Curry and the Cloth

The setting was priceless: an art gallery filled with rare Asian antiques. The goal was worthy: to raise funds for a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple in Los Angeles.

And the food--a superb spread of curries and rice--was as authentic as if you were eating in Sri Lanka itself.

The guests of honor, orange-robed monks from the Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, sat in a row on a wide platform, holding palm leaf fans.

Just as some gatherings start with a prayer or the saying of grace, this one started with a blessing from the temple abbot, Venerable Walpola Piyananda. The monks then chanted in Pali, the ancient language spoken by the Buddha. And they unreeled enough blessed thread to reach around the room, linking the 150 guests at the recently opened Silk Roads Design Gallery owned by Cari and Jon Markell, who often support Asian causes and came up with the idea for the fundraiser.

The monks cooked vegetarian dishes for the party in their Crenshaw Boulevard temple kitchen and brought them to the La Brea Avenue gallery. Sri Lankans who worship at the temple supplied more food and lined up behind the buffet to serve it. Fat green bananas from a temple tree decorated the table, along with flowers and sprigs of the herbs mukunuwenna and gotukola, grown by the monks, and an arrangement of lentils and Sri Lankan unpolished red rice in a vintage, hand-painted bowl from Pakistan.

Rice and curry may sound like a two-dish dinner, but in Sri Lanka, it means a whole spread--lentils, vegetables and sambols (spicy relishes) as well as several kinds of rice and curry. This night there were six curries, three rice dishes, an American-style green salad and three desserts. Most of the food was vegetarian. The exceptions were curried tuna and fish cutlets--golden brown croquettes of ground tuna mixed with mashed potatoes and spices.

Huge pans held steamed white rice, the red Sri Lankan rice and yellow rice, colored with turmeric and fragrant with spices. Then came parippu curry--parippu is an orange lentil, the same as India’s masoor dal--followed by green beans in coconut milk; plantain curry; lotus root curry; a pale, creamy potato curry; the fish dishes; salads; and pol sambol. “Pol” means coconut in the Sinhala language; the relish, which was eaten with the curries and rice, combines finely grated coconut with onions, lime juice and enough red chile to tint it light orange.

Desserts included jack fruit, a coconut pudding called watalappan and yogurt topped with treacle. Sri Lankan treacle is a dark, rich syrup extracted from the kithul palm, which also yields jaggery, the brown sugar used in the watalappan.

Plates in hand, party guests roamed the gallery. Some perched on antique Chinese lattice-backed benches or sat on the floor around a low Indonesian weaving table. Some stood, setting their plates on a Chinese altar table, a 19th century sideboard from India or a decorative iron grill that once screened an Indian window. A 19th century marble Buddha from Burma reclined peacefully on a platform in the middle of the throng. And another Burmese Buddha, a 7-foot-tall 18th century wooden one, stood regally near the desserts.

The monks, however, did not eat. Their custom is to have a light breakfast and a sturdy lunch, but nothing after noon. They mingled with the guests or sat modestly on folding chairs, rather than antiques. Their scriptures, written on strips of palm leaf and wrapped in cloth, were placed on a table fashioned from a 19th century Moroccan window grill. Gleaming golden pots holding artificial coconut blossoms stood at each end of the table. In the center, the monks placed a silvery vessel of blessed water that they ladled into the hands of Buddhist worshipers.

Some guests gathered around Sri Lankan singer Budraji Jayatilaka to hear music from home. Others shopped in a festive corner market set up for the party where they could buy Buddha figures, cassettes of Buddhist sutras, books on Buddhism, bottles of kithul palm treacle, Sri Lankan tea and gotukola plants, which the monks had plucked from their garden. (Funds went to directly to the temple.)

The party drew guests to the gallery from as far as New Mexico. “We got such incredible compliments,” said Cari Markell afterward. Many of these were directed toward the food. “It’s unique. The tastes are different and exotic, but accessible and easy to like,” said Markell. “People like the lightness of it, the freshness. They couldn’t compare it to anything else.”

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This scaled-down version of the Sri Lankan party buffet yields a great vegetarian menu for a small party.

YELLOW RICE

2 tablespoons oil

1/3 cup chopped red onion

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 green cardamom pods

3 whole cloves

10 peppercorns, lightly crushed

2 cups rice

2 cups coconut milk

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

5 curry leaves

1 small piece pandanus leaf, optional

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and fry until light brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, cardamom pods, cloves and peppercorns and stir. Add rice and saute 3 to 4 minutes. Add coconut milk, water, turmeric, salt, curry leaves and pandanus leaf. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes.

6 servings. Each serving:

387 calories; 404 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 22 grams fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 1.74 grams fiber.

