Kiribath (Coconut Milk Rice)

Kiribath is a traditional dish made out of rice cooked in coconut milk. It’s a dish Sri Lankan’s take for breakfast on its own or with one other side dish of chilli paste with onions, hot fish curry or even hot chicken curry.

Kiribath for Sri Lankans is a dish specially made for auspicious or a happy occasion which believes to bring good luck

kiribath is shown in the middle, with all traditional sweets and cake

Method

Wash the rice and cook rice in 5 cups of water in a rice cooker. If you are using a pan cover and cook the rice under low heat. When its almost done mix the coconut milk and salt to task and stir well and allow it to cook for few more minutes. Rice need to be overcooked in the coconut milk to get the best taste.

Serve the hot rice on to a platter and flatten it using flat spoon
or spatula. Cut it into squares and serve with a side dish as mentioned above.

Serves 4

4 cups of white rice

A can of thick coconut milk

salt to taste

Watalappam (sweet jaggery pudding)

5 medium Eggs

250g of Jaggery

250 ml of thick coconut milk

150 ml of luke warm water

A pinch of Cardamom powered

A pinch of Cinnamon powered

½  tsp of nutmeg powered

¼ tsp of rose essence

100g cashew nuts

50g of raisings

First, lightly beat the eggs.

Mix jaggery and water and boil until the jaggery has melted. Keep is aside to cool.

Add the cooled mixture, coconut milk and eggs and continue beating.

Add all spices and flavourings to the mixture and pour into a greased bowl. Sprinkle with cashew nuts and rasings

Cover with grease proof paper  and steam for 1-1/2 hours in an oven (gas mark 4/180C’ / 350F’)

Leave it to cool before serving

Aluwa (Sri Lankan delight made out of rice flour)

Rice Flour 400g

Sugar 300g

Water 1 cup

Sesames Seeds 100g

Cashew 50g (finely chopped)

1/4 tsp of cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp of nutmeg powder

One clove

1/4 tsp cardommon powder

Roast rice flour and sesames seeds separately until golden brown. Keep it aside to cool down. Then add water and sugar and bring it to boil until the mixture reaches to the right consistent. You can test the mixture for its right consistency by taking a spoon and see whether the mixture makes a thread looking line at the end when poured down from the spoon. Keep the sugar mixture aside until it is perfectly cool.

Keep a 1/4 of the roasted rice flour away from the roasted flour mixture from which you take 1/2 to spread across a flat tray. Keep the other 1/2 for garnishing

Add all other dry ingredients in the recipe to the remaining 3/4th flour mixture and then mix it to the sugar mixture. While mixing the ingredients together pour it to the flat tray and add the remaining flour on top and the level it before cutting in to diamond shapes.