A coveted treat in Sri Lanka, Lampreis consists of several dishes bundled together in a banana leaf and steamed. Over a base of short-grain samba rice cooked in a rich marrow bone stock you have tempered brinjal (eggplant) curry; a cutlet or frikadel; a mixed meat curry of beef, chicken, and pork (or jackfruit curry as the vegetarian option); seeni (or sugar) sambol; fried ash plantain curry (made from the banana flower); and blachan (a condiment of Indonesian origin made of dried prawns, onions, salt, lime and spices all ground together into a paste). Each dish is prepared individually and then assembled in a banana leaf wrapping and steamed so that their flavors meld together, creating a rich and flavorful meal. While it may all sound quite humble, to know lampreis is to love it.
For this edition of The Sri Lankan Supper Club, Chef & Gastronaut Skiz Fernando prepares this iconic dish.
Menu
Appetizers:
Fish Cutlets
Masala Vade
Kadala (Spicy Chickpeas)
Main:
Lampreis
with
Samba rice
Brinjal (eggplant) Curry
Fish cutlet
Mixed meat curry (beef, chicken, pork) or young jackfruit curry (vegetarian)
Seeni (sugar) sambol
Ash plantain curry
Blachan (shrimp sambol) or coconut sambol (vegetarian)
Dessert:
Wattalapam (coconut flan)
Please feel free to BYOB
*Please note: There is no dairy in this meal. The only gluten is in the breadcrumbs for the appetizer.
Skiz Fernando is author of The New York Times Notable Cookbook, Rice & Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cooking (Hippocrene Books, 2012). He is the host of the web series Pan Asian, on YouTube, and took Anthony Bourdain to Sri Lanka for an episode of No Reservations (Travel Channel).
http://www.riceandcurry.wordpress.com
