01x05 - Hambantota

[bunniefuu]

I'm on my way to a really special
part of Sri Lanka.

This is Kataragama,

a spiritual centre
where Sri Lankans come to worship

and make wishes by smashing coconuts.

Last time I was here, I made a wish
that one day I would return.

Well, today, I'm giving thanks
for making that wish come true.

As pilgrims pass through this area,

there's things that
they have to pick up.

In this colourful store,

one thing is vital
and that's kalu dodol.

Hello. How are you?

These...

..bits of jelly, with cashews
and spices and everything in them,

are a must on your way to Kataragama.

Can I try this one?

Tastes so good.

Chewy, flavoursome and a little
bit oily, but that's alright.

Can I try, please?

Sri Lankan kalu dodol
is considered so important

that professional kalu dodol cooks
are called into people's homes

during ceremonies
and important events.

It's a very particular skill.

So, we have got

sugar that's been taken
beyond dark caramel.

It's actually nearly burnt,

but he's just saved it
in the nick of time.

Coconut cream, sugar and rice flour.

And now, the process begins.

And this thing has to set like jelly.

It can't be too hard,
it can't be too soft,

and it's very expensive to make.

What's happening now is
it's really starting to congeal

and the rice flour's
starting to cook through it.

A few more things need to be added.

Next is semolina,

and then some cashew nuts,
which I'm breaking in half -

exactly half, I've been told -

and, also, some cardamom pods, and
that'll add a really nice flavour.

It's actually thickened up
so much now

that it's becoming
quite hard to stir.

But I'm sure there's a technique
that makes it a bit easier.

Cooking should be about this -

it should be about
people getting together

and having a little bit of time

to spend with each other and talk.

It's been about an hour

and the whole, uh,
consistency has changed.

There's a shine coming out of it.

It means that the coconut oil
is breaking free of the coconut milk.

Next, sago.

The sago will be a thickener

but it's also...it sort of adds
a bit of gelatinous...

..texture to it as well.

I just got a waft of it then -

cardamom, coconut oil
and the sweetness of the sugar.

So, now, it's pretty much finished.

It's got to go into the tray.
The oil is coming out of it.

It's like a...jelly.

Its really, really firm.
The sago's sort of set it.

Now they'll pat it down
so that it ends up nice and smooth

and has a beautiful,
glossy finish on it.

Oh, can I lick the spoon?

That's a spoon to lick.

That's gonna be...

..really, really hot.

It's still crackling.
I can hear it crackling.

But I'm gonna try some.

Hoo!

Mmm.

Beat that one, kids.

It's sweet,

the sago's crunchy

and the cardamom through it
is perfect.

Well done, Chef! Yeah!

Another dish that is
uniquely Sri Lankan is the hopper.

Now, you may remember that I
attempted to cook hoppers in Kandy.

Nah.

Don't laugh.

Hey!

That's a shocker.

But I didn't have much success.

Aaagh!

Well, today, I've enlisted
the help of an expert.

OK, I'm in this lovely lady's house,

who has allowed us
to come into her kitchen,

which reminds me very much of
the kitchen that my grandmother had,

all the way down to a little stool

that I used to sit in
and watch these ladies work.

Big grinding stone,
big, black, open fireplace.

With this lady's help,
I'm gonna make hoppers.

And the recipe is quite interesting.

It includes bread.

This is kind of like the yeast -
the dough, the starter.

Now, the next stage - and these
are all things that are available -

coconut.

The coconut water itself
will react with the bread

to set it off.

Now, you keep all the water

Later, we'll put the milk in as well.
So, you can use the whole coconut.

Now, the idea is
that you just bust this up

and just stir it around.

Ah! [SPEAKS SINHALESE]

She's gone and got me
a special piece of cloth

so that I can make this hopper pan
perfectly cured.

Now, we'll do that later.

But this is Mrs Amarasakara, and she
has kindly lent us her house,

and her beautiful black kitchen.

Mix the flour.

So, I've got this
really thick batter, like that.

