2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TROPICAL
1 cup desiccated
unsweetened coconut
3 tablespoons hot milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons paprika
2 to 3 tablespoons lime
juice or to taste
1 medium onion, minced fi ne
Continued from Page 1B
Even today, Sri Lankan
food is hard to come by
outside of New York City and
parts of New Jersey, making
the food unfamiliar to most.
That’s a shame, because as
Mohanraj’s new cookbook,
“A Feast of Serendib: Recipes
From Sri Lanka (Mascot
Books; $40), makes clear, the
cuisine’s distinctive curries,
sambols, hoppers (a type of
pancake) and vinegar-based
pickles are as vivid as they
are fl avorful.
Colonized fi rst by the Por-
tuguese and then the Dutch
and British, Sri Lanka has
been a multiethnic society for
more than 1,000 years. The
food refl ects those infl uences,
with dishes like frikkadels
(a type of Dutch meatball),
Portuguese “love cake” (made
with nuts and spices) and
brandy-infused British fruit
cake on the menu.
Sri Lankan food sometimes
is described as a mix between
Southern Indian and Thai
fl avors. Yet Mohanraj stresses
it’s defi nitely not what most
Americans are used to eating
when they go out for Indian
food. While the two nations
share many of the same
ingredients, Sri Lankan food
is usually hotter than the
creamy curries and butter
masalas that are a staple
of Northern Indian cooking.
That’s because Sri Lankan
curry powder — dark roasted
to make it more intense and
complex — is usually loaded
with chili pepper. (Mohanraj’s
recipe includes two teaspoons
of cayenne, in addition to
coriander, cumin, fennel and
fenugreek seeds.)
Instead of dairy, coconut
is the foundation, along with
chilies, lots of vegetables
and leafy greens. Given the
island nation’s location on the
Indian Ocean, seafood also
plays an important role in the
cuisine. Crab curry is a spe-
cialty, along with ambulthi-
yal, a type of sour fi sh curry.
Sri Lankan food also makes
frequent use of fresh curry
leaves, an ingredient that
can be hard to track down if
you don’t have easy access to
an Indian market. Native to
subtropical Asia, the plant
(actually a small tropical tree)
TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2020
HOME & LIVING
Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-TNS
Fresh and green, Kale Sambol is the Sri Lankan version
of vegetarian salad tabbouleh.
Reconstitute coconut in a
large bowl with the hot milk,
using your fi ngers to squeeze
the milk through the coconut.
Add salt, cayenne, paprika,
lime juice and onion. Mix
thoroughly with your hand,
rubbing ingredients together
until well blended.
Serves 8.
is virtually unknown at local
nurseries. Even if you lay
hands on a seedling, it can be
fi nicky and diffi cult to grow,
according to my editor, who
has babied a plant in a pot for
years. Thankfully, she came
to my rescue with two stems
last week when I didn’t have
time to run to the store.
An important note here:
Curry leaves are not to be
confused with the bold spice
mix known as curry. Their
fl avors are as disparate as
their colors — leaves are
green while the powder is yel-
low or yellowish-red. Neither
is a substitute for the other.
In fact, if you can’t get your
hands on fresh or dried curry
leaves (readily available on
Amazon), it’s best to leave
them out of the recipe all
together, Mohanraj says.
Learning an unfamiliar
cuisine can be overwhelming,
so when Mohanraj started
writing the cookbook in 2015,
she opted for a “hand holdy”
format geared to home cooks
like herself. Nothing’s too
fancy, most ingredients are
easily sourced and the recipes
are easy to follow, with many
including italicized notes
offering substitutions, helpful
cooking hints or playful fam-
ily remembrances.
Many of the 100-plus reci-
pes are family favorites that
she started gathering more
than 20 years ago as a college
student to put into a book as
a Christmas present for her
mother. Others came from
friends or were discovered
during years of meticulous
research and testing in her
home kitchen.
“I didn’t want to have
just the things my family
makes, but core recipes are
from within the Sri Lankan
community,” she says. They
include everything from sal-
ads, condiments and drinks to
desserts, egg and meat dishes,
and nearly two dozen curries.
The book itself was a form
of therapy. While she grew
up eating rice and curry, her
husband and two children
had more American tastes. So
the foods she learned to make
by watching her mother only
appeared on the menu once a
week. Then in 2014, she was
diagnosed with breast cancer.
After she made it through
recovery, she found herself
obsessively cooking the foods
of her homeland.
