Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Sri Lankan Oil Cakes (Kawum) recipe

Oil Cakes (Kawum)

Ingredients:
3 cups raw rice
1 cup brown sugar
1 can 13.5oz coconut milk
2 pods cardamoms seeded
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup water

Method:
Put all the above ingredients in a bowl and set aside for 30 minutes. In a blender, grind small portions of the mixture adding the liquid to a smooth pancake consistency and rest for 15 minutes.

Into a thachchi (small wok) add oil 2-2 1/2 inches deep. Bring to medium high. Pour one heaped tbsp full of the batter into the center of the pan. Let the cake cook into a light brown. With a wooden skewer gently press center of the cake. The uncooked batter will start coming up. Pour hot oil over the batter while turning the skewer and lifting the skewer periodically. Continue to pour hot oil, until it turns golden brown. Drain the oil cakes onto paper towels and serve hot or cold.

Note: If the batter is too thin, add a little all purpose flour. If it is too thick, add a few teaspoons of water.

Regulate Heat: The oil should be hot when pouring the batter, but reduce the heat when forming the center of the oil cake.

Mung Eta Kawun (Mung Bean Sweets)


SUCH NICE MUNG ETA KAWUN IN MY LIFE! (Read well before you start)

Ingredients:

2 cups of Mung Flour
1 cup of White Rice Flour
1 Ltr. Black Treacle (melted juggery can be used too.)
2 cups of white flour for the batter.

Method:

Mix well the two flour and add a pinch of salt. Boil the honey (treacle) well, (once you try to pour it, it should form a thick line like a thread. That is the correct point to add flour into it.)

Keep one cup of boiled treacle aside.

Always make sure that you have extra 1 cup of flour in case the mixture gets too watery.

Once the flour + treacle is mixed well, dust a board with white flour and spread the mixture on a board and cut diamond shapes or whatever the shape you like. (I don't care! but the taste of my mum's mung kawun should be there!)

Add coconut milk to the other 2 cups of white flour and make a thick batter - a little thicker than for kokis.
Dip the diamond shape kawun in the batter and deep fry them.

I bet you, this will be the most delicious mung kawun you've ever tasted!! p.s. If it doesn't work in one go try again until you get it correct. That is how I learned it.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sri Lankan Malu Paan(Fish Bun) Recipe

Malu Paan(Fish Bun)

Ingrediant

. 500g flour

. 1 Tbsp dry Yeast

. 2tb sugar

. 3tb butter

. 1/4 cup milk

. 1 egg

. 1 egg yolk

. Salt to taste

. About one cup water

For Filling;

.2 boiled potatoes

.1 can tin mackerel, drain and mash

.100g leeks

.1 onion

.2 green chilies

.1 sprig curry leaves

.1 Tbsp ground black pepper

.2 tsp chilli powder

.1 tsp sri Lankan curry powder

.Salt

.Lime Juice

Instructions

In a bowl mix the first 8 ingredients together

Add water and knead well to make a soft dough

Cover it up with a wet cloth and put it in a warm place to rise for about 8 hours.

Making the filling

Boil the potatoes and mash it

Heat oil in a large pan, add crushed ginger and garlic. Saut? for about 1/2 a minute

Add chopped onions, green chilies, curry leaves, leeks, and cook until onion and leeks are soft

Then add fish, potatoes, pepper, chili powder, curry powder and salt. Mix well.

Finally add the lime juice

Making the bun

Knead the dough again and divide it into equal balls

Roll each ball into a floured surface and put the fish filling into the center

Fold the dough and shape it into a bun

Mix one egg yolk and 1tb of water to make an egg wash

Brush the egg wash on the buns and bake them for about 20min in a 350f preheated oven.

Serve with Sri lankan chili sauce.

