01x02 - Sigiriya

[bunniefuu]

PETER KURUVITA: I'm heading
out of Colombo

towards the centre of Sri Lanka -

a place they call
the cultural triangle.

About three hours
north-east of Colombo

is a bunch of roadside shops.

My dad always stopped here

when we went on
our family holidays.

This place here, in Kurunegala,
has been here for centuries,

and they make the best tea
with jaggery.

This is basically palm sugar.

And to eat this and have
a sip of the tea at the same time...

..does two things.

Firstly...

..it tastes damn good.

Secondly, the sugar gives you a rush,

which allows you to continue
the long journey on these crazy roads

to get to the beautiful spot
we're going to next.

It's not that much further
to a place often described as

the eighth wonder of the world.

This is Sigiriya,

a palace fort built 1,500 years ago
by King Kasyapa.

It's incredible to think
how they built this palace

on top of a massive rock
all those years ago.

As much as I'd love to cook
in the palace, I'm not allowed.

Sigiriya is a sacred site.

But I am allowed to cook on
the rock next door, Pidurangala.

I found an ancient recipe book
from the kings.

And it's got a great recipe
for wild fowl.

The wild fowl
has been replaced with chicken

because it's the national animal
of the country,

and I thought
I'd better not use that.

Cut the chicken through the bones.

So, basically, I've got five pieces.

I need onion, sliced.

There's a secret ingredient too,
which I'll show you in a minute,

which I have never seen before.

I've used this product.

I've put it on my skin.
I've used it as incense.

But never used it in cooking.

Now, this recipe
actually came off a palm leaf

which was transcribed
and put into a book

called 'The Food of
the Ancient Kings'.

And the fellow behind me here
loved this dish.

So, nice hot oil.

While that's heating -
I really want to get it very hot -

I'm going to cut everything else up.

So, I've also got
some lovely pandan leaves,

which I'll just tear in half,
and then half again.

A couple of big red chillies
for colour,

But red chillies are really nice
for flavour as well.

Curry leaves.

Green chillies.

It's a hot curry.

So, now, while the chatty's heating,

I'm actually going to marinate it
in all the dry spices,

'cause that gives it
a really nice taste.

And when you fry it,
it coats it in the spices.

We'll use spices again.

Firstly, chilli powder - lots of it.

Some mustard.

And black pepper.

Also some salt.

You've really got to
massage that in

and make sure that we get lots
and lots of flavour throughout it,

and it's coated really well.

Now, I've got to do one more thing.

I've got this. This is the pestle.

I've cleaned a little space.
Get really traditional here.

I've got some beautiful
fresh turmeric.

Put that there.
And also some mustard seeds.

And then, just a little bit of water.

If my grandmother saw this
she'd k*ll me.

So this little paste will come in
very handy a little bit later.

Put that there.

Now, secret ingredient.

Sandalwood -

and I'm presuming that
if I heat it enough in the sauce,

the oil will come out

and it'll give it
a beautiful fragrance,

which makes this curry
totally different.

I suggest using one of
your apprentice's knives for this.

So, got that.

Now, the oil is
finally getting ready.

Just going to slowly lower
all these bits of chicken into it

and sizzle them away.

Skin side down always.

Always good to have
your skin side down

so that the skin gets nice and crisp
before the pan gets too cold.

The chicken's now starting to get

a wonderful colour on one side.

I'm just going to let it cook
a little bit more.

It's a little bit tough.

I think that's why curries
were invented.

I'm going to put another pot on here,
move this over,

and what we'll do is start the gravy.

Cloves go really well
in meat curries.

I'm going to add
five or six of those.

Cardamom pods -

just give them a slight tap,
so that it opens the seed.

Add my special mustard paste
with the turmeric,

which is going to give it colour,
flavour.

A little bit more pepper.

The aroma's pretty good.

Maybe those ancient kings
will wake up

and come back for their feast.

OK, chicken's ready,
so now I'll transfer it.

I really like curries with bones.

All that flavour
gets trapped between the bones.

You end up with
a really finger-licking sensation

that makes you just want to
come back for more and more.

I'm going to now deglaze the pan
with a little bit of vinegar.

Just plain white vinegar...
but not too much.

Probably two tablespoons.

And the last ingredient
before we finish -

well, the second last ingredient -
is water.

I don't know when to put
the sandalwood in.

I'm going to chuck it in now.

Maybe we'll tenderise it,
and make a mistake

and think it's a piece of chicken.

And my last stage is some nice, thick
first extract of coconut cream.

What that's going to do
is just bring it together

and make it so wonderfully rich.

Bring it to the boil,
let it combine,

and then serve it.