“I realized I had this huge
anxiety that my kids weren’t
eating Sri Lankan food,” she
says, “and I was worried they
would lose that connection.”
Food, after all, is an expres-
sion of cultural identity, the
great connector of people and
places.
And for everyone else?
Mohanraj hopes the cook-
book won’t just offer a taste
of some of the tastiest food
on the planet but also teach
those who aren’t familiar with
her homeland a bit about its
history and traditions.
“It’s about sharing culture,”
she says. “I hope people will
love it and bring something
new into their lives.”
Sambol, a traditional Sri
Lankan dish made with coco-
nut and onion, brings balance
and excitement to a plate by
adding sweetness, heat and a
bit of a tang. It can be used as
a condiment or topping for a
rice bowl.
In large pot, saute onions,
ginger and garlic in oil on
medium-high with mustard
seeds and cumin seeds until
onions are golden but not
brown, stirring as needed. Add
cayenne and cook 1 minute,
stirring. Immediately stir in
Proceed on Elm to Adams
and turn left to Fir where
Continued from Page 1B
you should be able to look
Return to Adams and
back toward the west and
make a left turn going down a view the upper east side of
block to Depot. Cross Adams the Bohnenkamp Building to
and walk on Depot to the
see the other two advertising
Bryan and Dumphy Block
signs, one atop the other. In
(110 Depot). As you approach this same area you can look
the alley look up to see the
across Adams and see the
J. C. Penney sign. Continue
sign at the top of the east side
on Depot to Washington and of the West-Jacobson Build-
cross the street to the Post
ing (1300 Adams) showing C.
Offi ce corner. Looking back
B. Cauthorn — Dentist.
toward Adams, high up on
This is the end of the
the side of the Bryan and
walking part of the tour. You
Dumphy Building, you will
probably have time to walk
see the Wrigley’s Spearmint back to your car and fi nish
Gum sign.
with the driving part of the
Return to Adams and cross tour before the ghosts go back
the street going just past the into hiding for the night.
alley. Look up at the side of
the Sommer Building (Corner Driving tour
Drive east on Adams to
of Adams and Depot) that
Greenwood. Turn north one
is visible above the Long
block to Jefferson. There on
Branch. You really cannot
see much. Even with a drone the corner of Jefferson and
Greenwood is the Pacifi c
picture I was not able to de-
termine what had been here. Fruit and Produce Co. Build-
ing (1501 Jefferson). Ghosts
However, there is enough to
reside on three sides of this
know that at one time there
building, so perhaps you may
was a large sign painted on
want to get out and walk
this wall and perhaps if you
around to pick up the best
are lucky you may catch a
view and lighting for each.
glimpse of this ghost.
On the Jefferson Street
Continue on Depot to Jef-
side there are Pacifi c Fruit
ferson and go one block to
Elm and turn right. Look up and Oregon Produce, one
at the back wall (on the alley) on top of the other. On the
of the Bohnenkamp Building Greenwood side there are
(Corner of Adams and Elm) to Baker Distributing and Or-
see the large advertising sign. egon Produce competing for
the same space. And be sure
to notice the happy fellow
looking down and toasting
you with his stein of Heidel-
berg Beer.
If you are truly a ghost
hunter you will then cross
the tracks and go to the rear
of the building to observe
what is hidden at the top of
that wall. As with the sign on
the Sommer Building these
ghosts are extremely timid.
Next stop is just down
Greenwood to Madison. Here
at the corner at 1501 Madison
is the ghost sign “La Grande
Construction and Supply”
on the Madison side of the
building. On the Greenwood
side of the building may be a
shortened version of the sign
on the front. It is not clear
enough to know.
It was also on Madison
where Charles Harris
engaged in a fi stfi ght that
resulted in his death. I might
add here that Avery Green
was acquitted of manslaugh-
ter because after hearing the
evidence it could not be de-
cided whether Mr. Harris had
hit his head in the fall or if his
head injury came when his
well-meaning neighbor lifted
his head to check on him and
then in her excited state let it
fall again to the sidewalk.
Go east on Madison nearly
to the end and look across
the railroad tracks and you
will see the back (north) wall
of the Erickson & Durland
Building (1517-25 Jefferson).
Coming back to Adams
go under the underpass out
Island Avenue to see the little
gray metal building (2219
Island Avenue) that played a
great part in the petroleum
history of La Grande. Since
SIGNS
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POL SAMBOL
(COCONUT RELISH)
ketchup, Worcestershire sauce,
curry powder, salt, cinnamon,
cardamom, cloves and curry
leaves.