Tamarind Fish Recipe

Tamarind Fish Recipe

Ingredients :

2 cloves

2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon

1/2 teaspoon

1 tablespoon

2

6

3 tablespoons

1/2 cup

Crushed garlic

Tamarind concentrate

Fish curry powder

Ground turmeric

Lemon juice

Red chilies, finely chopped

Fish steaks about 150g each

Cooking oil

Coconut milk

Method :
  • Combine the garlic, tamarind, curry powder, turmeric, lemon juice and chili.

  • Place the fish steaks in a shallow ovenproof dish.

  • Brush the garlic mixture over both sides of the fish.

  • Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

  • Heat the cooking oil in a large frying pan, add the fish and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes on each side.

  • Stir in the coconut mil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes when tested with a fork.

  • Serve hot.

Green Banana Curry Recipe ( Kesel Malu)

Green Banana Curry Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 6

The green bananas used for this curry must be really unripe. Otherwise the texture will not be suitable for cooking in this method.

5

1 teaspoon

1 teaspoon

1/4 cup

2 cups

1

2

2 teaspoons

1/4 teaspoon

8

Unripe bananas

Salt

Ground turmeric

Oil

Coconut milk

Small onion, finely sliced

Fresh green chilies, sliced

Pounded dried shrimps

Fenugreek seeds

Curry leaves

Small stick cinnamon

Method :
  • Rub hands with oil before starting to handle unripe bananas, for this will prevents from staining.

  • Or wear rubber gloves.

  • Peel the bananas, cut them in halves crossways and then into slices or quarters lengthways.

  • Rub them with salt and turmeric.

  • Heat oil in small frying pan and fry the banana slices a few at a time, until they are golden brown all over.

  • Set aside.

  • Put all the remaining ingredients into a saucepan and simmer, uncovered, until onion is soft.

  • Add fried bananas and simmer until gravy is thick.

  • Serve.

Ghee Rice Recipe ( Dun Thel Bath)

Ghee Rice Recipe

Ingredients :

2 cups

2 1/2 tablespoons

1

4

6

1

3 1/2 cups

2 1/2 teaspoon

Bismati or other long grain rice

Ghee

Large onion, finely sliced

Whole cloves

Cardamom pods, bruised

Cinnamon stick

Chicken or mutton stock

Salt

Method :
  • Wash rice well and drain for at least 30 minutes.

  • Heat ghee in a saucepan and fry onion until golden, add spices and drain rice.

  • Fry, stirring with slotted metal spoon, for 5 minutes over a moderate heat.

  • Add hot stock and salt and bring to the boil.

  • Reduce heat to very low, cover pan tightly with lid and cook for 15 - 20 minutes without lifting lid.

  • At end of cooking time, uncover and allow steam to escape for 5 minutes.

  • Gentle fluff up rice with a fork, removing whole spices.

  • When transferring rice to a serving dish, again use a slotted metal spoon to avoid crushing grains of rice.

  • Serve hot, accompanied by curries of meat and vegetables, pickles and sambols.

Breadfruit Coconut Curry Recipe



Breadfruit Coconut Curry Recipe

Ingredients :

750 g

400 ml

1

1 teaspoon

1 teaspoon

2

1/2 teaspoon

3

1

2 sprigs

1 teaspoon

Firm, unripe breadfruit

Canned coconut milk

Onion, finely grated

Finely grated ginger

Crushed garlic

Fresh green chilies, split

Ground turmeric

Short strips pandan leaf

Small stick cinnamon

Fresh curry leaves

Salt or to taste

Method :
  • Peel the breadfruit and cut into thick slices.

  • Reserve 1/2 cup of the canned coconut milk and dilute the rest with water to make 3 cups.

  • Put the diluted coconut milk into a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients except breadfruit.

  • Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

  • Add the breadfruit and continue cooking until it is soft.

  • Gently stir in reserved coconut milk and serve with rice.