Like that? Yeah?

The other thing that you need with
this is time - about six hours -

so it's a good thing to make
before you go to work

and, hopefully, have it
in your house, nice and, uh...

Turn the heater on or something,
if you're in a cold climate,

and try and get the humidity out

because the humidity is what's gonna
really make this thing react.

It's as simple as that, really.

But as I wouldn't want to keep
this lady waiting for six hours,

early this morning,
I prepared a batch.

So, what you do on that last stage

is then, to this thick batter, now,

that has pretty much doubled in size,

add coconut milk to make yourself
a pancake-style batter.

She wants to have a look.

[SPEAKS SINHALESE]

Stir it more.

It's always good to have
the old hands, you know.

These are the things
that can't be written.

They have to be shown.

Right, so, what we're after -

thick pancake batter,
or even closer to a waffle batter.

[BOTH SPEAK SINHALESE]

Little bit of salt.

Always salt, here, actually.

[BOTH SPEAK SINHALESE]

[CHUCKLES] Lots of salt.

OK. So, it's ready to cook.
That's pretty much it.

The pan should be nice and hot,
but not too hot.

And then, you need to ladle...

[font color = #008000][LOUD SIZZLING]

..a good amount into the centre,

and then swirl it around the pan

so that it coats...

It's like making a pancake,
except in a wok.

..so that it coats the whole pan

and leaves just a little bit
in the centre.

And now, put on the lid.

Fingers crossed. [LAUGHS]

She thinks I'm mad.

She's so nice.

She says I remind her of
her second son

and I was telling her
she reminds of my grandmother,

and now she's teaching me
Sri Lanka's biggest secret, so...

I feel very lucky.

You know, it's been a search for
over 20 years, for this recipe,

and I've finally got it -
I'm very, very happy.

I'm happy with the flavour.
I know it's gonna go crisp.

So, after numerous attempts,
black fingers,

burnt hands
and a very watchful teacher,

I've learnt a few things.

Bash the pan before you pull it out.

Make sure you've got
a really nice, crisp hopper.

The idea is that you end up with

something like this.

Should be nice and brown,

should sit up like a beautiful cup,

and into this cup, you can add curry,

you can have an egg,

you can have many other things.

[SPEAKS SINHALESE]

Thank you so much for all your help.

This is a lovely, lovely lady.

There are so many reasons
to visit Sri Lanka's south coast -

friendly locals, pristine beaches

and waves to spare.

And best of all, great seafood.

The little boats come in,

drop all their wares off,

and these guys have a never-ending
supply of fish, normally twice a day.

If you want prawns,
you've gotta come in the morning.

There's some great fresh tiger prawns

and, also, these crabs.

It's like a blue swimmer crab.

It's so exciting.
I can't wait to get into it.

It's really hot
but I don't really care.

I've got the breeze in my back,

the sun, and the sea over this side,

and some beautiful fish
I picked up at the markets.

I'm gonna do mahi mahi,
cooked simply,

served with a fish curry sauce
from a traditional recipe,

with prawn and kumara rolls
and a few condiments.

So, I'm gonna get started with
these beautiful sweet potatoes,

also known as 'batala'.

Put them all into a pot,

with water,
and bring them to the boil.

The next stage of this
is cooking pancakes.

Farm fresh eggs - four of those,

some milk...

It's really important
to whisk the eggs up well,

infuse all the milk into it,

and then, just add your flour,
little by little.

I'm also gonna just put
a little spoonful of oil into it.

Vegetable oil is perfect because, um,

it just assists with the elasticity
of the, um...of the pancake itself.

And whisk and whisk...

A little bit more flour.

OK, that consistency is perfect now.

Show you what I mean.

Nice line all the way through it.

So, I'm gonna put that aside,
and that just needs to rest.

Covered and rested.

OK, next stage is now to prepare

the actual spice mix
that goes with the rolls.

I've got a little bit of ginger...

..some garlic, beautiful garlic...

..and, also, a red onion.

Now some curry leaves...

