Every day, Swarna de Mel is up at 5 a.m., pulling tropical herbs from her garden, harvesting dinosaur-egg-sized jackfruit, and cracking coconuts with a hatchet in preparation for curries, spicy sambols, and mallum salads. You’d expect her home to be filled with the smells of exotic spices—cumin, cardamom, chilies, and loads of black pepper tickling the nose. But the scent is neutral, the kitchen is quiet, and de Mel is nowhere to be found. And then the dishes suddenly appear.
That’s because she’s been cooking outside, not far from her jungle of a garden. Many Sri Lankan families have two kitchens: the “rough” kitchen outside, and the pantry, or show kitchen, inside. While the indoor kitchen can be equipped with all of today’s latest appliances, the real cooking happens in a place that can get messy enough to hose down. Here, the culinary magic is made with ancient tools, rarely modified over the centuries. I got a chance to experience this when visiting her and many of her siblings who live in traditional homes that have this double kitchen, too.
Made of clay, stone, bamboo, or palm leaves, rugged tools decorate the walls and shelves of these rough kitchens. And they are never facing the west. According to Sinhalese superstition, only the dead face west, the direction signifying the end.
Modern metal and plastic utensils adorn Swarna’s indoor kitchen, but these rarely cross her mind when cooking. This family chef opts for the rudimentary, time-honored utensils, making food prep more hands-on, better synthesizing robust, smack-you-in-the-face flavors, like a well-composed piece of music. And after tasting Swarna’s gotu kola mallum (Sri Lanka’s version of tabouli), you don’t question her methods. Here is a list of her favorite tools.
The Curry Pot
In Sri Lanka, curry is synonymous with sauce, so almost every hot dish is called a curry. Enter the curry pot, or walang. These round clay recipients make one-dish wonders that include fiery garlic, chicken or fish sauces with big meaty chunks. Pots are used directly on a wood or gas flame, and often sent straight to the table for serving.
String Hopper Press
String hoppers are rice noodle cakes, made by pressing flour dough through a stubby metal tube called an indiyappam wangediya, which creates fine vermicelli-like strands. These small cakes are placed on individual bamboo mats then stacked into a steamer.
The Grinding Stone
One of the most ancient tools is the miris gala. It’s a simple two-stone grinder consisting of one large flat stone as the surface and another heavy cylindrical one used, like a rolling pin, to crush the ingredients for sambol, the spicy salsa-like salad where coconut often plays the star. Sri Lankan sambols often include Maldive fish, garlic, shallots, lime juice, and red peppers.
Comments