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Sri Lankan Curry Powder - miLagaai thooL.

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

Chilli pepper is an integral part of Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine, that it’s so difficult to think about our cuisine without any chilli pepper in it. Yes, we do have a few dishes which use black pepper. But, unlike the regional cuisines of Tamil Nadu - eg. Chettinad food, Madurai cuisine, Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine, does not have any popular spicy recipe heated by black pepper. Black pepper is called ‘miLagu’ in Tamil. And chilli pepper is called ‘miLagaai’, miLagaai = milagu + kaai

We tend to use chilli pepper in almost all the dishes. Even the plain white/yellow dishes aka ‘vellai kari’ would have a sliver of green chilli in them.

For a few curries, the required spices would be roasted accordingly and ground freshly. Almost all the other curries requiring some form of heat, would use another staple belonging to Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine. I’m talking about the curry powder here.

Sri Lankan curry powder is quite different from all the other curry powder in the sense, it’s quite spicy. We would search for the choicest of the choice dried red chillies. Would roast them loving over medium fire. Other spices would also be treated with loving care, making sure nothing gets burnt or left half-roasted. Only the eldest female in the house-hold would be handling the roasting part.

Back in Sri lanka, the children would be banned from the kitchen when the curry powder preparation was underway. We would be given special snacks and would be instructed not to disturb them. My mom and aunt would be measuring out and cleaning the spices and my grand mother would have commandeered the aduppu(stove). When the red chilli was being roasted, the aroma would be strong enough to make even us kids sneeze. We could hear, my mom and aunt sneeze, but have hardly heard my grand mother sneeze.

Pic courtesy: Channa Dassanayaka @ Sri Lankan Flavours

In the olden days, the spices would be pounded by hand in an ural with ulakkai. The picture above shows a wooden ural. But generally an ural made of stone would be used. Wooden ural would be used to make coconut sambals(more of them another day). But, after the flour-mills came into being, the spices would be sent to the mill to be powdered. Once, the curry powder is brought home, it would be spread out to cool down. And would be stored in air tight containers.

In Madras, I’ve accompanied my mother in her search for the perfect spicy red chillies. Andhra varieties are prefered. In the beginning, we travelled to so many different stores all over Chennai once a month in search of the perfect red chilli. Once, my mom discovered a store in Paris-corner(major marketing suburb in Chennai), we have stuck to them.

The ritual in Madras is quite similar to what happened in Pungudutheevu. Spices would be roasted over slow-medium heat and would be ground in a flour-mill. The flour-mill would have a special unit to grind chilli-powder.

Whenever relatives visited from abroad, all they would ask for would be curry powder. This continued even in Chennai. The curry powder would be prepared, carefully packed and sent off. But a few years ago, since the Sri Lankan Tamil population increased tremendously, the curry powder started becoming available in the stores in Europe, North America and Australia.

http://www.niru.com/product1.htm

http://www.niru.co.uk

Nowadays there are so many varieties available in market, it’s a difficult choice. I prefer the Niru brand. Even in the Niru brand there are 3 kinds of curry powder. one is a regular curry powder which comes in 900g and 500g packages. There are also 250gm packet. And that’s the smallest size available. The other varieties are a spicier version of the curry powder named ‘Jaffna hot curry powder’. This is mostly used for meat dishes. The other is the pure red chilli powder.

I’ve been quite handicapped here(in the blog) in presenting the regular curries and other dishes because almost all of them require the curry powder.

Anybody interested in trying Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine, should have the curry powder at hand. Sri Lankan curry powder could NOT be substituted by the Sambhar powder or any other curry powders from India. And no, no garam masala powder. God forbid! The closest to Sri Lankan curry powder would be the curry powder from Malaysia. I’ve seen and have used ‘Baba curry powder for fish curries‘. Incase the Sri Lankan curry powder is not available in a store near you, you can go for baba masala. Otherwise, the only other option would be prepare your own blend. It’s worth it. I promise.

Ingredients:

Red chilli - 75gms
Corriander seeds - 25gms
Fennel seeds - 15gms
Cumin - 5-10gms
Black pepper - 10gms
Fenugreek seeds - 5gms
Turmeric - 1/4tsp (traditionally the turmeric pieces were used)
Curry Leaves - 5-6 leaves
Rice - 1 tsp

In a kadai or skillet, slow roast the dried red chilli. The lenthy varieties are usually more spicy. You can also opt for the kind displayed here. Roast for about 3-4 minutes. Similarly slow roast corriander seeds, fennel seeds, cumin and black pepper. Roast rice until it changes color and becomes a bit white. Roast curry leaves until the moisture evaporates.

Let the spices cool down. Grind them to a fine powder in a coffee grinder. Add the turmeric powder at the end and mix nicely. Let the curry powder cool down a bit and store them in an air-tight container.

Now you are really ready to explore Sri Lankan Tamil cuisine!

Note: The measurements given here are just a guide. Each household would have their own measurements and this would reflect in the curries.

My cousin roasts fennel seeds and grinds them in her Sumeet and adds to the curry powder and stores them seperetely for meat dishes. I’m lucky enough to get some from her regularly. My aunt does the same.

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