Friday, June 22, 2018

Traditional Sri Lankan Foods

Wandu Appa

This is a traditional Sri Lankan sweet
Ingredient:
·        3 cups Wet Row Rice flour
·        1 cup thick coconut milk
·        1 cup grated Jaggery
·        ¾ cup of Coconut water
·        ½ tsp Baking soda
·        1 tsp Salt

·        Kanda kola


Mix rice flour with coconut water and leave covered for 4 hours. Add the coconut milk little by little and mix jaggery, baking soda and salt to form a thick batter. Again leave covered for 2 hours.
Roll the kanda leaf to make a cup (gotta) and bind the two edges with a toothpick. Pour the thick batter into the cup and steam.
Serve with grated coconut mixed with treacle. 

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Sri Lankan Tea

Ceylon Tea ……

The "Tea" plant, known as Camellia Sinensis, was first introduced to Sri Lanka in 1860 as a commercial crop. In 1860, James Taylor set up commercial tea cultivation at Hewahata Lulkadura Estate, in the outskirts of Kandy. I believe that James Taylor, as the father of Sri Lanka's commercial tea cultivation, is not wronged. The first tea plantation was introduced in 1824, although the introduction was not for commercial purposes, but for research purposes.


"Tea" has become the most popular drink in the world. It is not wrong to introduce Sri Lanka as the owner of the true Tea flavor. It is a great honor for us. Tea has a great demand in Sri Lanka and popularity has remained unchanged in the past. Tea is leading crop, through Sri Lankan commercial crops. Moreover, Tea industry is able to earn more foreign exchange to Sri Lanka. As a result of the employment opportunities, approximately one million employees work in the tea plantation sector.
Tropics and subtropics can be considered as a tea-growing crop in the region. Further, a temperature for tea cultivation is 15.6 degrees Celsius and 27 degrees Celsius. The tea tree's growth is necessary for rain all year round. The rain is necessary for tea plant’s growth all year around.
Although the use of seeds for tea planting is an old method, seedling shoots are now used to obtain plants. This is known as VP. The brown soils are suitable for growing tea plants.
Although it is naturally up to 10 meters high, it can be planted in the tea tree, but if it is grown up to 1 meter as a commercial crop, it can hinder the leaves. Therefore, the pruning of the tea plant is carried out. If you look at this process in one way, it can also be called a repeated rejuvenation of the tea plant.


Tea plucking is an art. This requires more skilled workers. The uncovered leaf and the two leaves below have to be harvested. Because it's used for the production of high-quality tea. Only use the labor resource for plucking the leaves, because the mechanized plucking is harvested as a result of the mixing of harder parts than the leaves. If the hard part is mixed up, the quality of tea production can be reduced.
Reclaiming the tea leaves for the tea factories. Tea leaves are divided into four categories. That is,
• Green Tea
• Unfermented Tea
• Black Tea
• Semi unfermented Tea



The prepared tea is then put into foreign markets, packed in wooden boxes or flax.
Tea leaf industry is mainly done in Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, and Matale. The share of tea produced in Sri Lanka is more than 90% of the tea export to the foreign market. The highest number of tea in Sri Lanka is taken by the United States
.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Traditional Sinhala Food

Traditonal Sinhala Pickle


Ingredients :

1.   Cup of vinegar 1/4
2.     400g of raw papaya
3.     100g of red onion
4.     50g of small green chilies
5.     100 or 150 grams of carrot and beans
6.     1 tablespoon of mustard
7.     1/4 turmeric for mustard past
8.     10 grams of Moringa bark
9.     Garlic
10.  Pepper
11.   A small piece of raw ginger
12.  1/4 cup of vinegar to boil the ingredients
13.   Turmeric 1/4 Tbsp
14.   Taste of salt




How to make : 

Mix together mustard, salt, ginger, garlic and turmeric powder. Then put the vinegar in a clay pot and boil it well. Then add the red onion, carrots, beans, chilies and papaya in separate vinegar and boil for about 30 seconds.

Then add the mustard and ginger mixture to the vinegar and cook for about 2 minutes. Now remove the vinegar mixture from the pan and mix all the pre-cooked vegetables and mix well.

Then put in a well-dried clean glass bottle or clay pot.
This is very tasty and smells good.
 
When making pickles, it is very important to use a clay pot. Similarly, if you use a wet spoon, this can be use for about 5-6 months.

