Grinding Spices

Someone asked me how long it took to grind the spices for Deema's Curry spices. All of a few minutes thanks to my shiny grinding machine. Short bursts of electricity and voila!

My mum though used this pestle and mortar for when she made
her spices. Isn't it beautiful?

Wherefore art thou Prata? And what about the sauce?

If you've lived in Malaysia or Singapore you will have enjoyed the odd lazy Saturday or Sunday morning curing your hangover with a gorgeous prata, (or roti chanai, if you're a Malaysian) and curry sauce, combined with wonderfully strong coffee from the Kopi Tiam (coffee shop).

If you've subsequently left for another country, like us going to Scotland, you'll know that empty feeling that you'll never have that prata morning again. (sob)

The good news is that you can now buy the prata here in most Indian sub-continent supplier shops. Just look in their freezer department.

We've made a few attempts at the sauce using coconut milk and deemaspice. Last one was with lamb mince. 

But can some one please tell me the proper recipe?

First few orders!

Freshly made today! The first orders will be delivered or posted out today. Exciting times.

Bratty Curry

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Fusion: adj, whatever’s left in the fridge.

Curry is a wonderful diaspora of fusions and influences; it’s a fascinating subject of interest and study. But in our house, ‘fusion food’ usually refers to a failure to plan and a lack of time!

This 'fusion' recipe involves already precooked Bratwurst sausage from the cheapie Lydls down the road. It was hastily rushed through by my husband as an everyday meal.

Ingredients:

1x packet Bratwurst pre cooked Sausages (Bratties), cut into bite size chunks.

Whatever beans, peas, assorted veg you have in the fridge.

1 or 2 tins of coconut milk

300ml of single cream (if you forgot to get in enough coconut milk)

1x Onion

1 or 2 Garlic clove

1 and ½ teaspoon Deema Spice Curry powder

1 and  ½ teaspoon chillie powder

How to cook

Slice onions and garlic, then fry until soft. Now throw in all the bratties. They pre –cooked, so immediately mix in the Deema Spice.

Next add all the veg you think needs eating that day.

Add a tin of coconut milk. If you’ve made too much curry like my husband did, you can supplement with some single cream if you can find some.

Add a small splosh of water.

Add chillie to taste/preference.

Simmer until thick, or until children start moaning about hunger.

How to find coconut milk

In Sri Lanka, most things sometimes seem to be made out of the coconut tree, so it's not surprising you find some of it - coconut milk - in a Sri Lankan curry. 

The good news is, in the UK, you can easily buy coconut milk in tins, if it's not in their foreign food section have a look in the baking isle, along with the hundreds and thousands etc. You can also find coconut milk tins in most Asian shops, under their baking section. Costs range from £1 to about £1.60.

Failing that, go online and bulk order hundreds of tins to have with our delicious curry powder ;)

Our favourite flavours

We're a busy family, like everyone else. So I thought you might like to try some easy to manage, surprisingly tastey Sri Lankan favourites to brighten up your meal times and dinner parties.

Follow the blog for new ideas. 

Curry Quantities

Not a perfect science so please feel free to add or change the way you make YOUR curry. 
My mother always did.

For two

What you will need

·   1 tablespoon - vegetable oil

·   1 small shallot - chopped

·   2 cloves of garlic - chopped

·   2 tablespoons curry leaves (fresh or dried)

·   1 teaspoon sugar if making pork curry

·   200g chopped chicken, prawns, pork, fish (cod or haddock) or vegetables

·   11/2 tablespoons - Deema's spices

·    1/2 tin coconut milk (200ml, full fat)

·    1 cup of water

·    Salt to taste

You can also add any vegetables you like to your meat, fish or prawn curry.

 For four peeps

What you will need

·      2 tablespoons - vegetable oil

·      2 small shallots  - chopped

·      3 cloves garlic - chopped

·      3 tablespoons curry leaves (fresh or dried)

·      1 teaspoon of sugar if making pork dish

·      400g chopped chicken, prawns, pork, fish (cod or haddock) or vegetables

·      3 tablespoons - Deema's spices

·      1 tin coconut milk (400ml, full fat)

·      2 cups of water

·      Salt to taste

You can also add any vegetables you like to your meat, fish or prawn curry.

Spicy Roast Chicken

All you need is a bird, 4 tablespoons of Deema's curry spices, salt and ground pepper to taste, roughly 50g butter and some leftover white wine.








Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Melt the butter, add the spices, salt and pepper and make into a paste. Then spread this spicy paste all over the bird. It needs to cover the bird.

Cover the chicken loosely with foil and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil, add the white wine and roast for another 20-30 minutes and reduce the temperature to 160C-180C/320F-350F/Gas 3-4.

It's fully cooked when the juices run clear when the bird is pierced in the thigh with a skewer.

Serve with vegetables or salad,  bread or rice. 

Spicy Fried Rice

All you need is 2 cups of leftover or cold cooked rice, 400g pork mince, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 thumb size of ginger, 2 tablespoons of Deema's curry spices, any vegetables you have in the fridge or a packet of stir fry, 1 egg, light soya sauce, rice wine, salt, ground black pepper and fresh chillies.






Beat the egg into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce and a dash of rice wine and leave aside.

In a wok, add the chopped garlic, ginger and mince to the hot oil. When the pork is brown, mix in the spices and the rice. Then add the vegetables till the vegetables are cooked. If it is sticking to the wok, add a little bit more oil. Now add the egg mixture and mix through. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Chop fresh chillies and mix with 3 tablespoons of light soya sauce. Serve this as the hot accompaniment to the fried rice.

PS. You could also use chopped bacon, minced beef or prawns.

Yum, home-cooked pork curry

Traditional Sri Lankan Pork Curry. 

Traditional Sri Lankan pork curry is normally quite dry, black and made with very fatty bits of pork and lots of oil. My mum made it with some fat (that was for me, I love fatty bits of pork!) but she also didn't like it dry or black (who wants to eat black food she would say) so this is her version.

Lets make pork curry!

In a saucepan or wok, put in the oil.

Fry garlic and shallots until soft.

Add curry leaves and finely chopped fresh lemon grass (1/2 a stalk). Then add chopped pork.

Mix 3 tablespoons of Deema's spices until the pork is covered in spices.

Then add a few dashes of light soya sauce and a dash of vinegar.

Stir-fry for 2/3 minutes.

Then add the tin of coconut milk. Once empty, half fill the tin with water and add that in as well.

Turn down the heat and allow to simmer.

After 5/6 minutes it should start to smell lovely.

Taste. 

Now add sugar. 

Add salt and if more zing is needed, mix in a bit more of Deema's spices (a teaspoon at a time) and/or chillies.

Simmer for another 10-12 minutes if meat. 

In the last 3 minutes or so, add pak choi or choy sim or  spinach.

Serve with rice.