No tour of Sri Lanka is complete without a cooking class, allowing visitors to truly experience the unique flavours of this nation. Subtle aromas and delicate spices combine to create a cuisine which is distinctively different from that of other neighbours like India or Thailand.
So when travelBulletin recently travelled to this idyllic island destination, cooking in Colombo was a must-do. However our Abercrombie & Kent itinerary took this concept to a totally new level – more than a class, this was a complete Sri Lankan culinary experience which we will never forget.
Our host was the inimitable Mohara Dole, a true Sri Lankan character. It’s impossible to believe her when she tells us she is 82 years old – she could truly pass for 30 years or more younger, both in her looks and attitude. Rather than launching into instructions about cooking, Mohara welcomes us to sit in her living room, where she asks us about ourselves before being prompted to tell us her story – and what a story it is!
As a single mother in Colombo she established one of the country’s leading food businesses in the 1970s, starting out making pizza in her tiny kitchen. Pizza, as you can imagine, was at the time a somewhat exotic cuisine for Sri Lanka, and by all accounts became very popular. That initial operation morphed into a full range of products, and a successful business which enabled her to clothe, feed and educate her children.
That food business is now in other hands, but her passion has continued into “Cooking by Colour”, using the same premises which became a pizza factory, in a room of her home which has now been adapted to form a mini-restaurant, demonstration kitchen and interactive experience.
After getting to know Mohara, we are ushered into this space and given aprons before being set to work. Ingredients are spread across several tables, and a central custom-designed stove with three burners, clay pots and places to rest dishes becomes the focus of the action. “Today,” Mohara tells us, “we will experience some of my favourite recipes,” and then gets us chopping vegetables, crushing herbs and spices and heating coconut oil.
“Garlic, ginger and onions are the ‘holy trinity’,” she tells us, and indeed this aromatic trio form the basis of almost all of the dishes – but despite that the flavours of each end up being distinctively different. We start with a chicken curry, which is complemented by a fabulous array of other dishes including lotus root, bean, breadfruit and beetroot curries. Dahl, two types of rice including “red” rice and several tasty sambals completed the fabulous array. Mohara adds spices including fenugreek, chilli powder, cloves, star anise, cardamom, fresh curry and pandanas leaves, tasting each dish as she goes. A key ingredient is thin coconut milk – made from powder – which forms the basis of many of the items, while a thicker variety is used to finish off the flavours.
Tasting as we go, Mohara asks if it is too hot. “Of course not,” we reply, wanting to show how brave we are. But in fact despite what seems to us to be quite large amounts of chilli, the dishes end up having fabulously smooth flavours which are absolutely delicious to our western palates.
And the colours! Cooking by Colour is an absolutely appropriate name for this meal, which is much more than just a culinary experience. It’s a feast for the senses, with tastes complemented by the visuals, smells and textures of these different dishes.
Mohara truly makes us feel at home, and after dining together we depart as new friends – complete with some of her signature roasted curry powder which is one of her secret ingredients.
