Dark roasted
curry powder, a fine attention to the balance of salty-sour-sweet, wholesome
red rice and toasted curry leaves, plenty of coconut milk and chili heat. These
are the flavors of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was across roads in the sea routes of
the East. Three waves of colonization—Portuguese, Dutch and British—and the
Chinese laborers who came with them, left their culinary imprint on Sri Lankan
food. Sri Lankan cooking with its many vegetarian dishes gives testimony to the
presence of a multi-ethnic and multi -religious population.
Everyday classics like beefsmoore and Jaffna
crab curry are joined by luxurious feast dishes, such as nargisi kofta and
green mango curry, once served to King Kasyapa in his 5th century sky palace of
Sigiriya.
Sri Lanka was a
Everyday classics like beef
Vegetable
dishes include cashew curry, jackfruit curry, asparagus poriyal , tempered
lentils, broccoli varai and lime-masala mushrooms. There are appetizers of
chili-mango cashews, prawn lentil patties, fried mutton rolls, and ribbon tea sandwiches.
Deviled chili eggs bring the heat, yet ginger-garlic chicken is mild enough for
a small child. Desserts include Sir Lankan favorites: love cake, mango
fluff, milk toffee and vattalappam , a richly-spiced coconut custard.
In A Feast of Serendib, Mary Anne Mohanraj introduces her mother’s cooking and her own Americanizations, providing a wonderful introduction to Sri Lankan American cooking, straightforward enough for a beginner, and nuanced enough to capture the flavor of Sri Lankan cooking.
In A Feast of Serendib, Mary Anne Mohanraj introduces her mother’s cooking and her own Americanizations, providing a wonderful introduction to Sri Lankan American cooking, straightforward enough for a beginner, and nuanced enough to capture the flavor of Sri Lankan cooking.
Chili-Mango Cashews
MY REVIEW:

A feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A Feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj is a 2019 Serendib Press publication.
This is a wonderful and colorful cookbook featuring recipes featuring several geographical blends, but is mainly based in Sri Lanka. The recipes are eclectic, exotic, yet simple.
Naturally the author began with a brief lesson on the spices one will want to have on hand. Once more I was struck by how many of these spices are also frequently used here in Texas and are quite easy to find at my local supermarket- no special trips out of town or ordering online. The author included a recipe for making homemade curry, something I found interesting, since many store -bought curries look good, but are lacking in flavor.
There are menu suggestions, perfect for those who entertain or are hosting a dinner party.
From there the cookbook is organized in much the same way as most cookbooks-
Appetizers and snacks
Main dishes
Side dishes and salads
Grains
Cocktails and Drinks
Sweets
This cookbook is heavy on curry dishes, which is fine with me, since I love, love, love curry- almost to the point of addiction. Some of the vegetable curried recipes are very basic, but super delicious. Other recipes are little more complicated and require a bit of prep time.
I must say I’ve never encountered any recipes quite like the ones in this cookbook. It’s an interesting marriage of flavors. Once more I found a few recipes that will spice up my summer garden vegetables, which is something I am always on the look out for. This is especially true for eggplant and okra, two vegetables I run out of fresh recipes for.
Overall, this is a very interesting cookbook. I found the appetizer and snack section and the vegetable, accompaniments, spices and sauces information the most helpful for my needs.
3.5 stars
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ABOUT THEAUTHOR:
Mary Anne Mohanraj
is the author of Bodies in Motion
(HarperCollins), The Stars Change
(Circlet Press) and thirteen other titles. Bodies
in Motion was a finalist for the Asian American Book Awards, a USA Today
Notable Book, and has been translated into six languages. The
Stars Change was a finalist for the Lambda, Rainbow, and Bisexual Book
Awards.
Mohanraj founded
the Hugo-nominated and World Fantasy Award-winning speculative literature
magazine, Strange Horizons, and also founded Jaggery, a S. Asian & S. Asian diaspora literary journal (jaggerylit.com). She received a Breaking Barriers
Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women for her work in Asian American arts
organizing, won an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, and was Guest of
Honor at WisCon. She serves as Director of two literary organizations, DesiLit
(www.desilit.org) and The Speculative Literature
Foundation (www.speclit.org).
She serves on the futurist
boards of the XPrize and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.
Mohanraj is Clinical Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and lives in a creaky old Victorian in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, with her husband, their two small children, and a sweet dog. Recent publications include stories for George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series, stories at Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Lightspeed, and an essay in Roxane Gay’s Unruly Bodies. 2017-2018 titles include Survivor (a SF/F anthology), Perennial, Invisible 3 (co-edited with Jim C. Hines), and Vegan Serendib. http://www.maryannemohanraj.com
Mohanraj is Clinical Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and lives in a creaky old Victorian in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, with her husband, their two small children, and a sweet dog. Recent publications include stories for George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series, stories at Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Lightspeed, and an essay in Roxane Gay’s Unruly Bodies. 2017-2018 titles include Survivor (a SF/F anthology), Perennial, Invisible 3 (co-edited with Jim C. Hines), and Vegan Serendib. http://www.maryannemohanraj.com
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