Add beef and stir on high
for a minute or two, browning
the meat. Add milk, stirring.
Cover, turn down to medium
and let cook half an hour, stir-
ring occasionally,
Add potatoes, stir well
and cover again. Cook until
potatoes are cooked through,
adding water if needed to
maintain a nice thick sauce,
stirring occasionally. Add lime
juice; stir until well blended.
Serve hot with rice or bread
with kale sambol on the side.
Serves 6.
— “A Feast of Serendib” by
Mary Anne Mohanraj (Mascot
Books; March 2020)
— “A Feast of Serendib” by
Mary Anne Mohanraj (Mascot
Books; March 2020)
BEEF AND POTATO
CURRY
SRI LANKAN CURRY
POWDER
This curry was a favor-
ite dish when Mary Anne
Mohanraj was growing up in
Chicago. It’s on the spicy side,
but you can always water it
down by adding less curry
powder.
Yellow curry powder is
not the same as Sri Lankan
curry, which is dark roasted.
This recipe makes enough
powder for many meals.
3 to 5 medium onions,
chopped
2 tablespoons ginger,
chopped fi nely
4 to 5 garlic cloves, sliced
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon black
mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 to 2 tablespoons cayenne
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Sri Lankan curry
powder (recipe follows)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cinnamon sticks
3 cardamom pods
3 cloves
3 pounds beef stew meat,
cubed into 1-inch pieces
1 dozen curry leaves
1/2 cup milk
3 medium russet potatoes,
cut into large chunks
2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice
Kale sambol (recipe follows)
1 cup coriander seeds
1/2 cup cumin seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2-inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
2 tablespoon dried
curry leaves
2 teaspoons cayenne
In dry pan over medium
heat, roast separately the
coriander, cumin, fennel and
fenugreek, stirring constantly
until each one becomes fairly
brown. Put into blender con-
tainer (you can also use a cof-
fee or spice grinder) together
with cinnamon stick broken in
pieces, cloves, cardamom and
curry leaves.
Blend at high speed until
fi nely powdered. Sieve into
a bowl, discarding any large
pieces and combine with cay-
enne. Store in an airtight jar.
KALE SAMBOL
Even people who think
they hate kale will love this
fresh and tasty sambol. It
keeps in the fridge for a
week; simply freshen it up
with a little lime juice as
needed. You could also make
traffi c can be quite busy along
here at times, the safest and
best way to see this building
is to pull into the Mall park-
ing lot and look across Island
Avenue. Later on the way
home stop at your favorite
drive-in to treat yourself. You
have earned it. Keep looking
up! Enjoy!
it with beet or mustard
greens or chard.
1 bunch kale, leaves stripped
off and stem discarded
1 medium onion, minced
1 cup shredded
unsweetened coconut
1 to 2 cups cherry tomatoes
Juice of 2 small limes (about
2 to 3 tablespoons)
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon fi ne salt
Pulse kale in food processor
until completely shredded into
small bits. Add onion, coconut,
tomatoes, lime juice, sugar
and salt. Mix thoroughly.
KOTTU ROTI
(CHOPPED ROTI
STIR-FRY)
This simple stir-fry is a
popular street food in Sri
Lanka. As a variation, you
can add half a chopped cab-
bage along with the carrots
and beans, and reduce the
amount of roti, for a more
vegetal approach.
1 red onion, chopped
3 green chilies, chopped
1 stalk curry leaves
(about 12 leaves)
2 to 3 tablespoons
vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten with 1
teaspoon salt and 1/2
teaspoon pepper
1 cup green beans,
chopped small
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1 leek, thinly sliced (green
and white parts),
rinsed thoroughly
4 rotis (or similar fl atbreads),
chopped coarsely
1 cup leftover curry, with at
least 1/2 cup of sauce
In large pan, saute onion,
green chilies and curry leaves
in oil until lightly browned,
about 5 minutes.
Add eggs and fry, breaking
up eggs. Add green beans,
carrot and leeks, and saute
until cooked through, about 5
more minutes.
Add rotis and mix thor-
oughly. Add curry and mix
thoroughly. Serve hot.
Serves 4.
— “A Feast of Serendib” by
Mary Anne Mohanraj (Mascot
Books, March 2020, $40)
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