My grateful thanks are due to the Sunday Times for featuring me in their June 6 edition of Taste.
I hope you all see my website for which I am thankful to, Norman Burns, Glenn Nicholas of OM4, and web designers Diane Wilks and Fanita Farcic and last, but not least, Craig Kinder for his wonderful photographs of the mouth watering dishes.

Cooking has been a passion with me since I was a young child. But constant thoughts and positive thinking has brought me to where I am with help from friends I have in the media.

The recipes that I have selected to teach in my classes have been developed over the last 35 years.
I was not born with cooking talents – it has been developed over the years with encouragement from a lot of people.

For a party to be a success apart from the ingredients that go into the dishes, I believe one must have the correct frame of mind in wanting to produce a good meal.
Then one has to select a menu that will blend well and complement each dish.

I have had so many comments from my students that when they look at a recipe book they get put off by the list of ingredients. I quite believe that.

To produce a good curry, one does not need, for instance, coriander seeds plus coriander powder.
When I make a fish curry my ingredients are: fish, onions, chilli powder, salt, curry leaves, whole garlic, fenugreek seeds, tamarind and coconut milk.
I looked up a cookery book for a recipe for cooking fish with tamarind and believe me, there were about 20 ingredients. This could even put me off cooking a fish curry!

As far as I am concerned, cooking should be enjoyable and not a chore. The art of cooking is therapeautic and creative.

As mentioned in the article I certainly would love to publish my own cookbook but everyone seems to want to publish a book on curries and the competition is very high.
As I always say, adding cumin and coriander leaves does not make a curry. But in the meantime refer to my recipes on my website and enroll for my classes and keep cooking curries.

Until next time!

Sarogini

Hi everyone

Here I am with something new for my Blog. I have so far been giving you my personal experiences. Well I thought why not for a change write about the spices used in Sri Lankan and Indian cuisines.

For a start I will talk about CHILLIES, perhaps the world’s most popular flavouring. They serve two purposes – to give the dish colour and to give a dish the flavouring and heat.

Chillies were discovered by the Spanish in the 16th Century. Chilli peppers as they were called were discovered in the Aztec and Mayan regions of Central and South America.

The chilli plant was then taken by the Spaniards to the hot humid areas of the Mediterranean.
Later it was taken by the Spaniards and Portuguese traders to Africa, India, Sri Lanka and the Far East.
In India and Sri Lanka it was so widely adapted that it is used in their entire cuisine. It is fundamental in South Eastern Asian cooking where chilli sambals are served at every meal.

It is important to understand the use of chillies in the making of curries as they are an important ingredient.

Not all chillies are hot. Fresh green unripe chillies are often less hot than ripe red ones.
There is a range of chilli varieties. Chillies are also available, fresh, canned, dried and as flakes or processed.
Most commonly there are two varieties of
chillies: the green variety, which is used fresh, and the red which is used in dried form.

Chillies are an important source of Vitamin C. Care should be taken when handling chillies. Always wash hands after handling chillies.

Powdered dry chillies should be stored in airtight containers away from sunlight. Buy chillies in small quantities and do not store for long periods as the flavour and aroma can be lost.

Green chillies are used in making salads and pickles or chutneys. In these preparations they are used raw. In some savouries they are used for cooking.

Recipes usually indicate how the chillies are to be used, slit or chopped. Some dishes call for broken-up red chilli, others for it to be ground into a paste with a little water or vinegar, while in other recipes only red chilli powder is to be used.
The stalks of chillies are always removed before use.

To achieve the bright colour effect of red chilli powder with a less hot taste, some recipes suggest that paprika can be added it can be mixed with paprika.

But I believe that the colour depends on the type of chilli used and the measurement as given in the recipe.

In authentic Sri Lankan cuisine, I do not use paprika. One does not have to de-seed green chillies.

In my recipes I use BABA’s plain chilli powder.

For chicken and meat dishes I use this chilli powder, together with my own blend of curry powder.