V I R U N D H U

Kanji or congee

Posted by Mathy Kandasamy | Filed under Rice, Sri Lankan, Archives

Thanks: Suren@Pbase

If my grandma were to look at today’s post, she would immiediatly laugh out loud. For her or for other Sri Lankans, the dish I’m going to present today would not be a recipe. They would not even take pains to talk about it. But, for me today’s dish is a way to reconnect with the past. To remember everything that could not be brought back to life, however much I try. For me, this is much more than food.

Kanji is a byproduct of cooking rice. In Sri Lanka, we use par-boiled rice. Varieties like Rosematta rice are quite popular. The boil and drain method is used in all households. Couple of special lids would be kept to cover the rice pot. The rice pot would be made of mud or aluminium. Half the surface of the lids would be pockmarked with holes. This would faciliate the draining of water and later to let the extra moisture escape.

I remember drinking this kanji in a coconut shell. All the coconut would have been scraped away just a few minutes ago. The fresh smell of the coconut, the hot aroma arising from the rice water, tangy smell from the green chilli, ginger and shallots, not to mention the special smell from the curry leaves. All this took me back to my grand mother’s kitchen. And All that were missing were the coconut shell and my grandmother looking down at us drinking the kanji at 11 am. This would give us enough energy to continue our mischief until lunch.

To be fair to my grandmother and others, there are so many proper ways to prepare kanji. I too, shall prepare and share other traditional varieties. Those of you who read the magnificient book ‘Mangoes & curry leaves’ could checkout the ‘coconut-rice soup’ on page 89.

Rice is the be-all and end-all in Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine. It plays an important role in our lives that it’s used in auspicious times like blessing newly weds. Rice colored with turmeric is mixed with flowers to bless newly weds. Rice is used in religeous ceremonies as well. Then when children were initiated into learning, they write the first characters on rice. A well respected family member or somebody from the society like the school principal would guide the children. This takes place during vijaya dasami.

Congee is an important breakfast item for the Chinese too. During ancient times, the Chinese and the Tamils(Indian) had trade relations. While the Tamils absorbed things like the wok, silk and other things, the Chinese took congee, religion(Buddhism) etc.

Recipe:

1 cup Rosematta Rice
3.5 cups water
1/4 cup grated coconut
1/8 cup hot water (to sqeeze coconut milk)
1-2 shallots
2-3 green chillies
3-4 curry leaves
salt to taste

Kanji, today’s dish is a very easy to make. All you have to do is take some par-boiled rice. Preferably Rosematta. And add ample water. 1:3.5 is what I used. After 15 minutes, taken a few grains in your fingers and check if the rice is cooked. If the rice is cooked, drain the water carefully. Bring the pot back to heat and let the extra moisture dryaway.

It is the drained ricewater that’s going to be the star today!

Finely chop the shallots, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. If you cannot find any shallots, red onions are the next best thing.

To freshly grated coconut, add some hot water. Let it stand for a few minutes. Sqeeze and preserve seperately. I use the sqeeze coconut too. Usually, I just grind it with green chillies and use them in curries. Sqeezing by hand does not extract all the coconut milk. So, it’s ok. If you are going to make it in a large quantity. Use the blender and you could extract more coconut milk. Grind it once more and use the second milk, for some coconut milk based curries. And discard the grated coconut.

It would be better, if you could prepare the above ingredients before hand.

As soon as the ricewater is drained, add the coconut milk. Add the finely chopped shallots, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Add salt to taste.

Take a spoonful or more of rice and add to the kanji.

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