The sandalwood added
a subtle flavour to this curry,

but it made all the difference.

This inland region of Sri Lanka
is referred to as the food bowl

because 65% of the country's vegies
are grown around here.

I'm off to meet a farming family
who live on the edge of the jungle.

These guys do it tough.

Herds of wild elephants
and gangs of monkeys

are constantly attacking their crops,

which means they have to live in
tree houses to keep watch.

And as if it isn't enough
that they live up trees,

there aren't any roads
out to their farm, either.

You have to get there by boat.

Seriously, these guys are
in the middle of nowhere.

The river's narrowed right down now.

Sort of coming into the...
what looks like the end of the lake.

I think just around the corner
is where we're going to stop

and go and have a look at
this guy's farm.

It's a bit full-on being met by
a guy with a r*fle over his shoulder.

But I'm assured that
it only fires blanks.

He uses it to scare away
the elephants and monkeys.

[BOTH SPEAK SINHALESE]

Nice to meet you.

Can we see your farm?
Yes.

It's important to note that
these guys are not k*lling animals

or destroying the jungle.

They are literally
living on the edge.

With the virgin jungle behind him,

this man has about seven or eight
vegetables that he grows, and fruits,

in a very small area.

Pretty much subsistence farming.

But do you take to market?
Yeah, market.

Dambulla Market.
To Dambulla Market, right.

[SPEAKS SINHALESE]
Yeah, monkey eat.

Monkey?

There's corn lying around.

It looks like someone's had
a dinner party here.

Looks like a human being's
eaten them.

It's all chewed, like a boy's
been in here eating it.

Come on, let's go cook.

So, that's the root there.

It's cassava in Fiji,
or manioca in Sri Lanka.

[SPEAKS SINHALESE]

And he's just saying the mice have
eaten it all on the bottom as well.

So you just battle, battle,
battle every day.

In Sri Lanka it doesn't matter who
you are, or how much money you have.

You always treat food with reverence.

And everyone is a great cook.

So it's an honour to be allowed to
cook manioca with these ladies.

The skin comes off beautifully

if you just pretty much
get underneath it,

and then you can peel it away.

Very easy.

This lady is cooking mung eta -
mung beans with the skin on.

My dad, whenever I got sick,
used to boil it up and give me a cup.

It tastes quite nice. You put a bit
of turmeric into it and boil it up.

And the curry itself is simple,
like most curries.

Just throw it on the stove,
add some turmeric, onion.

No garlic.
A little bit of curry leaves.

And then you can either
just have it like that - boiled.

Or you can temper it afterwards,

where you just fry everything
and throw it in.

This feast of long bean curry,
wing beans and a lentil curry

is, as always, built around a starch.

Usually rice or bread,
but in this case, manioca,

which I'm just boiling with turmeric.

And something that
I've just learnt as well

is not to put a lid on it,
'cause if you do,

like an apple when you cook it,
it'll just explode.

So we want to keep it whole.

But I do remember that
if you breathe too much smoke,

you'll probably get cancer,
and...

..also... [CHUCKLES]

Stay!

..that once you have cooked it,
drain all the liquid off,

and then put a lid on it.

It's like potatoes or anything,

it takes away all the moisture,
and then makes them fluff up.

So, they don't want to explode,
they want to be fluffy.

Well, I'm now hooking into
this amazing meal.

Simple but tasty.

Manioca as the starch...

..and this beautiful
snake bean curry.

A meal fit for a king.

The manioca is...

..soft, the way I like it,

quite silky in texture...

..and has a really
earthy, beautiful flavour

which will go with
all the rest of it.

It's funny, isn't it?
These guys have so little.

No car, no electricity, no TV.

But in a way I envy them.

It really is beautiful out here.

This is Lake Habarana -



full of fish.

Well, so they tell me.

So, by doing this, what I'm doing is
scaring all the fish into a net.

Then, hopefully, there's going to be
lots of them in there for lunch.

Apparently we've just pushed one
into the net, so...

..there's the entree.

Got one.

Oh, there's another one.

And a big one.

A black fish.

So, Susanta, you like
working here on the lake?

Yes, I really do.
That's what I think too.

It's leaning against the tree.

[CHUCKLES]

It's a really traditional way
of fishing.

And unique. I've never seen anyone
beat up the water before.

[CHUCKLES]

It's a good job.

A good way to take out your
frustrations sometimes too, I think.

I usually prefer saltwater fish,

but I'm told the black fish
from Lake Habarana

is similar to barramundi.

I'm going to cook a classic
Sri Lankan dish in my own way.

It's called ambul thial.