Sri Lankan Fish Curry with Tamarind Recipe (Siyambala Malu Curry)

Fish Curry with Tamarind Recipe

(Siyambala Malu Curry)

Ingredients : Serves 6

500 g

1 tablespoon

1/2 cup

1 1/2 tablespoons

1 teaspoon

1/4 teaspoon

1 teaspoon

3 tablespoons

6

1/4 teaspoon

1

2 cloves

Firm fish fillets

Tamarind pulp

Hot water

Ceylon curry powder

Salt

Ground turmeric

Chili powder

Oil

Curry leaves

Fenugreek seeds

Medium onion, finely chopped

Garlic, finely chopped

Method :
  • Wash and dry fish and cut into serving pieces.

  • Soak tamarind pulp in hot water, allow to cool and squeeze to dissolve pulp.

  • Strain through fine nylon sieve and discard seeds and fibers.

  • Combine tamarind liquid with curry powder, salt, turmeric, chili powder and marinate fish for 20 minutes.

  • Heat oil and fry the curry leaves and fenugreek seeds for 2 minutes.

  • Then add onion and garlic and continue to fry on medium heat until onion is golden, stirring occasionally.

  • Add fish and marinade, cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

  • Uncover and cook for a further 10 minutes.

  • Serve with white rice and vegetables curries.

Sri Lankan Duck Curry Recipe (Thara Padre Curry)

Duck Curry Recipe

(Thara Padre Curry)

Ingredients : Serves 6-8

2

2

6 cloves

1 1/2 tablespoons

2 tablespoons

1 stick

8 pieces

1 stalk

3 cups

2 teaspoons

1/4 cup

1/4 cup

1 tablespoon

2 tablespoons

Ducks cut into bite size

Large onions, chopped

Garlic, chopped

Finely chopped ginger

Ceylon curry powder

Cinnamon

Dried daun pandan

Lemon grass

Coconut milk

Salt

Vinegar

Whisky

Brown sugar

Ghee or oil

Method :
  • Cut ducks and put into a large heavy saucepan with all the ingredients except whisky, sugar and ghee.

  • Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer until duck is tender.

  • Heat ghee in another pan and fry the pieces of duck, then pour in the gravy.

  • Add whisky and sugar and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

  • Serve with plain boiled rice or ghee rice, fired onion sambol and cucumber sambol.

  • For another version of this dish, garnish the top of the curry with slices of potato, fried until brown.

Dry Fried Shrimps Recipe

Dry Fried Shrimps Recipe

Ingredients :

1 kg (2lb)

3 tablespoons

2

2 cloves

2 teaspoons

1/2 teaspoon

2 teaspoons

1/4 teaspoon

2 teaspoons

1/2 cup

2 teaspoons

1 tablespoon

Raw shrimps

Oil

Large onions, finely chopped

Garlic, finely chopped

Salt

Chili powder, or to taste

Paprika

Ground turmeric

Dried shrimp powder

Water

Sugar

Tomato paste or sauce

Method :
  • Shell and de-vein the shrimps.

  • Heat oil in a heavy frying pan and cook onions and garlic over low heat until soft and golden brown.

  • When oil begins to appear around edges, add chili powder, salt, paprika and turmeric and fry for 1 minute.

  • Then add dried shrimp powder and the raw shrimps, stir and fry for 3 minutes.

  • Add water, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

  • Stir in sugar and tomato paste and cook uncovered for a few minutes longer until gravy is dark reddish brown, thick and dry enough to coat the shrimps.

  • Serve with steamed rice.

  • As an appetizer, these devilled shrimps are delicious on small squares of fried bread.

Sri Lankan Crab Curry Recipe (Kakuluwo Curry)

Crab Curry Recipe

(Kakuluwo Curry)

Ingredients : Serves 4-6

2

3

6 cloves

2 teaspoons

1/2 teaspoon

10

8 cm (3 inch)

1-2 teaspoons

1 teaspoon

3 teaspoons

4 cups

2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon

2 cups

3 tablespoons

Large crabs

Medium onions, finely chopped

Garlic, finely chopped

Finely grated fresh ginger

Fenugreek seeds

Curry leaves

Stick cinnamon

Chili powder

Ground turmeric

Salt

Thin coconut milk

Desiccated coconut

Ground rice

Thick coconut milk

Lemon juice

Method :
  • Remove the large shells of crabs and discard fibrous tissue found under the shell.

