01x03 - Kandy

[bunniefuu]

I'm leaving the beautiful
Lake Habarana and Sigiriya region

and heading south
towards the famous city of Kandy.

[BEEPS HORN]

On the way,
I'm stopping off near Matale.

This area is best known
for its spice plantations.

They grow everything here,
from pepper and vanilla to cinnamon,

but best of all, cocoa.

Whoa.

A cocoa pod, and it looks ripe.

My mum was a tour guide in Sri Lanka

and she used to bring these to us
whenever she could.

You cut them, and inside is this
succulent flesh with the seeds.

I'm not really sure how to do it.
I haven't done it for a long time.

But I've asked the guy
for permission.

I'm gonna rip this one off
and see what I can taste from it.

Chocolate is made from the seeds.

But I'm gonna taste the flesh.

[SOFT CRACK]
Ah, I just heard a crack then.

I think that's when you pierce
the skin.

'Cause the shell,
I remembered it as being soft.

But the shell, it's a real shell.

There we go. Oh, look at that!

Now, I'm told if the seeds are pink,
it's the best.

My mouth's watering.

It's soft, it's juicy.

It's like a mangosteen, maybe.

Oh.

It was. The memories were right.

They served me correctly.

It tastes fantastic.

It's a combination between soursop

and mangosteen.

Texturally, silky and soft.

And when you take in the aroma,
your mouth waters,

'cause it's got this sweet and sour
flavour as well - it's great.

I'm gonna eat heaps.
Keep those memories coming.

The spice gardens are a big hit
with tourists,

but I'm here to meet someone
who most people never even notice.

Ah.

Ayubowan.
Ayubowan.

My name is Peter.
Ah, yes.

And this is where you live?
Our village.

This gentleman is a labourer
in the fields

and looks after
all the different spices.

Cocoa.
We've seen this one.

Beautiful. Cocoa.
It's not quite ripe yet.

Piyasiri earns about three bucks
a day for tough, physical work,

but his garden is a thing of envy.

Gotu kola?
Yeah, gotu kola.

Gotu kola.

Nice.

The reason I wanted you
to meet Piyasiri

is because, in some ways,
he's typical of many Sri Lankans.

He has almost nothing

but he's proud of what he does have
and he wants to share it.

Coconut.

Mango.

I came here to meet him,
not to have lunch, but it's all good.

The coconut, young coconut, right?
Yeah.

A little bit soft.
Young coconut, mango.

And mango. Mango's good.

Chillies are kochi.

Kochi.
Kochi.

That is equivalent to
about 300 megatons of TNT.

Put that in your mouth and you'll
know all about it. I'm not going to.

Green pepper.
Green pepper.

Green peppercorns.

This is what
I'm gonna cook with today.

I've been looking through
these spice gardens, thinking,

"Hmm, what am I gonna cook with?"

That's the one.

I have a question. What's this?

What's this bricks for?

[SPEAKS SINHALESE]

Yeah, for...why? Why?

He's making these bricks slowly

so that when he finds a wife,
he can build a house for them.

Around here, I'm spoilt for choice.

I could cook almost anything.

But I've chosen to cook a dish
for the common man.

Beer food.

Black pepper beef.

Green peppercorns
wrapped in betel leaves.

A simple dish, very quick to make.

I got this beef off a chef friend
in a hotel.

Middle of the night
he got into a tuktuk,

went down the hill and got some beef.

So, I feel very privileged that
he's looking after me like this.

Beautiful fillet, I've used.

Probably best to use something
like fillet

because it's soft,
and it's a stir-fry.

And if a stir-fry cooks quickly
and your beef isn't tender,

it's gonna be quite chewy.

I also had a great experience

of some very, very, very hot chillies
called kochi,

which I'm going to infuse
in there too.

These things are so hot,

it actually gave me a twitch
in one of my eyes.

I'll use three, then get someone to
taste it, see whether we need more.

If you want, you can use
normal green chillies.

Very, very finely sliced.

It kind of reminds me of a dish
called 'chicken yassa'

which was taught to me
by a Senegali kitchenhand

many years ago in London.

Marinated, basically.

So, I've got the kochi chilli.

I'm going to put some lime
into that, with the beef.

And what that's doing
is basically cooking it.

Just gonna give that
a little mix around

and let all those flavours go in.

The other thing I'm gonna
add is black pepper.

A good sprinkle.

It's a dish
my dad used to like as well.

And some salt.
It goes really well with the beer.

Now the garnishes.

A really nice capsicum pepper,
they're called here.

An onion.

Slice.

