The Princess Journeys To Sri Lanka and South India
Oct 10th, 2017, 03:03 PM
#46
Thanks for the report, CaliforniaLady! Your driver/guide sounded great.
Like you, we loved Sri Lanka but it wasn't one of our favourite food places either. The curries are ok and I quite like spicy food but it did sort of all run together for me. Agree with you about the bitter gourd, but lots of people like it. Acquired taste maybe? Kotturoti (some of which was pretty spicy) got to be a go-to option after too many times with chicken dishes with tiny bones all through it.
Like you, we loved Sri Lanka but it wasn't one of our favourite food places either. The curries are ok and I quite like spicy food but it did sort of all run together for me. Agree with you about the bitter gourd, but lots of people like it. Acquired taste maybe? Kotturoti (some of which was pretty spicy) got to be a go-to option after too many times with chicken dishes with tiny bones all through it.
.
Oct 10th, 2017, 03:31 PM
#48
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Thank you, sartoric, crellston, progol, CaliNurse, jacketwatch, thursdays, and CounterClifton for your great comments.
sartoric - You are not required to go on the safari at Minneriya. I was in the area for four full days, so I had plenty of time. I just recalled that we saw some wild elephants roaming around near the road, on the day we drove from Ella to Sinharaja. I believe we were on the perimeter of Udawalawe National Park, but I would have to ask Steven, if you are interested. The elephants were in a lagoon just off the road, and one was walking along right in front of us. Oh, and you don't really need binoculars, they are close enough to see quite well. My older son never uses them, preferring to use his camera instead.
jacketwatch and CaliNurse - The bitter herb for Passover is typically horseradish. However, it's interesting that there are some strict Jewish laws, and some not so strict traditions. There are debates among scholars on all sorts of interpretations of Jewish laws. Also, the fact that Jewish people are scattered all over the world adds to different food interpretations. In fact, this year for Passover, my bossy older son decided that we were all going to have a Persian Passover--guess who ended up doing most of the work?
crellston - I just booked my plane ticket back to Sri Lanka solely for the purpose at eating at the Dambulla bus station. Seriously, though, I am suspicious about the bitter gourd. What exactly was I missing? (teasing you, of course)
progol - I look forward to your planning thread, since you have plenty of time. It's so hard to make a good plan, based on your own interests. I remember that you had planned to go the Munnar, where the tea plantations are in India. I had that in my itinerary, and Tim advised removing it because I was visiting tea plantations in Sri Lanka. We drove through the Western Ghats in India, and it sure was a beautiful area. Since you will be retired, you can probably visit every place you want.
CounterClifton - Thanks for the praise. I was not that thrilled with the kottu roti. It was too much bread for me, and not that many vegetables. One night, Steven suggested that I order a vegetable roll, so I agreed. When I got it, it was almost all dough, and just a tiny bit of vegetables. Another night, I got all excited to see "chop suey" on a menu, thinking I could finally have a nice plate of vegetables. Well, Steven got all upset, and told me that it would not be enough food, and that I needed to order a noodle dish with vegetables, which turned out to be 95% noodles, and 5% vegetables. When I got to the departure lounge when I was leaving India, I ran over to the lettuce and had two plates full. One of the servers was staring at my plates, thinking I was a rabbit reincarnated as a human.
sartoric - You are not required to go on the safari at Minneriya. I was in the area for four full days, so I had plenty of time. I just recalled that we saw some wild elephants roaming around near the road, on the day we drove from Ella to Sinharaja. I believe we were on the perimeter of Udawalawe National Park, but I would have to ask Steven, if you are interested. The elephants were in a lagoon just off the road, and one was walking along right in front of us. Oh, and you don't really need binoculars, they are close enough to see quite well. My older son never uses them, preferring to use his camera instead.
jacketwatch and CaliNurse - The bitter herb for Passover is typically horseradish. However, it's interesting that there are some strict Jewish laws, and some not so strict traditions. There are debates among scholars on all sorts of interpretations of Jewish laws. Also, the fact that Jewish people are scattered all over the world adds to different food interpretations. In fact, this year for Passover, my bossy older son decided that we were all going to have a Persian Passover--guess who ended up doing most of the work?
crellston - I just booked my plane ticket back to Sri Lanka solely for the purpose at eating at the Dambulla bus station. Seriously, though, I am suspicious about the bitter gourd. What exactly was I missing? (teasing you, of course)
progol - I look forward to your planning thread, since you have plenty of time. It's so hard to make a good plan, based on your own interests. I remember that you had planned to go the Munnar, where the tea plantations are in India. I had that in my itinerary, and Tim advised removing it because I was visiting tea plantations in Sri Lanka. We drove through the Western Ghats in India, and it sure was a beautiful area. Since you will be retired, you can probably visit every place you want.
CounterClifton - Thanks for the praise. I was not that thrilled with the kottu roti. It was too much bread for me, and not that many vegetables. One night, Steven suggested that I order a vegetable roll, so I agreed. When I got it, it was almost all dough, and just a tiny bit of vegetables. Another night, I got all excited to see "chop suey" on a menu, thinking I could finally have a nice plate of vegetables. Well, Steven got all upset, and told me that it would not be enough food, and that I needed to order a noodle dish with vegetables, which turned out to be 95% noodles, and 5% vegetables. When I got to the departure lounge when I was leaving India, I ran over to the lettuce and had two plates full. One of the servers was staring at my plates, thinking I was a rabbit reincarnated as a human.