  • Divide each crab into 4 portions, breaking each body in half and separating large claws from body.

  • Leave legs attached to body.

  • Put onion, garlic, ginger, fenugreek, curry leaves, cinnamon, chili, turmeric, salt and thin coconut milk into a large saucepan.

  • Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

  • Add crabs and cook for 20 minutes.

  • If pan is not large enough, simmer half the pieces of crab at a time.

  • Crab should be submerged in sauce while cooking.

  • Heat desiccated coconut and ground rice separately in a dry frying pan over moderate heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until each is golden brown.

  • Put in an electric blender container, add half the thick coconut milk, cover and blend on high speed for 1 minute.

  • Add to curry with lemon juice.

  • Wash out blender with remaining coconut milk and add.

  • Simmer uncovered a further 10 minutes.

  • Serve with boiled rice.

Chicken Omelets with Coconut Gravy Recipe

Chicken Omelets with Coconut Gravy Recipe

Ingredients :

1/2

1

1 tablespoon

8

2

Coconut Gravy

1 2/3 cups

1/2 teaspoon

2 cm

1

1 tablespoon

Barbecued chicken

Large tomato, finely chopped

Chopped fresh dill

Eggs

Spring onions, chopped

Coconut milk

Ground turmeric

Fresh ginger grated

Cinnamon stick

Lemon juice

Method :
  • Remove the bones from the chicken and shred the meat.

  • Combine the chicken meat, tomato and dill in a bowl.

  • Whisk the eggs and spring onion together in a large jug.

  • Cook a quarter of the egg mixture in a lightly greased 25cm nonstick frying pan.

  • When the omelet is cooked, place a quarter of the chicken mixture in the centre and fold in the 4 edges to form a parcel.

  • Carefully transfer the omelet to a plate and repeat with the remaining mixture.

  • Serve with coconut gravy.

  • To make the coconut gravy : Place all the ingredients in a small pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the gravy thickens slightly.

Baked Stuffed Breadfruit Recipe

Baked Stuffed Breadfruit Recipe

Ingredients :

1

1 tablespoon

1

1 teaspoon

250 g

1

2 teaspoons

1 teaspoon

Firm unripe breadfruit about 1.5 kg

Oil

Onion, finely chopped

Finely chopped garlic

Minced meat

Fresh chili, seeded and chopped

Ground coriander

Ground cumin

Salt and pepper

Oil or butter

Method :
  • Wash breadfruit but do not peel it.

  • Cut a small slice off one side so it will sit flat on the baking dish.

  • Cut another slice off the opposite side and scoop out the center of the breadfruit, leaving a thick shell all around.

  • Season the cavity with salt and pepper, and finely chop the scooped out breadfruit.

  • Heat oil and over low heat fry onion and garlic until soft and starting to color.

  • Add meat, chili, coriander and cumin and stir-fry until meat is brown.

  • Add the chopped breadfruit and a tablespoon or two of stock or water.

  • Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, then spoon the meat mixture into the cavity of the breadfruit.

  • Replace the slice to cover the filling.

  • Brush all over with oil or butter and place in an ovenproof dish.

  • Bake in a moderate oven, 180oC (350oF), for about 1 1/2 hours or until the breadfruit is soft enough to be pierced by a fine skewer.

  • Serve hot.

Lentils (Dhal) Curry ( Sri Lankan Parippu Recipe )

Fry
Curry leaves
Garlic
Onions
Green Chilies
Dill
Tomatoes
When Onions are golden brown add
Salt
Chili powder
Turmeric
Garam masala

mix and fry until all pieces are well coated.
4 small cups of water
30 minutes of cooking in High heat !