So, I've got to fillet it
and make a stock,

because I'm going to make a sauce
to go with this dish.

Look at the flesh -
beautiful, white flesh.

There's a good way to tell fresh
fish. See how it's all nice and pink.

All the blood's nice and pink
and not dark.

That means it's very, very fresh.

The way to take skin off a fish
is by moving the skin, not the knife.

You just drag the skin along
the edge of the knife

and it should come off
in one whole piece.

Let's see. Not bad.

Got to make this look good.

So, to do that,

I'm going to cut
a little bit off there,

a little bit there.

Then fold it over so that you have
a really nice, solid sort of fillet

which will look good on the plate.

Now, with this,
I'm going to make a stock out of it.

So, all the gills have been removed.

Because I'm making a stock
for an Asian-inspired dish,

I'm not going to put the usual
carrots and celery into it.

But I've got curry leaves,
red onions,

garlic, which I've just cut in half.

I don't want to crush it through.
I just want to give a bit of flavour.

A piece of ginger, sliced in half.

And that's pretty much it.

Fill it...

..till the fish is nearly covered -
about two litres of water -

and turn it on.

This is the fun part.
This is the ambul thial paste.

And there's a lot of grinding
and hard work involved.

One of the great ingredients -

this is a real Sri Lankan ingredient,
and very, very special.

It's called goraka.

And I hope this elephant
doesn't like goraka.

Looks a little bit like
a very bad mandarin.

And when it dries out
it becomes this black goraka.

Now this is a souring agent,
a tenderising agent,

and very good for lots of ailments
in the Ayurvedic world.

I'm just going to use
a nice ball of that.

I've already got some crushed up,
because if you only have it whole,

you need to soak it in warm water
and grind it.

Cardamoms.

Coriander powder.

Cumin powder.

Chilli powder.

A lot of that.

Roasted curry powder,

which is a wonderful combination
of spices all roasted up.

A little bit of salt to start.

Lots of black pepper. This dish is
all about black pepper as well.

Fresh curry leaves.

Whole chillies. Green chillies again.

Beautiful garlic.

And a little bit of cinnamon.

And now comes the fun part -
making a paste.

Add a little bit of water.

I remember my grandmother
had this motion.

It was like...

Something like that.

Practice, practice, practice.

Alright.

Now, this would maybe be enough

if you were doing this
the traditional way.

But I'm actually making this
as a paste

that I'm going to brush
on top of the fish,

so I want it really nice and smooth.

Hello, elephant.

There's no-one with him. Help me!

They're beautiful creatures.
Absolutely beautiful.

Now, I've got this into
a really nice paste

because I'm going to use it
as a sauce on the top,

so it's got to be nice and smooth.

We're going to
start cooking the gravy.

The ghee is getting nice and hot,

and my combination of spices
is going in.

Now, when you start to see the onions
lose their colour, go see-through,

that's when it's time
to add the spices.

Chilli powder.

Coriander.

Cumin.

Just a bit of black pepper,
again for heat and flavour.

Now this goraka paste
that I've talked about.

This is going to make it...

Every time I talk about this,
or think about it, my mouth waters.

This is going to make it sour
and give it a really nice flavour,

and also thicken it a bit.

And uluhal, or fenugreek.

I'm going to strain
all that beautiful stock into it.

And I'm going to strain this.

The sun's coming out
for the end of the dish - perfect.

A little bit of salt.

So, again, all those flavours,

I've made use of all the flavours
from those ingredients.

And that's really all I want.

Tap it through.

And now I have to treat
my goraka paste.

So I'm taking
a spoonful of the fish gravy

and I'm going to make this paste
a little bit more pliable.

Pan's nice and hot.

Just some oil.

I never season my fish.
I always season the pan.

So, just a little bit of salt
in the pan.

Now...

When it's got a nice colour
on it, flip it over.

It's golden brown.

That's another great testament
to fresh fish.

Now the paste.

So I'm brushing the ambul thial paste
on top of the fish.

To stop the frying,
add some of this gravy.

And put it into my oven.

Depending on the size of the fish,

probably should take
three to five minutes to cook.

You serve it with red country rice,
raita and pol sambal.

Sauced ambul thial
from this beautiful Lake Habarana.

Not everyone around here
can afford a boat,

so they go fishing on the lake
in inner tubes.

Which means, of course,
I have to give it a shot.

Sri Lanka - don't you love it?

Next time on My Sri Lanka

I head into
the legendary spice fields.

I just close my eyes, reach around.

Pepper - how lucky for me?

I visit the old capital, Kandy.

And experience Sri Lanka's
most sacred temple.

As long as you keep thinking about
somebody, they never die.