinches of saffron threads
1 For black curry spice blend, dry-roast whole spices over medium heat until mustard seeds start to pop and spices darken and become fragrant (4-5 minutes). Remove from pan, add chilli powder to pan and toast, stirring continuously, over low heat until quite dark (2-3 minutes; this can cause coughing and watering eyes). Add chilli powder to other dry-roasted spices along with nutmeg and saffron, then finely grind in a blender or with a mortar and pestle (see note).
2 Preheat oven to 150C. Season brisket with salt, then rub with half the black curry spice blend. Heat a frying pan large enough to hold meat over high heat, add oil, give it a moment to heat up, then slip in the brisket. Give it a few minutes before turning and searing the other side until browned (2-3 minutes each side). Transfer to a deep baking dish that holds brisket snugly.
3 Add shallot, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, chilli and lemongrass to the same pan used to sear the brisket, and stir over high heat for a few minutes, then add remaining black curry spice blend; it looks like a lot, but it’s necessary. Stir until spices begin to stick to the pan (6-8 minutes), then add tamarind and 500ml water. Stir and bring to the boil, then pour mixture over brisket. Cover brisket with a sheet of baking paper then foil, and braise in oven until gelatinous (3-3½ hours). Rest in pan for 20-30 minutes.
4 Thickly slice brisket and serve with cooking juices poured over. (You may want to skim some of the fat off the top first, but I like to keep it.) Note If all that spice sourcing and roasting seems daunting, buy a black curry powder from a Sri Lankan grocer instead. You’ll need 70gm for this recipe.
Drink suggestion Super-fragrant IPA
Cabbage mallung
“Most meals in Sri Lanka are made up of an array of dishes and more often than not feature a mallung,” says Carey. “Mallung is a shredded vegetable dish that’s lightly cooked, generally without fat of any kind, with fresh coconut and any array of spices and chilli, almost like a warm salad. There is a huge range of bitter, medicinal and wild greens that you can use. This recipe is a very simple cabbage version with butter and only very gently spiced.”
Prep time 10 mins, cook 10 mins
Serves 6
30 gm butter
3 tsp brown mustard seeds
300 gm (¼ small) white or Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
75 gm (1 cup) freshly grated coconut (see note)
1 tsp ground turmeric
Lime or lemon juice, to serve
1 Heat a wide frying pan over high heat. Throw in the butter and mustard seeds and stir until seeds start to pop (1-1½ minutes). Add cabbage and coconut and stir well. Season heavily, making sure to use a good amount of pepper. After a few minutes, add turmeric and keep stirring. Check for seasoning and cook for another minute or so until the cabbage is nicely wilted, but still has a little crunch (6-8 minutes). Add juice to taste, stir to combine and serve.
Note Happily, you should be able to find frozen fresh grated coconut in Asian grocers if you don’t want to grate your own. Failing that, substitute desiccated coconut, but you’ll need to add a splash or two of water as you cook.
Rhubarb achcharu
“Achcharu is a Sri Lankan pickled vegetable mix usually made with mustard seeds, ginger and an array of vegetables,” says Carey. “This is a sweet and hot version, perfect with the brisket or any other rich meat dishes.” Start this recipe a day ahead to chill and pickle the achcharu.
Prep time 10 mins, cook 10 mins (plus chilling, pickling)
Serves 6
2 tsp brown mustard seeds
10 gm ginger, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
100 ml apple cider vinegar
100 gm white sugar
4 rhubarb stalks, trimmed, washed and cut into 7cm batons
2 tsp olive oil>
1 Heat mustard seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat until they start to pop
(40-50 seconds). Transfer to a mortar, add ginger and 1 tsp sea salt flakes and pound to a fine, dry paste. Stir in remaining spices. Bring vinegar, sugar, spice mix and 100ml water to the boil in a small saucepan, then reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened (3-4 minutes). Keep liquid at a bare simmer.
2 Meanwhile, heat a grill pan over high heat.
Toss rhubarb batons in a bowl with oil, then grill until char marks appear (3 minutes), turn and char other side. As rhubarb batons are ready, add them to the simmering liquid. When all have been added, remove saucepan from the heat. At this stage the rhubarb should still be quite firm. Cool in the liquid, then refrigerate overnight to chill and pickle (overnight). Rhubarb achcharu will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for a good week or more. Serve at room temperature.
Love cake
“Love cake is a truly delicious, rich cake with an almost fudge-like centre,” says Carey. “Fragrant with spices, it’s made with semolina and cashew nuts and undoubtedly evolved from the Portuguese influence on the island. Growing up, my nan would occasionally send us a slab, a cause for much rejoicing – hers was, obviously, the best. Nan’s recipe is a closely guarded secret that I can’t give away, but here is my version, which is nearly as good.” Start this recipe a day ahead to infuse the cashew nuts with spices.