Sri Lankan Vegetable Soup Recipe


Carrot
Bean
Cabbage
Potato
Cauliflower
Tomatoes
Lentils
pinch of – cumin seeds
Pepper corns
Leeks
Add salt before boiling

Add 2 cups of water and boil in presseure cooker for 4 mins after the “hiss”.
Heat olive oil, fry onions in this , when onions are brown add the soup.
Add lime and marmite.

Illustrator Tutorial: Realistic Curtain

realistc curtain with gradient mesh

This lesson assumes that you already have a basic understanding on how the gradient mesh works. Therefore, we will move on to create a realistic curtain using the gradient mesh.

1. Creating the skeleton

First, we create Rectangle and fill it with red. Select the Mesh Tool and start clicking along the edge of the rectangle. Creating 3 segments close together will give good results as we can simply change the middle segment to black for shadows.

gadient mesh tool

curtaincurtain

2. Filling the shadows

With the Direct Selection Tool, we select both the top and bottom points in the segments we want it to make it shadow. After that, fill the points with black. Do this to all the segments we want it to be in shadow.

curtain

3. Shaping the curtain

Now we can start shaping the curtain to give it some curves. Select the Direct Selection Tool and select the point we want to modify and move the anchor points to change it to curve lines. Other things you can do with the points is move them closer or further to other points by clicking the Right/Left Arrow Keys. A realistic fold normally starts narrow at the top and end wide at the bottom. Hence, we can use the arrow keys to shift the points closer or further away form each other.

curtaincurtaincurtain

4. Final touhup

To create more folds to the curtain, we can add new points with the Gradient Mesh Tool and fill it will a slightly dark tint. Do this until you are satisfied with your curtain. Below is the final skeleton of my curtain. Hope you guys have a great time creating your own curtain!

gradient mesh curtain

Creating trees in Illustrator

Green is in vogue and clients everywhere want natural imagery in their promotional material. Ben the Illustrator shows you how to create a fresh-looking tree

As a child, no doubt a tree was one of the first things you drew, with a brown rectangular block for the trunk and a big green scribble for the leaves. But with companies increasingly keen to shout about their ecological credentials, now’s a good time to learn how to create a tree with a computer instead of crayons.


In this tutorial you’ll start by taking a photograph of a tree, then trace its natural form and add your own creative touches to produce an eye-catching, contemporary illustration. You’ll use a range of Illustrator tools, including the freehand drawing tools, the shape tools and the Layers palette.

Of course, the methods I’ll show you can be adapted for any project you have to hand. You can create your own atmosphere using a different colour palette, a different type of tree and different surroundings. Your final illustration can be bright and colourful, dark and magical, psychedelic and surreal, or wholly realistic – it’s entirely your choice.

Click here to download the support files (1.7MB)

Click here to download the tutorial for free

Complex Circular Design Techniques

Creating intricate circular designs and patterns may look difficult because the shapes can be very complicated, but you will be surprised at just how easy making these shapes can be. I will go over some neat tricks, tools, techniques, and settings that will have you pumping out perfect circular designs in no time using Illustrator.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

This tutorial is split into 2 sections: The Rotate Tool, and a Custom Pattern Brush. The Rotate tool is faster and easier, but less accurate. So lets try it first, then move on to the brush techniques. Note: These techniques are intended for use with circles. Results will vary with other shapes.

Download the shapes I used for this tutorial so you can follow along:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Download

Includes: - AI (2) EPS (1) SVG (1)

Making Intricate Circular Designs with the Rotate Tool:

In my opinion, the Rotate tool is highly underused and there is probably a good reason. It’s kind of confusing to figure out the first time you use it.