We're not gonna need many of them

'cause I think...with the chilli
that I've got in here,

I think we'll only be able
to eat one.

OK, next...

..cucumber.

These cucumbers - I've said it
before, I'll say it again -

rub them like this so that you bring
out all the bitterness to the edges.

Probably three batons per quarter
is sufficient.

A fair length as well.

Next, some beautiful young coriander,

which I'm just gonna wash, remove the
leaves, pick and keep as a garnish.

It'll look really nice
in the dish as well.

The garlic, I'm gonna fry.

A tomato, same thing.

I'm gonna take the seeds out,

but I'm gonna leave them
in large quarters.

And curry leaves, which
I'm going to fry with the beef.

OK, I also want to put
some green onion into it -

shallots, eschalots, spring onions,
whatever you want to call them.

The next thing I have to do
is use a betel leaf.

These I'm just going to make
into little cones.

And this is gonna be
the receptacle for all the rest.

I love cooking like this.
It's so much fun.

And it's good to be able to,
you know,

use the natural
ingredients around you.

Now, last ingredient.

I'll just close my eyes,
reach around, pepper.

How lucky for me. Fresh peppercorns.

They...go red.

They start off as a little flower

and then all these little
green berries appear on them.

They finally go pink and then,
when they're dried, they go black.

At this stage, they have
quite a bit of heat in them

but a very different flavour.

Right, well, I'm ready to go.

Chillies are hot.

OK, very, very, hot oil.

Garlic.

Curry leaves.

Half of the onion.

And then, as the garlic
is browning very quickly,

I'm gonna put this beef in

to stop the garlic browning...

..and keep that heat.

Smells pretty good.

The smell of crispy, fried garlic
is always fantastic.

So, imagine people are coming over.

You've got all this fried up,
ready to go.

You've got your betel leaves rolled.

It's all prepared.

And all you have to do
when people arrive

is put the beef inside.

Garnish it with a bit of tomato.

A little bit of coriander.

And there you have my beef

wrapped in a betel cone

with fresh green peppercorns.

This is the old Sinhalese capital
of Kandy.

Sri Lankan Buddhists consider Kandy

to be their country's most
significant spiritual centre.

But this city also has
a large Muslim population.

Add to the mix both
Hindu and Christian populations

and what you end up with
is one heck of a melting pot,

which means incredibly diverse food.

My first stop is Foodlands,

one of the many Muslim kitchens
that specialise in biryani.

Biryani originated in Persia.

It's a rice-based dish
that takes hours to cook.

They first blanch the rice in stock.

Next, chicken pieces are spiced
and mixed with buffalo curd,

and then, layer by layer,
they construct the biryani.

The finishing touches
are just being laid.

They put some dough here and they're
gonna seal it with a lid.

They leave it now to steam
for about 20 minutes.

Wow! That looks really good.
Come and have a look.

There's the layers.

To me...it smells fragrant.

The raisins add that sweetness to it.

The spices and the fresh herbs on top

just all combine into
a mouth-wateringly delicious meal.

Food of the kings. Very good.

Foodlands' biryani from Kandy -

I don't know whether I can beat it.

I'm gonna sit down and love this.

It's just beautiful.

Hoppers - the signature dish of this
country, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm gonna go in there
and learn how to make them.

Here they are.

These things are like
a European crumpet,

but made with a fermented rice flour.

Hoppers are so versatile.

You can eat them with an egg
for breakfast,

with curry, sambal or chilli.

That's the mixture.

This is the liquid gold,
the recipe that I've been chasing.

Looks so simple but...

..it makes these beautiful things,
so I'm gonna have a go.

Don't laugh! Hey!

That's a shocker.

Here we go. The unveiling.

What do you think? No good?
[LAUGHS] Come on.

Too hot, too thick and terrible
action on the hand, so...

I had a go. I'm gonna stay with them
and do a few more. Thank you.

It's started raining
but I'm keen to get back out

and show you one of my favourite
Sri Lankan street foods.

[font color = #00FFFF][UTENSILS CLATTER]

You hear that sound?

That's the sound of kothu roti -
Sri Lanka dining at night.

It is a noise that used to
drive my dad crazy.

But it still tasted so good that
he'd walk across the road and eat it.

And I've always, always
wanted to try and have a go at it.

I'm gonna go and ask the chef
and have a really good go at it.

Vegetables first.

Kothu roti is grilled unleavened
bread mixed with whatever you want.

A filling meal costs about a dollar
and tastes great.

Chilli paste.

Egg.

Roti.

Noodles.

And the paddles!

Yah!

Done!