Sinhala Traditional Foods

Traditional Sinhala Achcharu

Ingredients:

1)      400 g of row papaya (cut into thin triangular shaped pieces)
2)      100g of small red onion
3)      50 g of small green chilies (each split into two halves)
4)      100 g – 150 g of carrots
5)      1 tbsp of mustard seeds
6)      ¼  tsp of turmeric powder (for mustard paste)
7)      Piece of drumstick bark (10 g)
8)      ¼ tsp of vinegar for blanching
9)      3 garlic cloves
10)     Black pepper 20
11)    Salt to taste
12)    A small piece of raw ginger
13)    ¼ cup of vinegar
14)    ¼ tsp of turmeric powder (for papaya)


          Method
                             Mustard, salt, garlic, pepper, ginger, turmeric powder should be grind together. Then put the vinegar into a clay pot and then boil it. Then add red onion, carrots, beans, chilies and row papaya separately in vinegar, boil for about 30 minutes.
                          After that, the previously mixed mustard and ginger paste should be mixed with the vinegar and baked in about 2 minutes. Now remove the vinegar mixture from the cooker and add all pre-prepared vegetables and mix well.
      Then you can preserve a well- cleaned glass bottle or a clay pot. This is really good and a good smell.
                             Also a dried, clean spoon can be preserved for about 5-6 months.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Our Pride.....




(Temple of the Tooth - Kandy)

Sri Dalada Maligawa or The Temple of the Tooth


Sri Dalada Maligawa or The Temple of the Tooth is located in the city of kandy, Sri Lanka. The Sacred Tooth Relic of The Buddha, which is housed at the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy.



The Sacred Tooth Relic was brought to Sri Lanka by Princess Hemamala and Prince Dantha. Further, The Sacred Tooth Relic is becoming the leading national and religious symbol of the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka. The Temple of Tooth was first built by the king of Palamu Wimaladharmasuriya. Moreover, every king who ruled the country had to work more hard to protect the sacred Tooth Relic. This is because they kept the Tooth Relic in under their hands. The Tooth Relic is signifying him as a king and to symbolize the kingdom.
There are four temples in the vicinity of the Dalada Maligawa. These are called in Sinhala “Sathara Maha Dewala.”These are Natha Devalaya, Vishnu Devalaya, Kataragama Devalaya and Paththini Devalaya.
As well as four ceremonies were held at the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. These are Aluth aurudu Mangalya (the New Year Festival), Esala Mangalya (the Esala Festival), Karthika Mangalya and Aluth Sahal Mangalya (The New rice festival).



The sacred tooth relic oblation is performed daily by the monks of the Malwathu and Asgiri monasteries. These are held three times a day. (Early, Lunch, and Evening). Also, on Wednesdays, the Nanumura Feast is held as a special feast. The tooth relic is symbolically bathing by medicinal water. 


The Esala Mangalya is the most important part of these feasts. It is due to the Sri Dalada Perahera. The Esala Perahera was started in the Anuradhapura era, and it has been done in the same manner during the colonial era. This procession is conducted by giving priority to past traditions. The special feature of the Esala Perahera is the participation of the elephants. Among the elephants in the Dalada Maligawa are Sinha Raja, Ekadanthaya, Indi Raja, Sumana, and Vijaya Raja. There are many local cultural dances in the Dalada Perahera. The procession begins with planting caps according to the 'Esala Pura Poya'.



Kandy Esala Perahera is also known as The Festival of the Tooth. The Esala Perahera is a grand festival celebrated with elegant costumes and is held in July and August in Kandy, Sri Lanka. In this year Kandy Esala  perahera 2018 will begin on Wednesday, July 18 and ends on Saturday, July 28.
This historical procession is held annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha. The procession consists of many traditional traditional local dances such as fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandyan dances and various other cultural dances. The festival ends with the traditional diya-kepeema ritual, a water cutting ceremony which is held at the Mahaweli River at GetambeKandy.




The three storey museum of the Dalada Maligawa is also a special place. The museum is also a place of concern for local and foreign tourists. Historical items, Buddha statues, precious stones, traditional up country jewelery and many other things have been found in this museum.

In fact this is a national treasure. In 1998 UNESCO named the Tooth Relic Temple and declared the holy city Kandy as a World Heritage site.




Nature...