..and a couple of green chillies,

which add a really nice flavour.

And then, I'm going to be...

..frying it all off.

Now what I'm gonna do,

I'm just gonna
roughly chop the prawns

so that when you eat these rolls,

you're actually gonna get
a really nice flavour of prawn

and, also, the texture of prawn.

My pan's nice and hot,
my chatti's smoking,

and I'm gonna start
cooking this paste now.

So, just add all of
your ingredients in. Nice sizzle.

You want to cook them till
they're translucent, the onions,

so that they do dissolve,

but also with a little bit of, uh,
texture left in them as well.

I'm gonna add my spices now,
starting with fenugreek.

Make sure you don't burn it 'cause if
you burn fenugreek, it gets bitter,

makes the whole dish bitter.

Fennel seeds are really tasty

and go quite well with fish,

and you see them a lot
with fish curries.

Chilli powder.
Chilli powder's up to you.

One hint about chilli powder is use
the same chilli powder all the time.

This is roast cumin powder...

..and this is coriander powder.

Coriander powder and fish
go really well together as well.

And, of course, salt,

which I bought at the markets

right near the salt mines
in Hambantota.

OK, now, adding the prawns,

and I'm just gonna
half-cook the prawns

because this...this roll

will go through another process.

The next thing I do,

have that sweet potato
ready to go now

because my mix
is about to go together.

The sweet potato's cooked perfectly.

The way you can tell is that it's...

..firm when you push it,
but it crushes.

It's important that it's like that

so that the texture stays
when you crush it up.

And I'm just gonna
break it into pieces

and when I add
everything else to it,

I'll crush it a little bit more.

It just breaks apart really nicely.

A lime...

..which, again,
make sure there's no seeds.

Squeezed into the sweet potato.

My mix is ready
and I'm just gonna add it

into the sweet potatoes.

Now's the time when
I'll crush it a bit more

so that it all gets combined nicely

and that the prawns are spread
through the mixture.

This is gonna be my roll mixer.

I'll taste it in a second.

You've just got to make sure
the flavours are nicely balanced

so that it's not too hot
or not too spicy.

But it looks good to me.

Tasting's always the fun part.

Mmm. That's good.

So, that now gets put away

and we start to make our pancakes.

And it's important to have
the pan nice and hot.

Hot means a quick pancake.
It gets good colour on it.

But it's important, also,
not to overcook the pancake

'cause if you do, it'll end up
really hard and brittle -

you won't be able to roll it.

And let it cook gently there.

Alright, so, now,
I'm gonna try and toss it.

Ooh... [LAUGHS]

The wind! The wind!

Alright, try again.
That was a good one.

See, next time,
I'll try and get it on the camera.

But you know what?
The first one is never good, anyway.

You always throw
the first pancake away

'cause that's the one that
cleans the pan, so...there you go.

Flying pancakes.

Alright, at last,
the pancakes are ready.

Get some of the mixture,
which, by now, is nice and cool,

making sure you get a little bit
of prawn, of everything else,

make a nice little parcel

and roll it.

Making sure that
the ends are folded over

before you get to the rolling stage.

That will ensure
that it holds together.

OK.

And now, I'm going to crumb them -

firstly in flour...

..then in eggwash...

..then in breadcrumbs.

OK.

I'm gonna now cook and fry
at the same time.

And I'm going to season my pan with
salt, rather than season the fish.

Salt's a good conductor of heat.

Now, gently placing the rolls
in about half a litre of oil.

In the meantime, my pan for the fish
is getting really hot.

So, presentation side down first,

putting the piece of fish
away from you as you put it in.

Right, I've got some rice,

my tomato salsa.

I've got a nice mango chutney

but I'm actually gonna use it as a...

..as a marker on the plate,

rather than serve it up.

Now, getting my roll
and I cut the ends off.

The ends are quite thick
and had lots of pancake on it.

I want those off, and cut them
on an angle so that they stand up.

Now, the fish is just translucent on
the inside. That's how I like it.

