Pastry can be a beast. It was a beast that I waited a long time to conquer. The first time I baked a chocolate ganache tart, 2 hours before the guests arrived it broke! I hadn’t quite mastered the removable base on the tin and the very short, crumbly pastry. I hated it! I hated…
Polos (Jackfruit) Curry
Polos is one of my favourite vegetable curries. In Sri Lanka, the cooking of this dish is kind of a sacred art. The best jackfruit trees are well known and highly prized. When they yield their fruit it’s picked and prepared with a prodigious amount of care. It’s cooked low and slow over a wood…
Curry Leaves
When we left Sydney I had to leave my beautiful curry leaf plant behind. It was so handy being able to pop into the garden, tear off a sprig and run back in to pop it into a curry. I don’t have that luxury here. I suspect the climate gets far too cold for curry…
Pol (Coconut) Roti and Lunu Miris
POL ROTI Sri Lankan food can often be time consuming and labour intensive. It’s well worth the effort but sometimes it’s difficult to find the time on a busy weeknight. Pol Roti is an exception. Easy, quick and tasty, it’s something we often eat during the week when the need for curry hits us and…
Roast Vegetable Quiche
Mr Firehouse gave me a challenge this week. When I accused him of being not very keen on vegetarian cooking, he asked for a vegetarian dinner. This is a vegetarian quiche with cream cheese pastry, so really, double the cheese! It’s delicious, nutritious and colourful! I’ve always loved the Exclusively food version of quiche and this…
Chocolate Biscuit Pudding
Chocolate biscuit pudding is one of those childhood dishes that make me truly happy. Can you imagine my excitement when my cousin informed me that Latin American grocery stores stocked Marie biscuits, made by Goya brand. I was thrilled! I couldn’t wait to make it and when I spied a grocery at Pike Place…
Pork Dumplings
I remember this one time when we lived in Homebush West, our cousin Ruvi dropped by for dinner. She’d spent the weekend with some friends who’d taught her how to make dumplings. She came over, straight from work armed with 100g of mince from the uber-fancy butcher at Rhodes Shopping Centre. Poor Ruvi was mortified,…
Banana Kinda Ice cream
Do you know what happens when you get frozen chopped bananas and blitz them in a food processor…ICE CREAM! As discussed earlier, my husband has a tendency to let bananas go bad. Now, when I see bananas threatening to spoil I chop them, stick them in a freezer bag and pop them in the deep…
Eggplant Pickle
When we lived in Australia, our flat was across the road from Paddy’s market in Flemington. For family events we would often go there bright and early and pick up fish and vegies at remarkebly cheap prices.When I went to make this eggplant pickle, I’d often grab a box of eggplants from the markets so…
Caramel Pudding/ Cheats Creme caramel
This is a really easy and simple pudding that is famous in Lanka. Everyone makes it and everyone loves it. This is Mr Firehouse’s absolute favourite. It’s guaranteed to win me “wifey of the day.” Ingredients 1 cup white sugar 1 can sweetened condensed milk I can full of water 1 tsp vanilla 4 eggs…
akkis kitchen 