Cyclon Parotha ! From Sri Lanka with love

There was this small restaurant in Brigade road, very famous for its ‘Ceylon’ Parotta – and then there was this joke about the Ceylon parotta among our common friends, that one of them when saw the menu card got curious seeing Ceylon Parotta in the Menu card and order loudly – two Cyclon Parothas!! :) It was in this restaurant I came to know that Ceylon Parotta is actually from Sri Lanka. Am not sure if that small but always full, very reasonable priced (Read cheap) restaurant is still there on Brigade road, but thanks to this place I got introduced to Sri Lankan food. Later I came to know that Appam is again one of the common food Keralites and Sri Lankans share.

Years later I got to see Chef ‘Peter Kuruvita’s’ Srilankan food series on television and it got me interested – so similar to Kerala cuisine but still so typical Sri Lankan – so simple and dishes made of things readily available in and around the house that I started following Peter Kuruvita’s shows. So when I got opportunity recently to taste the flavours of Sri Lanka at Hilton Garden Inn, Trivandrum - I just could not miss it :)

So let me get into the details of the lovely food I got to taste in Hilton Garden Inn - Trivandrum -sauted and fruit salad was more or less the usual basic salad preparation. Along with salad I also picked up some of the Sambols and pickles which Sri Lanka is famous for. Sambol is traditional Sri Lankan dish made from coconut. Again it is very similar to coconut ‘Chamandi’ in Kerala and in both the places this is used as an accompaniment with rice. We had Dried Shrimp, Chicken Sambol and I picked up Dates and Mango pickle – absolutely tongue tangling and a great appetiser/teaser to make you try out more Sri Lankan dishes :)

Starters, Salad, Soup, Main Course, Dessert. For starters, we had Fish Cake with Mint Chutney and Wraps with non-veg filling (Beef mince, chicken mince, Egg) Beef Wrap was spicy, hot crispy and there was this sweetish chutney to balance the spices if one needed. The fish cake was very plain, simple and light. In salad section we had Cabbage salad which looked very much like ‘Cabbage Thoran’ we get in Kerala only difference - it was perfectly cooked without losing the crunchiness of the cabbage. Carrot salad slightly

Sri Lankan cooking uses a lot of coconut milk as the ingredient and most of the dishes which we had for the Main course had coconut milk and for me, it was comfort food so light and full of flavour. Yellow rice – the Lovely smell and flavor of cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric and coconut milk , White fish curry – Mahima fish – again coconut milk, turmeric , pepper – basic species but so full of flavor, Tapioca curry - very much like Kerala Kappa preparation (which is usually dry) with coconut milk for gravy/curry – Tapioca was well cooked and gravy was perfect , I could have never imagine Tapioca curry and this dish is something I am def going to try at home and Chicken Stew lot of
pepper and coconut milk – just like the Chicken stew you would get in Kerala with Appams, Cashew Green pea curry –a bit sweetish the sweetness was that of the fresh green peas and cashew and thick coconut milk vegetables . Had Cashew Pea curry with roti which turned out to be a good combination, guess it should be ‘must have dish’ on a festive table - as it a had thick rich gravy just like the way we get in Paneer butter masala! Mutton Baticalao curry was the only dish was little spicy and dark in colour and had coconut milk as one of the ingredients :) All these dishes though have few main common ingredients had very distinct taste and flavor. Yellow Rice and Mutton curry were my favourite combination :)I think only 1 item which did not have any coconut it - Tampered Beans!

After all these distinct and brilliant play of flavours – I had to try the dessert section which had Ceylon Cardamom Pista Cake, Vattalappam, Bebinca, Bibikkan, Banana Caramel Cake are some of the sweets that make up the dessert corner. Bebinca again is very similar to what we get in Goa, just that this one had a bit of saltiness in it Cardamom Pista cake and Vattalappam got my taste buds wanting for more :)

Ah! had wonderful time trying out Sri Lankan Cusine and to settle down after this festive eating we were offered Dilmah Black Tea – with Ginger and Fennel seeds. Two and a half hours of indulgence in eating – finally my normality was restored by a cup of tea!