And then my rolls -

serve it on the side.

The curry sauce
is the last stage of this dish.

And my suggestion would be
that when that comes to the table,

you just pour it over the top,

like so.

Sri Lankan food
is wonderfully diverse,

but you don't find much beef here,

which is surprising
because, all over the country,

there are loads of buffalo herds.

The reason Sri Lankans
don't eat their buffalo

is that they are used for dairy.

Buffalo milk has half the cholesterol

but twice the calcium
and fat of Friesian cows,

so it makes the most incredible curd,
if you can get it.

[BEEPS HORN] Ooh!

[SPEAKS SINHALESE]

Haven't really walked into
a herd of buffalo before,

so, uh, it should be
quite interesting.

Don't really know
what their temperament's like.

But I'm gonna have a go at
milking them

because I love the curd
so much that, uh..

Take my shoes off. Get right into it.

Have a look at this stuff.

They say it's good for the toes.

Bit smelly.

They're beautiful animals, though.

The way they look at you,
it's just like, "Hmm."

OK, let's go.

Maybe I should have worn
my steel-cap boots.

[LAUGHS]

I don't need the milk that much.

OK.

OK. [SPEAKS SINHALESE]

Yeah, baby. Ohh!

[LAUGHS] Nah.

She doesn't like me much.

It's alright.

Try the...

Mmmmmm...

No.

[LAUGHS]

Um, yeah, that's the beginning of
buffalo curd.

Um, we'll go and see how
the rest of it's made.

And I've had an experience
with these beautiful creatures.

Yeah. Anyway, see you, guys.

[font color = #008000][BUFFALO BELLOWS]

Stage two of making the curd.

Now, what's happening here

is that this pot

has to come to the boil.

So, the idea, now, is to stir it

so that it basically forms
a bit of a circular motion,

making sure that all the milk
at the bottom doesn't stick and burn.

So, after the milk boils,

it's poured into all these pots.

See the way he's sort of
lifting it right up?

What that's gonna do is set that
beautiful thick crust on it as well.

So, first test?

Turn it upside down.
Make sure it doesn't fall out.

And then, when you serve it
to yourself or someone else,

make sure you get a nice
piece of crust with it as well.

Some palm treacle - lots of it.

Taste time.

It is Sri Lanka's dessert.

The acid from the curd
just comes through so beautifully,

and what cuts it
is this beautiful treacle.

It's a little bit fermented,

so it's got a sweetness, but also
a slight sort of fizz to it.

It just makes the perfect dessert.
I love it.

[STARTS ENGINE]

And now for something that I've been
excited about for ages.

I'm taking all this treacle and curd

to a group of kids
that I can't wait for you to meet.

This is the Maha Ara Buddhist school.

Many of these kids lost their parents
in the Boxing Day tsunami.

A lot of you donated money
through my restaurant.

And together with the MJF Foundation,

we all built this school hall.

[font color = #008000][DRUMMING]

I really didn't know
what to expect when I arrived.

Then the kids put on a show that
they had been rehearsing for weeks.

[font color = #008000][APPLAUSE]

OK, time for treats.

These gorgeous, happy kids
have very basic lives.

Some of them are so poor

that a treat like curd and treacle

only happens once,
or maybe twice, a year.

Let them eat.

Start eating!

OK! Yes.

ALL: Thank you very much, sir!

Pleasure.

Everybody was waiting until
somebody said they can eat

ands this school doesn't get many...
doesn't get many visitors at all.

It's always heart-warming
to come back here

and, uh, see how
these kids are going,

see how the school's going

and, uh, just give a little bit.

It's not much and it's easy to do

and...it feels good.

Good?

You can see
what an enormous difference

a small amount of charity makes.

Our donation of $20,000

built that school hall.

And a visit with treats has given me

one of the best days of my life.

Next time on My Sri Lanka, surf's up.

I cook the ultimate Sri Lankan
seafood barbecue...

Absolutely perfect.

..and try something
I've always dreamed of.

[LAUGHS]