Sri Lankan · Main
Parippu
- Easy
- 22 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
Leads with an earthy, grounding base, richness that coats and comforts, fading in warm spice.
Ingredients
- 200 g masoor dal, split red lentils, rinsed
- 400 ml thin coconut milk
- 150 ml thick coconut milk
- 1 small red onion, 80 g, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp unroasted Sri Lankan curry powder
- 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
- 10 fenugreek seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 5 cm piece pandan leaf, rampe
- 2 dried red chillies, broken
- 1 green chilli, split
- 5 cm Ceylon cinnamon quill
- 1 tsp salt
- half a lime
The skills inside
Tempering a custardSteaming: basket, leaf and lid
Allergen screen
None found among the 14 screened.
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Simmer the lentils uncovered with the thin coconut milk, turmeric, curry powder, green chilli, cinnamon and half the salt until the lentils have lost their shape and the liquid holds a line drawn through it.
- Meanwhile heat the coconut oil in a small pan and fry the fenugreek, onion, garlic, curry leaves, pandan and dried chillies until the onion is deep gold and the curry leaves crackle and turn glassy.
- Scrape the whole tempering into the lentils, oil included, and stir it through.
- Take the pan off the heat, stir in the thick coconut milk and the rest of the salt, then warm it back only until steam rises; it must not bubble.
- Squeeze in the lime off the heat and check the salt.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the techniques it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Tempering a custard 59 recipes
- The hot liquid went into the eggs a little at a time with constant whisking, and only then did everything go back to the pot.
- The heat under it stayed gentle throughout and it was never allowed to boil.
- Stirred continuously and right into the corners of the pan, where it thickens first and sets unnoticed.
- Judged by behaviour: it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a clean line when a finger is drawn through it.
- Taken off before it looks finished, and strained. Residual heat carries it the rest of the way, and a custard held on the heat until it looks right arrives past right.
Where it goes wrong The hot liquid went in too fast, or the pot went back over full heat to save time. The yolks set into threads before they could thicken smoothly, and a scrambled custard does not come back; straining hides a little of it and nothing hides the rest.
Steaming: basket, leaf and lid 130 recipes
- Steam was running before the food went in: the water at a rolling boil and vapour coming steadily through the basket, rather than the whole thing warming up together.
- Nothing touches the water at any point: the food sits clear of it throughout, and the level neither drops enough to boil dry nor rises enough to wet it.
- The lid stayed on. Every lift costs the chamber its heat, and the number of lifts should be as close to none as the dish allows.
- Lifted out, the surface is glossy and plump with its colour heightened rather than dulled: greens brighter than they went in, not olive.
- Cooked through with the shape intact: it yields at the centre without having slumped or split, and there is no more than a spoonful of clean condensate beneath it.
Where it goes wrong The lid was loose or dripping and the condensate fell back onto the food, so it arrives waterlogged and pale with its seasoning washed down into the bottom of the dish.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Grüner Veltliner
- Also Right
- Vermentino or dry Chenin
- From the Taps
- Saison
- Zero-Proof
- Sparkling water with citrus & herbs
The vegetable whisperers: peppery, high-acid whites that flatter greens, roots, and grains without bullying them.
Saved on this device and kept across visits: export from My Menu to move them.