PARIPPU CURRY

1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk

1 cup water

1 cup masoor dal (red lentils)

20 curry leaves

2 serrano chiles

1/4 small onion, sliced

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

5 to 6 small dried red chiles

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Do not shake coconut milk can. Open and spoon 1/2 cup thick milk from top of can; set aside. Combine water and remaining coconut milk and set aside.

Rinse lentils and place in medium saucepan. Add 10 curry leaves, serrano chiles, 1 tablespoon sliced onion, turmeric and coconut milk-water mixture. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft, 25 to 35 minutes. Stir in salt and remove from heat.

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add mustard seeds, dried chiles, garlic, remaining onion and remaining curry leaves. Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Return dal to boil over medium heat. Stir in reserved thick coconut milk, then add fried mixture. Simmer uncovered until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

6 servings. Each serving:

269 calories; 603 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 3.35 grams fiber.

CURRIED GREEN BEANS

1 cup canned coconut milk

1 cup water

1 pound green beans

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Salt

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons chopped shallots or onion

2 serrano chiles, chopped

10 curry leaves

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

Shake coconut milk can before opening. Combine 1 cup coconut milk with water.

Wash and trim beans. Cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces. Combine beans, turmeric, cumin, coriander, ground red pepper, mustard, cinnamon and salt. Mix well and set aside.

Heat butter in skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, chiles, curry leaves and fenugreek and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beans and cook, stirring, 3 to 5 minutes. Add coconut milk-water mixture and cook until beans are tender, 7 to 8 minutes, or soft, 10 to 12 minutes. Sauce should be thin.

6 servings. Each serving:

157 calories; 101 mg sodium; 10 mg cholesterol; 14 grams fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 2.07 grams fiber.

POL SAMBOL

Dried Maldive fish, from the Maldive Islands near Sri Lanka, is sometimes added to this sambol. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons if you want to try it.

1 red onion, minced

3 to 4 teaspoons ground red pepper

2 teaspoons salt

2 to 3 teaspoons lime juice

1 cup grated fresh coconut

Combine onion, red pepper, salt and lime juice to taste. Stir in coconut.

3 cups. Each 2-tablespoons serving:

23 calories; 201 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.18 gram fiber.

WATALAPPAN

Indian markets carry jaggery, but for Sri Lankan palm jaggery you would have to go to a Sri Lankan market. An easy alternative is brown sugar.

1 cup canned coconut milk

3/4 cup jaggery or brown sugar, packed

3 eggs, lightly beaten

Dash cinnamon

Dash cardamom

Dash cloves

Dash nutmeg

Stir coconut milk and jaggery until jaggery dissolves. Strain into eggs. Strain again. Add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg. Pour into 1-quart glass baking dish. Cover with wax paper and steam until set, 40 to 45 minutes.

6 servings. Each serving:

235 calories; 65 mg sodium; 106 mg cholesterol; 11 grams fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 1.15 grams fiber.

INGREDIENTS

STAPLES

Butter

Cardamom

Ground red pepper

Cinnamon

Ground cloves

Whole cloves

Coriander

Cumin

Eggs

Garlic

Limes

Dried mustard

Nutmeg

Oil

Onions

Red onions

Black peppercorns

Rice

Salt

Shallots

Turmeric

SHOPPING LIST

1 pound green beans

1 coconut or 1 package fresh coconut

3 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk

Small dried red chiles

4 serrano chiles

4 sprigs curry leaves

Fenugreek seeds

Maldive fish, optional

1/2 pound masoor dal

Brown mustard seeds

Jaggery

COUNTDOWN

Like Indian food, Sri Lankan food can be prepared in advance--even a day before serving--and reheated. However, these recipes will have the best texture and flavor if prepared the day of the party.

Morning of party or up to 1 hour before: Prepare Parippu Curry and refrigerate, covered.

2 to 3 hours before: Prepare Watalappan and refrigerate.

1 hour to 45 minutes before: Prepare Yellow Rice and keep warm until serving time.

45 to 30 minutes before: Prepare Curried Green Beans and keep warm.

30 minutes before: Remove Parippu Curry from refrigerator. Combine ingredients for Pol Sambol and set aside at room temperature.

10 minutes before: Reheat Parippu Curry over low heat, adding water if lentils are too dry.

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Where to Buy It

Sri Lankan ingredients such as kithul palm jaggery and treacle, canned jackfruit, parippu (masoor) dal and fresh curry leaves and Maldive fish (a dried fish from the Maldive Islands near Sri Lanka) are available at Sri Lankan Delight market, 19016 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. Indian and Bangladeshi markets throughout Southern California also carry many of the ingredients.