Reason 2: String Hoppers, Kotthu, and co.

Discovering new tasty foods is one of the best parts of traveling, at least for a person like me who loves food more than...pretty much anything.

Eating rice and curry with lovely Ruwan and his family. 

String hoppers are a dome of thin noodles made of fermented rice flour and served with coconut sambol* and a coconut curry sauce. You can just buy some to go for 80 rps ~ 50 cents!!

String hoppers with coconut sambol and dal. 

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*Coconut sambol is to die for! Grated fresh coconut, chili, garlic, ...put that on anything and you’re good to go!

**Roti is like a really thin pancake/crepe/tortilla, but here they are soaked in butter/ghee for hours so that they are extra soft and stretchy.

Another tasty dish is kotthu. Take a roti**, some veg, spices and add egg/cheese/chicken and start frying and chopping away on a hot griddle! 

As for something sweet, coconut pancakes are spectacular. I enjoyed them for breakfast with fresh fruit....mmmmh.

There are so many other tasty foods in  SL. What I learned is to eat where the locals eat! Rice and curry, coconut roti, fried rice... In Weligama, check out ZamZam, AVM Creamhouse, Dulnetha, or any Roti stand in the city center.

Of course, there are also yummy places catered to tourists. In Weligama, Aloha and Hangtime have yummy food for still cheaper prices than in Switzerland or the US. In Ella, checkup out Chill. 

Thursday is My Favorite Day

We all have a favorite day. What’s yours? Mine used to be Friday because I had two days of relaxation and free time ahead of me to look forward to. Now my favorite one is Thursday.
Why?
...Because it’s Aloo Chop Day at NAG. Well, that’s what I call it, at least. :) And most of you know how important food is to me. Yes, I love to eat! I also love to cook, something I haven’t done for a couple of months. So, I’ve decided to post some of my favourite foods that I want you to cook for me when I get back. Ok? After all, I will be pretty rusty at cooking by then! ;)

So as far as I know, ‘aloo’ means potato and ‘chop’ means chopped up (I’m assuming).

Basically what is needed, although I’ve noticed variations:

Aloo Mixture:
boiled and peeled potatoes
salt
spices: cumin, coriander (roasted and ground, preferably)
chopped green chili peppers
chopped white or red onion
chopped cilantro
ground ginger

Batter:
gram flour (I think that’s chickpea flour)
turmeric and red chili powder
oil to fry

Serve with:
spicy tomato dipping sauce

Mash up the potatoes, then mix in the spices, chilis, ginger, onion and cilantro.
In a separate bowl combine the flour,  turmeric and water to make the batter. Make an oval-shaped ball or patty with the potato mixture, dip it in the batter and fry it in hot oil.

I am already imagining other things to mix in with the potato....Bacon? Cheese? Jalapeños? Red bell pepper? Mmmmh!

                                          NAG’s Aloo Chop ala Cook Didi

Watch this video (in Nepali), if you’d like to see the steps:

https://youtu.be/eTy9HamdE5k