The city of Kandy was Sri Lanka's
royal capital for 2,500 years.

The kings have gone

but it's still considered
the spiritual centre

for Sri Lankan Buddhists...

..because of this place,
the Temple of the Tooth.

[font color = #00FFFF][DRUMMING, BELLS RING]

This is the offerings
for the monks

and it is 36 measures of rice
and 36 different vegetable curries.

And this was decreed
by the ancient kings

and still goes on twice a day,
every day, in this beautiful temple.

All Sri Lankan Buddhists believe

they should visit
the Temple of the Tooth

at least once in their lives.

And the story goes that Buddha's
tooth was taken from his funeral pyre

and smuggled into Sri Lanka
by a princess.

My dad brought me here
almost every year.

He loved it. I loved it.

It was our special place.

When I hear the Kandy drums,

I can almost see my dad smile.

When we moved to Australia,

dad would listen to the recordings
of the Kandy drums.

It used to make him quite emotional.

This is a very special place to me.

Nobody knows about this little spot -
except you now, I guess.

But every time I come to this temple,
I come here.

It gives me a few minutes
to think about my dad.

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

So, it's my time, Dad's time.

Dad was passionate about all things
Sri Lankan, especially the food.

And on this rainy day, I'm going to
cook up one of his favourite dishes

in the foyer of an old hotel where
he used to catch up with his mates.

This is one for you, Dad.

Pumpkin curry with brinjal roti

and lots of beautiful condiments.

The first one is to make a roti.

Seen it, eaten it,
now I'm gonna cook it.

It's very easy too.

It's just flour.
Some lard, fat, butter.

Margarine I'm using, 'cause it
probably holds together a bit more,

won't separate.

Of course, salt.

And water.

Now, the water and the flour

changes everywhere in the world.

So, it's really hard to give
a recipe for this

except to say...
make a nice sticky dough.

You can see that
I'm turning it into itself

so that it comes up
really, really nice.

And then break it into ba*ls

and put it into the oil.

Next, brinjal pickle.

We have eggplant, red onions.

One last thing, green chilli.

And then we're gonna douse it
in turmeric.

Nice cover and give it a good shake.

Basically, what we're doing
is coating everything...

..everything with that
beautiful turmeric.

And then I'm gonna deep-fry it.

Keep some of it on your spoon
in case it does get away from you

and then you can pull it out.

That's nice.

I'm just gonna put it into a bowl.

Alright, so, I'm gonna make
the spice mix.

Getting my chatti nice and hot.

Putting some vegetable oil into it.

Curry leaves.

Some sliced garlic.

Mustard seeds.

This is the pickling mix.

Cumin seeds.

A little bit more turmeric.

And then some sugar.

And stop the cooking
with some vinegar.

What I want to do is cook that down
a little bit.

Taste it.

Sour, sweet.

A combination of both.

Remember that it's going into
a fair bit of eggplant and chilli,

so it does need to be quite strong
on both the sweet and sour side.

Everything's staying whole.

Taste is good.

Now this is the main component
of this dish,

which is the pumpkin curry.

Ghee into my pot,
my big, beautiful pot.

Some curry leaves again.

And we've got some onion and garlic.

Fresh chillies, not dry chilli paste.

You always sort of cook your spices
next, so I've got coriander.

Of course, my thickening powder.

Now, this is the...this is
the...really, the flavour changer,

the thing that makes
this dish unique.

Some cumin powder.

Turmeric for colour.

And this mustard paste that I made.

Roasting all of these off.

And now placing my pumpkin
into the curry base.

A little bit of water

and then some first extract
of coconut.

Salt, and then I'm going to put
a lid on this and simmer it.

I can't wait to put this together.

Now I'm gonna finish off my rotis.

Spread it out.

It's gotta be thin. You don't
want to eat too much dough.

These rotis need to be triangular.

So, once I've sealed it

and I get the shape on it,

then I'm going to cook it.

That's pretty good, I reckon.

I'm happy with that.

Fantastic. My dad's favourite song.

I'm gonna serve up
one of my dad's favourite dishes.

And this is really Sri Lanka's song,

so what a way to do this,
what a way to finish this dish.

To plate up, we're gonna have
some gotu kola sambal,

some dal soup,

some nice, hot, steaming rice,

two pieces of pumpkin,
stacked nice and high,

and our beautiful roti.

That's for you, Dad.

Fantastic.

[MUSICIANS SING SRI LANKAN SONG]

Next time on My Sri Lanka,
I park the jeep

and take a train
all the way to tea country.

I hang out with some great people...

Simple, beautiful meal.

..and cook in spectacular surrounds.