This is what the Rotate tool looks like:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

First I want to show how to use the tool, then I will show you a few examples, so let’s keep it simple and just make a rectangle on your artboard like this:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Now (with your rectangle still selected) Click on the rotate tool. You will see a small light-blue crosshair. The crosshair is the “origin,” or the point that you will be rotating from. You can move the origin anywhere you want by clicking where you want it. (you can click as many times as needed until you get it in your desired spot) You can also click and hold on the origin and drag it anywhere on the artboard.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

I moved my origin just below my shape.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Read carefully, this is the tricky part if it’s your first time: Click on the path of your rectangle while holding down Option/Alt and rotate a little, then release the mouse before you release Option/Alt. By doing it this way, it not only rotates your shape, it copies it at the same time, and sets/saves a default setting in your Rotate tool.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Now all you have to do is keep hitting Command + D (Mac) or Control + D (PC) to repeat your Rotate and copy! Do this as many time as you like.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Here is the result, for just a simple rectangle:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Ok, now that you have the rotate tool down, lets get fancy, shall we. Remember, these examples are pretty simple. You can do this with any shape. Even try applying brush strokes/gradients/transparency and different options as you experiment.

Make a bunch of circles with a black stroke, like this:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Now select all of those circles and combine them using the Pathfinder palette. (Window > Pathfinder) Click on the “Add to Shape Area Button,” and then the “Expand” button, in that order. Read this post if you don’t know how to use the Pathfinder.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques
Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

After you have combined the circles, your shape should look like this:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Follow the steps in the first example with the Rotate tool, and see what you can get as a result

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques
Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

It’s crazy how simple you can start out and get amazing shapes with the Rotate tool. You could now take this shape into Photoshop and make a brush out if it if you wanted to, maybe even use it as an eraser.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

The Rotate tool is also a quick way to make a custom vector flower shape pretty easily:

Just start with an oval:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Follow the steps in the first example (above) to make your first initial rotate.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Repeat using Command + D (mac) or Control + D (PC).
Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Here’s a quick example of a sun shape made with the rotate tool. (It’s all about the shape you start with, and the distance of your first rotation). I added a gradient from Red to orange on my shape:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques
Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques
Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques
Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Here, I took the Transparency down to 50%

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Using a Custom Pattern Brush to make Intricate Circle Designs:

The second way I’m going to show you to make complex circle designs is by making a Custom Pattern Brush in Illustrator. This method requires a few extra steps, but is much more accurate, gives you more control, and has more value in the long run because you can reuse your brushes as needed. (if you save them)

Lets start with a simple example. Make a bunch of circles in a row like below. This is the shape we are going to use to make our brush. I’ve found that it’s best to keep this shape simple for starters, until you get the hang of how the brush works.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Now select all of the circles at once and, in your brushes palette, click on the options arrow, then “New Brush…”

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Select “New Pattern Brush.”

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

Now you should see the Pattern Brush Options. Important: Make sure you select “Tints” as the Colorization Method. This allows you to change the color of the brush stroke later. There are some other options you might also play with here to get the effects you like. Choose your settings and click OK.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

You should now see your new pattern brush at the bottom of your Brushes palette.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

To use the brush, draw a circle on the artboard with no fill, and a black stroke.

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

With your circle selected, click on your Custom Pattern Brush in the Brushes palette. (make sure that your stroke is selected in the Tools palette) And here is the result:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

From here you can adjust color, transparency, stroke size, size of the circle, etc. How easy was that? !!!! Just one simple brush, and you get perfectly spaced and controlled circular patterns! Using the brushes gives you much more control because of the options that are available, as well as the ability to change the stroke size after you are done.

Now I’ll show you a few more examples of different shapes/brushes and the results you can get. (download the example file at the top of the page to follow along) Again, these are simple examples, and the potential for this technique is unlimited. I invite you to experiment.

Pattern Brush Examples with Circular Patterns:

1. The Brush Shape Used:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

The result:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

2. The Brush Shape Used:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

The result:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

3. The Brush Shape Used:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

The result:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

4. The Brush Shape Used:
Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques

The result:

Complex Circular Vector Pattern Techniques