Share
To give Delhi a taste of Sri Lankan flavours, the Farmer’s Basket - a luxury dining space by Pullman, New Delhi, Aerocity - is hosting a 10-day Sri Lankan food festival that sees a specially-curated menu by Chef Anura Chandrasiri Lenora from Colombo.
Coconuts and palm leaves at the entrance and the aroma of regional delicacies will instantly captivate your senses, giving you a vibe of the country. We began with a special Sri Lankan mocktail. The coconut, basil, and ginger concoction was a refreshing way to cleanse the palate. For appetisers, we tried the spicy chicken wings fry and isso patties.
Source: Sri Lankan Curry/Pullman, New Delhi, Aerocity
To mellow down the heat from the meat-intensive main course, we turned towards desserts. Amid all the mud puddings and chocolate cakes, what stole the show was Kakul Dodol. The dark and sweet bars must not be mistaken for chocolate, as they are made with rice flour, palm jaggery, and coconut, replicating the true flavours of the region on a plate.
This traditional sweet meat left an indelible mark on our taste buds and we’ve fetched its recipe for you to try.
Ingredients:
• 350 gm white raw rice flour
• 3 litre thick coconut milk
• 900 gm palm jaggery
• 250 gm brown sugar or castor sugar
• 12 ground cardamom
• 200 gm cashew
• 1 tsp salt
Method:
• Chop cashew and grate jaggery. Keep it aside.
• Sieve rice flour. Reserve around 500 ml of coconut milk and then mix rice flour with the rest of coconut milk.
• After mixing all rice flour with coconut milk, filter it. Then, remove flour lumps, if any.
• Melt jaggery in reserved coconut milk. Tiny jaggery pieces are acceptable but all the big pieces need to be melted with hands.
• Add sugar into this melted jaggery.
• Keep the pan on the stove and stir under low heat until sugar and jaggery dissolves completely.
• Put rice flour and coconut milk into the jaggery mixture.
• By this time, rice flour has gone to the bottom of the pan. So, mix it very well before pouring it into the jaggery mixture.
• Add salt and ground cardamom.
• Increase fire to medium level and stir continuously until we finish making dodol.
• After around ½ hour, the mixture is well-heated and bubbles start coming up.
• When dodol becomes thick and doesn’t stick on the sides of the pan, add chopped cashews.
• By this time, oil starts coming from the dodol. You can slowly remove excess oil by using a spoon.
• When the mixture becomes thicker, transfer this to a flat surface and press down the mixture to make it flat.
• Leave it until dodol cools down completely. This takes around 6-7 hours.
• When dodol cools down completely, cut it into pieces and serve.