Oct 10th, 2017, 03:54 PM
#51
Bitter gourd ("bitter melon" here in Australia where it's a common item) is a fruit. Seeds inside = fruit.
CL - funny image, you making a mad dash over to graze. You're right though... didn't see that many vegies on our SL trip either.
CL - funny image, you making a mad dash over to graze. You're right though... didn't see that many vegies on our SL trip either.
Oct 10th, 2017, 06:16 PM
#53
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Big grin back atcha, JW. Ah, we nurses and our senses of humor!!
For those who are interested, here's an Indian article on the question of herbs as veggies. Read it and weep (as you cut onions perhaps).
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/19260621.cms
For those who are interested, here's an Indian article on the question of herbs as veggies. Read it and weep (as you cut onions perhaps).
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/19260621.cms
Oct 10th, 2017, 07:17 PM
#54
Interesting, CaliNurse. I cook with chopped celery leaf regularly as a flavouring, just like any herb but never thought about it being anything but veg. And dill but only as a herb. Guess when you get down to it, it's all just leaves and stalks, isn't it?
Oct 10th, 2017, 11:14 PM
#57
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AH haa ! Finally the mystery of the of the bitter brain twister has been solve.Well well, the cliffhanger was the Kerela (Indian)/Bitter Melon (Aussie)/karawila (Srilankan) or the
universal Bitter Gourd. A vegetable,a fruit ??
It wasn't a herb after all!!Had me wondering what it could have been !! It's certainly not for everybody.Leaves a bad after taste for some time to come.Not for me at least.
CL, you have been unwittingly served the pucker inducing 'Sri Lankan Kariwila Sambol'.It's taste is as weird & freaky as it looks.The curry is a 'Three Witch's Brew',while the main ingredient is this warty,toad like vegetable.Guess,probably the only other ingredients missing were...
..."Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
-incantation in Macbeth. 1605..
I bought tons of various spices and herbs back home from Srilanka. Curry powders and curry pastes from Ma's Kitchen.Tried most of them and would highly recommend them if planning to take some back home too. Available all over the island.
http://masfoods.lk/
universal Bitter Gourd. A vegetable,a fruit ??
It wasn't a herb after all!!Had me wondering what it could have been !! It's certainly not for everybody.Leaves a bad after taste for some time to come.Not for me at least.
CL, you have been unwittingly served the pucker inducing 'Sri Lankan Kariwila Sambol'.It's taste is as weird & freaky as it looks.The curry is a 'Three Witch's Brew',while the main ingredient is this warty,toad like vegetable.Guess,probably the only other ingredients missing were...
..."Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
-incantation in Macbeth. 1605..
I bought tons of various spices and herbs back home from Srilanka. Curry powders and curry pastes from Ma's Kitchen.Tried most of them and would highly recommend them if planning to take some back home too. Available all over the island.
http://masfoods.lk/
Oct 11th, 2017, 01:45 AM
#58
Inquest, that last "recipe" is definitely one I want to avoid! And when I do get back to SL and S. India, I'll give it a miss!!
CL, I'm looking forward to the planning, too! It will all depend upon how much time we will be traveling; I'm hoping to take 5-6 weeks, but we will see. I won't start planning until sometime next year, though.
CL, I'm looking forward to the planning, too! It will all depend upon how much time we will be traveling; I'm hoping to take 5-6 weeks, but we will see. I won't start planning until sometime next year, though.
Oct 12th, 2017, 07:31 PM
#59
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Interesting posts, all.
Has anyone tried dahl fry from South India? Here's yet another story:
So, as I mentioned before, Palanni, my driver in South India, decided that I should have a vegetarian all you can eat thali every day for lunch. Well, the problem is that "thali service" typically ends at 3 PM, and one day, we had a busy morning, and we pulled into the lunch spot at 2:15 PM. When I got seated, the waiter told me that they were out of thalis. I got out my phone, googled around, and decided to try the dahl fry. It's a lental curry, bright yellow, with all sorts of nice spices. You're supposed to order a huge vat of rice to go with it, but instead I ate it as a soup, and ordered roti bread. I had dahl fry at least one more time after that, and I am considering making it at home. My husband is a meat and potatoes guy, but I might be able to sneak it in, it I lower the spice level.
Awaiting comments and recipes, lol
Has anyone tried dahl fry from South India? Here's yet another story:
So, as I mentioned before, Palanni, my driver in South India, decided that I should have a vegetarian all you can eat thali every day for lunch. Well, the problem is that "thali service" typically ends at 3 PM, and one day, we had a busy morning, and we pulled into the lunch spot at 2:15 PM. When I got seated, the waiter told me that they were out of thalis. I got out my phone, googled around, and decided to try the dahl fry. It's a lental curry, bright yellow, with all sorts of nice spices. You're supposed to order a huge vat of rice to go with it, but instead I ate it as a soup, and ordered roti bread. I had dahl fry at least one more time after that, and I am considering making it at home. My husband is a meat and potatoes guy, but I might be able to sneak it in, it I lower the spice level.
Awaiting comments and recipes, lol
Oct 12th, 2017, 08:03 PM
#60
Dahl means any kind of lentil or bean, not just yellow lentils.
See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal
There are loads of recipes, I have a preference for dahl makhani.
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/...makhani-301613
See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal
There are loads of recipes, I have a preference for dahl makhani.
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/...makhani-301613
