Spread that spreads happiness

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Preparing mouth-watering delicacies to distribute among loved ones takes center place amidst the customs in the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. A lot of pre-preparation is needed to decide on what to include in your Avurudu menu

Come Avurudu and people are busy buying new clothes, locating meaningful SMS greetings and organizing games for the Avurudu festival which will bind them together with their roots.

Most of us like to include something new to the list of traditional new year eatables or dish up a new platter for the Avurudu lunch.

Helen Madanayake. Picture by Ruwan de Silva

“It is true that you should insert the traditional goodies to your menu because you only find kavum, kokis and athirasa during this season. They are rarely prepared unless it is a special occasion. Therefore they should be present among the eatables that you serve your friends when they visit your place,” renowned culinary expert Helen Madanayake says.

She adds that there is no vast difference between the traditional sweetmeats prepared by Tamil and Sinhala people. However when the Sinhala people prepare mung kavum the Tamil people make mung guli.

The Sinhala people’s konda kavum becomes naran kavum for the Tamils. The milk rice or kiri bath prepared by Tamils are somewhat sweeter because it includes honey, cashew, plums and green gram.

Helen says that betel leaves and jasmine flowers are signs of prosperity and tokens of respect linked with the Avurudu season. It is believed that the plant is brought from the Naga world.

Also known as the Naga Valli, the betel leaf carries a yellow imprint of the cobra head, the emblem of the Nagas. It had become a custom among Sinhala and Tamils to chew the leaf to keep the mouth fresh and free from harmful bacteria.

“Be sure to place some jasmine flowers and betel leaves at your Avurudu table,” Helen advised.

According to Helen, age-old customs should be followed at the auspicious time marked in the Avurudu litha. She says that though most of these rituals have died down in the city, they still exist in rural villages.

“We speak about playing the rabana but we do not even hear the sound of raban pada in the city environment,” she added.

Helen says that Avurudu should be planned according to the auspicious time that the meal should be consumed.

It is essential to prepare milk rice but if the auspicious time falls towards noon it is ok to have some yellow rice or a variety of fried rice on the side with a variety of curries to go along with.

A product of Cathedral Girls’ School, Mutwal, Baptist Mission School (BMS) and Buddhist Ladies’ School, Helen had taken interest in activities related to the cuisine since childhood. Her mother, Lily Amarasiri Gunawardena, encouraged this trait in her eldest child and Helen soon joined a cookery class while schooling.

She says that the recipes taught by Amarasinghe inspired her because they were straightforward and easy to prepare. “I have followed her techniques for years and handed them down to my students. Anyone can read and prepare the dish without any trouble. I even do demonstrations in television programs and send them across to women’s magazines. I have had no complaints so far,” she said adding that you get the knowledge of mixing just the right amount of spices and ingredients after years of experience.

“You realize which ingredients blend together and can create new dishes,” she revealed. Apart from cookery, Helen is also a Marriage Registrar, a JP and conducts a nursery.

Reputed beautician Deepika Gunasekara is one of her sisters. Chintha Gunawardena, another sister, is also into beauty culture. Helen has three daughters, Dushanthi, Dharshani and Chamari who also engage in gastronomic ventures.

Chicken komeskis

Ingredients

500 g boiled chicken

1 egg

250 g flour

2 tbsp milk / salt

2 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tsp chillie (unroasted)

bacon slices / oil

Method

Make a smooth batter by mixing egg, flour, milk and seasonings. Milk should be carefully added as the batter should not be too thick or thin to coat the chicken. Skin the chicken pieces.

Do not use the bones and wings. Wrap each piece of chicken with a piece of bacon that is sufficient to go round and dip the pieces in the batter and deep fry.

Sauce

Ingredients

2 oz carrot / 2 oz bacon

2 oz onion

1 oz butter

1 tsp corn flour / 1/2 pint chicken stock

1 tbsp mango chutney / 1/4 teaspoon pepper

parsley

Method

Mince carrot, onion, bacon and fry in the butter. Mix stock and the seasonings with corn flour.

When cooked add chutney and cook for about 10 minutes more and pour over the fried chicken just before serving.

Betel leaf cake

Prepare a square shaped 3 or 2 ½ pound butter cake. Place it on a board. Take a large betel leaf and press the side where the veins are visible onto the cake and cut out its shape. Prepare hard butter icing (mix butter and icing sugar together and knead till the mixture does not stick to your fingers) and add some green colouring. Smooth it over the top of the cake using a palette knife.

Take the betel leaf and press the side in which the veins are visible over the hard butter icing so that the markings stand out on the surface. Pipe green icing round the top edge of the cake using nozzle number 16. Then pipe shell designs round the bottom edge of the cake using the same nozzle. Make some jasmine flowers (geta pichcha and saman pichcha) and decorate the top of the cake with them. You can place this cake at your Avurudu table or take it along while visiting your loved ones.

Marshmallow pudding

Ingredients

4 Egg-whites

2 tbsp Gelatin

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of water or

syrup Colouring and

flavouring

Method

Heat the gelatin. In one cup of water or syrup, until it dissolves, and then cool. Beat egg whites to a stiff froth with a pinch of salt. Add sugar and gelatin mixture alternatively to egg whites. Beat well after each addition.

Colour in pale green and flavour as desired. Then freeze. Decorate as shown in the picture.

Jujubes

Ingredients

400 g sugar

50 g gelatin

100 g glucose syrup

1/2 pint water

1/4 teaspoon citric acid

Method

Soak the gelatin in 1/2 pint water. In a saucepan mix sugar, glucose syrup and soaked gelatin and boil until thick.

Add colouring and essence. When the mixture cools pour into buttered trays or moulds and let it set for 24 hours.

Remove from the moulds and cut to any shape you like and mix with sugar.