Prep time 30 mins, cook 1 hr (plus infusing, resting)
Serves 12-16 (pictured p105)
225 gm raw cashew nuts, coarsely chopped 110 gm preserved pumpkin, finely chopped (see note)
2 tsp honey
1½ tbsp rosewater
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp almond essence
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
225 gm fine semolina
225 gm butter, diced
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
4 eggs, separated, at room temperature 5 egg yolks, at room temperature
225 gm caster sugar
1 tsp finely grated nutmeg
1 Stir cashews, preserved pumpkin, honey, rosewater, essences, cardamom and cinnamon in a bowl to combine. Cover and stand at room temperature overnight for flavours to meld.
2 Preheat oven to 180C and line an 18cm x 28cm cake tin with baking paper. Spread semolina in a large baking dish and roast in oven, stirring occasionally, until golden brown (20-25 minutes). Remove from oven, then stir in butter and lemon rind until butter melts.
3 Beat all the yolks with sugar and nutmeg in an electric mixer until thick and pale, and mixture holds a ribbon (4-6 minutes). Gently fold in cashew and semolina mixtures alternately in batches. Whisk eggwhites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold three-quarters through cake mixture. Transfer to prepared tin, then spread remaining eggwhite evenly on top with a spatula. Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out just clean (about 1 hour; start checking after 45 minutes and if it’s already quite dark, cover with foil). Let cake stand in tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. This cake can be eaten on the day it’s made, but is much better wrapped and left to age for at least a few days. It continues to get better as it ages and will last a good few weeks in a sealed container if, somehow, you don’t eat it that fast.
Note Preserved pumpkin (candied winter melon), is available in jars from Sri Lankan grocers.
Drink suggestion Sri Lankan tea.
Fresh kefir curd with kithul, roasted coconut and apple
“The flavours in this cleansing dessert combine to give a taste that’s greater than its simple parts would have you imagine,” says Carey. “Buffalo curd is everywhere in Sri Lanka and is often served as a dessert with kithul, a palm-sugar treacle. I make a yoghurt, using kefir and unhomogenised cow’s milk, that I find has a texture similar to buffalo curd. Making your own yoghurt using kefir is a process of trial and error – though relatively easy, the organic quality of the kefir grain can cause things to happen in unexpected ways. This recipe makes more than you’ll need, but the curd will keep for a good few weeks in the fridge. Feel free to substitute your favourite yoghurt instead.” Start this recipe a day ahead to make the curd.
Prep time 5 mins, cook 1½ hours (plus setting, chilling)
Serves 6
120 gm coarsely grated coconut (see note in cabbage mallung recipe p109)
2 small Granny Smith apples
Kithul syrup, to serve (see note)
Kefir curd
1 milk kefir grains (see note)
2.2 litres unhomogenised milk (see note)
1 For kefir curd, combine kefir grains and 200ml milk in a jar, then set aside at room temperature until thick and curds start to form (12-24 hours; this is called clabber). Remove and reserve grain (it can be reused to make fresh clabber). Place remaining milk in a saucepan and stir over gentle heat so it doesn’t scald at the bottom and no skin forms at the top. Heat milk to 85C (1¼-1½ hours), then keep temperature stable, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir now and again until temperature drops to 43C
(20-30 minutes), you can speed this part up by placing the saucepan into an ice bath. Once the milk is at the right temperature, add a few ladles to 100gm clabber and stir to thin and combine. Add kefir mixture to milk in saucepan and stir to combine. You’ll have about 1.6 litres. Pour milk mixture into one or two sterilised jars (see cook’s notes p177) and incubate in a warm place, ideally at 40C (I wrap my jars in a towel and place them in an oven that has a little residual heat) until set (6-8 hours). Refrigerate kefir curd to chill.
2 Preheat oven to 150C. Spread coconut over an oven tray lined with baking paper and roast, stirring occasionally, until golden brown
(10-15 minutes). Cool.
3 Divide curd among bowls. Grate apple and add to bowls, drizzle with kithul syrup, sprinkle over roasted coconut and serve with extra kithul syrup for your guests to pour over at whim.
Note Kithul syrup or treacle is extracted from the flowers of the kithul palm and is available from
Sri Lankan grocers. Kefir grains, a yeast culture, are available as water or milk kefir grains and are available online from specialist suppliers such as kefirshop.com.au. Unhomogenised milk is available from select grocers, such as Harris Farm Markets.
Drink suggestion Crisp sweet sparkling cider.