Fish Cutlets (Sri Lankan Style)

This is very popular and tasty, party food as well as a one of the popular short-eats in Sri Lanka. No matter whether it's a lunch, a tea or dinner party at home or a special occasion in a hotel it's very common to serve cutlets with other main dishes. There are so many different kinds of cutlets, but today I made fish cutlets. I thought to share it with you all because I'm sure there are plenty of people who really wants to try this at home & it's not hard at all to make some tasty cutlets by your own. So try it by yourself and taste it. Hope you will like this, just like most of Sri Lankans loves it. Good luck with the recipe.



INGREDIENTS:
For The Cutlets:
150g canned tuna fish (any fish you like)
150g potatoes – boiled & mashed
1/2onion – finely chopped
4 -5 garlic cloves – finely chopped
1 x 5cm ginger – finely chopped
2 green chilies – finely chopped
4 -5 curry leaves (I didn’t have it)
½ of a lime or lemon
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon Sri Lankan raw curry powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon paprika powder
1 – 1½ tablespoons black pepper powder
3 tablespoons oil
Salt to taste
For Deep Frying:
Flour & 1 – 2 cups water OR 2 eggs – Well beaten
3 cups of bread crumbs
Oil to fry

DIRECTIONS:
Making The Cutlets:
Heat a pan with oil in medium heat.
Then add chopped garlic & ginger. Fry it for nearly 1minute.
Add the onions and fry it till it’s gets light brown.
Now you can add fish or salmon into the pan and & mix it well. Let it cook for nearly 6 - 8 minutes.
Put the heat on law heat and add chili powder, turmeric, pepper & salt, mix the mixture well.
Reduce the heat to low and add mashed potatoes. Mix it well with the fish mixture.
Add lime juice & also taste for salt.
Let it cool nearly 1 hour and now you have make the cutlets to any shape you like. Grab a small handful and slowly form into ball.
Making the Batter OR use the beaten egg:
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, water & pinch of salt together. If you like add pinch of turmeric into the batter.
Deep Frying:
Heat the oil in a large frying pan in medium heat.
When the oil is ready, one by one dip the cutlets in flour batter OR in the beaten eggs and, coated it with bread crumbs well. And deep fry the cutlets till you get a nice golden brown.
Drain the excess oil in kitchen tissues.

SERVING:
Mainly you can eat with any kind of rice, bread & also with string hoppers (Indiappa). But if you like of cause you can eat lentils curry with roti, parata or anything you like most :-).

NOTES:
1. The most important part when you are forming the cutlet ball, to make sure you don't have any cracks on your cutlet ball. If you have a crack then the cutlet will burst & open when it´s frying.
2. If you don´t like to use the flour batter, you can use the beaten egg for egg washing.
3. If the whole cutlet is not in the oil, make sure you put the oil on the top of the cutlets with a spoon & also remember to turn the sides. If not cutlet will burst from the side which is above the oil.

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Egg Rolls (Sri Lanka Style)

This is a very popular & also very tasty short-eat in Sri Lanka. One of my favorite snack when I was in Sri Lanka, That´s why I really wanted to make it by myself & I did it. And also I got so many requests for this recipe. So I thought to share it with you all because I sure know there will be plenty of people just like me who love egg rolls & missed it a lot. So try it by yourself & taste it. Hope you will like this, just like my family & friends loved it. Good luck with the recipe.




INGREDIENTS:
For The Pan Cakes:
2 cups flour
1 egg - (Optional)
1 cup coconut milk – (optional)
Pinch of salt
2 cups cold water

For The Filling:
6 hard boiled eggs – cut into half
Seeni sambola

For Deep Frying:
3 cups of bread crumbs
1- 2 eggs – beaten
Oil to fry

DIRECTIONS:

Making The Pancake Batter:
In a medium bowl, mix the flour & salt together. Then add the egg and 1 cup coconut milk & 1 cup water. Mix it well, if the batter is very thick add little bit water at a time, mix it well and check whether batter is in right consistency for pancakes. (It should be smooth, thin batter, but not like water. )

Making Eggs Rolls:
Heat a small frying pan and little bit of oil with a clean cloth on the pan. When it´s ready pour a large spoon full pancake batter on the pan and cover it. After 5 minutes take the cooked pancake out from the frying pan.
Keep it on a board, fill it with a full tablespoon of Seeni Sambola & on top of seeni sambola place half of an egg. (Place the Seeni Sambola on the middle of the pancake.) It´s very important to fold the roll during the pancake is hot.
Fold the two opposite sides into the middle, and from the bottom of the pan cake fold it nicely & tightly. Finely you’ll get a nice square shaped roll.

Deep Frying:
Heat the oil in a large frying pan in medium heat.
When the oil is ready, one by one dip the rolls in beaten eggs (egg wash the rolls) and, coated it with bread crumbs well. And deep fry the rolls till you get nice golden brown.
Drain it on a paper or kitchen tissues.

SERVING:
Egg rolls are ideal for tea parties, evening snack & also as a breakfast (With buttered bread).
When you are serving Egg rolls, try to serve it warm, with some ketchup or your favorite sauce.

