Retro Food For Modern Times

I had a different post planned for today but after the events of Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, I thought I would change things up and share some Sri Lankan food.  Lamprais is a dish from the Dutch Burgher community of Sri Lanka, which is my heritage.  The name is derived from the Dutch word “lomprijst” which translates into “parcel of food”.

For English speakers, the closest pronunciation is “lump rice”.

So this is our “parcel of food”.  It is Sri Lankan comfort food at it’s best – hearty, spicy, flavoursome.  Lamprais is something that I have eaten for as long as I can remember – from being a small child who would only eat the fish cutlets (the meatball type things you can see in the picture above) and the rice because everything else was too spicy to nowadays loving the fact that I can have a delicious, satisfying, complex meal on the table within about 45 minutes and using either one baking tray or a steamer.

For the last, we think four years, (maybe five) Mum and I have been making our lamprais at Easter and it has become a little tradition for us(just like chocolate eggs)!  We were planning our timetable over a very non Sri Lankan roast lamb dinner when we heard the horrible news of the Easter Sunday Isis bombings in Sri Lanka.  Thankfully no one in our family or friends was injured in the horrendous act of violence but over 300 innocent people have lost their lives.

I have always wanted to share this dish but have baulked at it because it’s just so involved…but given we were down to make them, now seemed like a perfect time.

Let’s break down what goes into our version of lamprais.  This will vary slightly, each family will have their own variation. For instance, many people add an egg into their lamprais which is not something we do.  Also, traditionally in Sri Lanka many people add fried ash plantains.

Here’s what goes into ours:

Here is Charmaine Solomon’s recipe for Lamprais – there are some slightly different spellings / terminology but this is the closest version to ours that I could find.

We do not however, pour that final bit of coconut milk over the dish before cooking.

Lamprais Base – Ghee Rice

Ghee Rice is the foundation of every lamprais.  (Except for last year when we ran out and had to sub in some microwave brown rice for our last two lamprais).

Ghee rice is long grain or basmati ricecooked in ghee (duh) with spices such as cardamom, cloves, curry leaves and cinnamon.  This gives a lovely flavourful base for your lamprais.

The Main – Lamprais Curry

So, in our breakdown of labour, mum always cooks the ghee rice because she does it really well and I can’t cook rice for shit.  Making the lamprais curry?  That’s my job.

Lamprais curry is like no other curry, I know for two reasons.  Firstly it’s a mixed meat curry containing beef, lamb, chicken and pork.  I mean have you ever?  It’s also delicious.  Like seriously who knew mixing ALL the meats would taste so good?

Second, in most other curries, you cook the meat from the start in the gravy.  Not so with this one.  You boil the beef, lamb and chicken first, then tip the cooked meat into the curry gravy to simmer away for a couple of hours.

If you make this, be prepared to chop things for HOURS.  Four onions,  eight garlic cloves.  And around two kilos of meat into a pea-sized dice.

Did I say labour of love?

Did I say this is why we split this between two people and only cook it once a year?  On a long weekend?

Also, you can use the water used to boil the mix of meats as stock to flavour the rice.

Lamprais – My Favourite Bit – Fish Cutlets

Usually, in a lamprais, you get two fish cutlets.  So, they are always the first thing I eat.  And the last thing I eat.  These are little crumbed meatballs you can see in the photo. Or should that be fishballs?  Either way?  They are delicious.  If you are averse to fish, you could sub these out with frikkadels.

Mum makes these –  she made around 60 of them this year.  Which was handy because I ate my weight in them as we were going!

This recipe is from S for Sri Lanka.  All other recipes are from Charmaine Solomon via the The Great Australian Cookbook.

In the above photo, you can also see our first condiment or sambol – Prawn Blachan

Lamprais Accoutrements 1 – Prawn Blachan

Blachan is made from dried prawns and spices.  It is spicy, salty, pungent and a little goes a long way.

Lamprais Accoutrements 2 – Seeni Sambol

Seeni Sambol is a caramelised onion relish that adds a touch of sweetness to your lamprais.  You could make this yourself.  If you feel like chopping up another four onions after you’ve chopped up four for the curry….or you could find your local Indian / Asian / Sri Lankan grocery store and just buy a jar of it.

You have to make the rice, you have to make the curry, the meatballs and the blachan.  Trust me,  unless you want to end up sobbing on the floor, buy the seeni sambol.

Or make it just because it’s delicious a couple of days before you want to make the lamprais.

Here is our process in motion!

Lamprais Accoutrements 2 – Brinjal (Eggplant) Moju

Now, normally I make our brinjal moju but this year, I decided to use some ready made. Not so much because of my recently diagnosed allergies, but more so because I just didn’t have the time.  The purpose of the eggplant moju is to add a little sour into the dish, to cut through the richness of the curry.  And possibly also to add a vegetable that is not onion into this dish!

I also have no concerns about eating the moju despite the allergy.  It is, after all, only a spoonful per meal

Which brings us to the end.  We made 16 lamprais. We make ours big so one is enough for a meal.

Now you might have been wondering about the preponderance of aluminium foil in this post.  Lamprais are traditionally wrapped in and steamed in a banana leaf.  This also adds another layer of flavour/aroma to this dish.   Here is a traditional lamprais that I had at the DBU (Dutch Burgher Union) in Colombo when I was there in 2015.

As much as I would like to go traditional, we use aluminium foil so we can pop our “parcels of food”  straight into the freezer.  You can either bake your frozen lamprais in the oven for around 40 minutes or steam them for around the same amount of time.  I personally like to cook them in the oven because the bottom of the rice goes a little crispy like in claypot rice.

So that’s it…our lamprais….I don’t expect any of you to be crazy enough to make it, but if you have somewhere that sells Sri Lankan food near you, why not try some!

Stay safe, be kind to each other, take care and have a wonderful week!