NOTE:
1. If you don´t use coconut milk, just add 1 - 1 1/2cups water into the pancake batter.
2. I use cold water, because the batter will be very smooth & no lumps at all :-).
3. If you don’t like Seeni Sambola, you can use any filling you like with eggs. (Once I tried with potato filling, but my family didn´t like it very much.)
4. If you don’t like to egg wash the rolls, use the same batter which you used to make pancakes. But batter should be little bit thin. (Add ¼ cup water extra). But crust of the roll will be little bit hard than normal rolls.

ENJOY!!!

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Ala Kiri Hodi (White Potato Curry)

This is a very famous dish in Sri Lanka in both occasions and day to day meals. This curry is a spicy less dish for everyone & also a very easy & tasty dish. If you are a vegetarian this is a very good dish for you all.Try the recipe with yourself, hope you like it much. Good luck with the recipe.



INGREDIENTS:
250g potatoes – boiled & cut into chunks
½ onion – sliced
4 cloves garlic – sliced
4 green chilies – cut into small pieces
5 -6 curry leaves
½ teaspoon fenugreek (Uluhal)
2 cups coconut milk - little bit thick (mitikiri)
¼ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon Sri Lankan raw curry power
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Place the coconut milk, onion, garlic, green chilies, curry leaves, fenugreek, all the spices & salt in a medium size sauce pan and mix it all well.
Heat the solve on medium heat and place the saucepan on heat for nearly 10 – 15 minutes OR until the curry is boiling. (Continuously stir the curry, if not it will curdle.)
When you see the bubbles on the bottom of the saucepan, add boiled potato chunks in to the curry, and let it be on medium heat for another 5 minutes.
Taste for salt.

SERVING:
Mainly you can eat with any kind of rice, bread & also with string hoppers (Indiappa). But if you like of cause you can eat lentils curry with roti, parata or anything you like most :-).

NOTES:
1. If you like you can mix a small piece of cinnamon into the curry.
2. And also if you like you can add 1 – 2 tablespoons Maldives fish into the curry. (NONVEGITERIANS ONLY)
3. Always stir the curry, if not the curry will curdle, and you won´t get the real taste at all.
4. If you think the curry is too think just add small amount of water. (But potato white curry is tasty when you taste the creaminess of the curry :-))
5. If you like, you can sprinkle little bit of Sri Lankan roasted curry powder on the top of the curry. (Before or after transfer the curry into a serving dish.)

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Lamb / Mutton Curry

First of all I have good news….. I got a new cooker & this is the first video I´m going to make after I got my new cooker :-)
Today I´m going to do a Lamb Curry in Sri Lankan style. There is some confusion about Lamb & Mutton. Asian countries like Sri Lanka, India we call Mutton for Goat’s meat, But most of other countries call “Lamb” for both Goat and Sheep meat. Today I’m using Sheep’s meat. So you can make both meats according to below instructions.
Also I have to tell you this is very spicy, so if you don’t like too much spicy, just reduce the amount of Chili power & Pepper power you are adding. Hope you all like this.
OK Then, here we go….. Good luck with the recipe.



INGREDIENTS:
250g Lamb – cut into small chunks
1/2 onion – sliced
4 - 5 garlic cloves – sliced
Small piece of ginger – chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons roasted chili powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 ½ teaspoons black pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon Sri Lankan raw curry powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric
4 - 5 green chilies – cut into small pieces
5 - 6 curry leaves
1 x 2.5cm cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods - split
4 cloves – crushed
½ teaspoon vinegar
4 - 5 tablespoons oil
½ cup coconut milk
1 cup water
2 – 3 tablespoons oil
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium size bowl, mix chili powder, roasted chili powder, black pepper powder, Sri Lankan raw curry powder, turmeric & salt with lamb pieces and keep it aside.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan in medium heat.
When oil is hot add garlic & ginger, fry it for 1- 2 minutes, and then add curry leaves & Also clove, cardamom & cinnamon, mix well.
Then add onions and fry nearly 5 – 6 minutes OR until its get slightly light brown.
Now add green chilies.
And also if you like you can add, little bit of turmeric & ½ teaspoon chili power into the onion mixture just to get a nice colour.
Add the marinated lamb chunks and mix it well with the onion mixture. Fry it for nearly 5 - 6 minutes.(Optional)
If you want, add little bit of oil, especially if you peel off the fat from the meat.
Now add water, stir the curry and keep the curry on medium heat for nearly 15 minutes. When the curry is boiling OR when the water level is ½ way down, you can add coconut milk and keep it on heat for another 15minutes.
Off the heat & taste for salt.
To get an oil layer on the top of the curry, just keep the curry aside for nearly 5- 10 minutes to cool. (Optional)

SERVING:
You can serve this with any kind of rice, bread, roti, or string hoppers and also what you like most.

NOTES:
1. I used vinegar as a Meat tenderizer. If you can’t find vinegar, you can use Gambooge (Goraka) also.
2. If you don’t like the lamb fat, just peel it off, when you cut the meat.
3. When you add onions, add little bit (nearly ¼ teaspoon) salt also.
4. When you are frying garlic, ginger & also Onions, don’t let it burn. Always stir the mixture, so burning chances will be less.
5. If you don’t like to fry the meat, you can add water at that stage.
6. You can add water & coconut milk together if you like. (Sometimes I’m doing that way also)
7. If you don’t like to use coconut milk, of cause you can make this with just water only.
8. If you want thick gravy, just keep the curry on heat for some more time.

ENJOY!!!

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