With the Sinhala and Tamil New Year around the corner it is time to put on your apron and bring out your Kokis cutters and oil pans and try your hand at making some good old festive goodies. From the traditional milk rice to delicacies like Unduwal, Naran Kavum and Aggala, the Avurudu season about laying out a scrumptious feast to share with your family and loved ones. These festive foods are all about tradition and the memories associated with them.
Sweet meats and special dishes are an essential facet of the Avurudu season. While they have come to be identified with the annual festival, some of these food items are also prepared to mark special occasions. However it is during the Avurudda that food mainly takes its pride of place.
“Food has a special place in the Avurudu season. It is directly related to some of the main traditions. From the lighting of the hearth at the auspicious time, to boiling the milk at the auspicious time, to baking the Kavum with the oil in the cooker to making milk rice at the auspicious moment and eating at the auspicious time, food plays a key role in bringing about joy and cheer to the season,” renowned culinary expert Dr T Publis Silva said.
According to culinary expert Varuni Perera, the sweetmeats related to the Sinhala and Tamil New Year differ regionally. Varuni notes that Unduwal and Naran Kavum are mostly found in the hill capital.
“In some areas Sow Dodol is called Vali Thalapa. They make it like Pittu and do not add coconut. Some people make Aluwa with cadju while others include sesame seeds. Generally the Cadju curry and Hath Malu are two dishes that are related to the Avurudu season,” she mused.
Varuni adds that the traditional New Year food of the Tamils differ from the Sinhalese. They make their Kavum centred with Pani Pol, a sweetened coconut mixture. Sometimes they have coloured Kokis. While the Sinhalese have rice for our lunch table, the Tamils usually have Pittu.
“Different varieties of cakes, especially Bibbikan are suitable for the Avuruddha. A lot of our traditional sweetmeats are made using a large amount of oil. Eating too much oily food could lead to health problems. Include salads in your main meal. Eat fresh fruits for dessert,” she advised adding that such items are lighter than puddings made out of milk and fresh cream and healthier too. Cucumbers and water melon are the best to include in your menu.
Publis notes that it is fitting to add a goraka curry to our daily menu for three months after the Avurudu season as goraka embodies the ability to decrease the harmful side effects of consuming too much sweet and oily food. Garlic, black pepper, bitter gourd, tender leaves of cashew and Ranavara flowers too possess this medicinal quality of cutting down of access fat from the system.
Varuni says, “Try to balance your diet and drink some Kolakanda in the mornings. This will get rid of any side effects.”
Today some do not have either time to make sweetmeats or the knowledge or experience. So they buy a few of the goodies from the nearest sweet shop and send them neighbours.
“Some people send the sweetmeats they received from another’s home to their neighbours. That is very cheap. If you cannot make all the food, just make one item and send it to your neighbour,” Varuni opined.
“There is no need to limit the Avurudu season for a few days. What happens ultimately is that people enjoy a few dates limited to the celebrations while indulging in epicurean food habits and end up with a lot of health and other problems. It should be Avurudu all year round because Avurudu symbolizes joy, togetherness and compromise,” Publis concluded.
[Sinhala and Tamil Avurudu sweetmeats ]
Milk rice
Milk rice is the main meal at the Avurudu table and is made according to the auspicious time. In Sinhala homes Kekulu rice or Samba rice is cooked and thick coconut milk is added to the cooked rice to make a creamy porridge like mixture which is kept on low flame on the fire till it thickens. Then it is spread on an even surface with a banana leaf and cut into squares.
Tamils make the Pongal rice – a sweetened version of the milk rice. Green gram, plums, jiggery, cashew nuts and gee are added to the rice mixture along with the milk.
Oil cakes
This sweet delicacy possesses an odd shape with a bun like lump in the centre from which it derives the term Konda (hair) for its Sinhala name Konda Kevum. Treacle and sugar are cooked to a boiling point. Rice flour and steamed flour is added to the cooled treacle. A spoon of the batter is poured into a pan of hot oil, with a wooden skewer inserted at the centre to create the lump. Oil is constantly provided to the developing Konda or bun. It is an art to create the Konda and it can usually be mastered through practice.
Kokis
Kokis is a deep-fried, crispy and sweet snack made from a mixture of rice flour and coconut milk. Although it is considered a traditional Sri Lankan Avurudu snack, the popular belief is that the word Kokis itself has been derived from the Dutch, which has links with the word ‘cookies’.
Mung Kevum
Mung Kavum is a combination of rice flour and green gram flour added to warmed treacle. Diamond-shaped pieces of this mixture is soaked in a batter of rice flour and coconut milk and deep-fried.
Asmi
Everyone cannot make this sweetmeat. The batter for this item is unique. First, milk is added gradually to rice flour, which is constantly kneaded. A handful of cinnamon leaves are squeezed into a cup of light coconut milk, and the strained juice is added to the batter. The juice of the cinnamon leaf makes the batter thick and slimy. Once the batter reaches the required consistency, it is time to fry it. A punctured coconut shell spoon is used to pour the batter to create a web like design. This is kept aside for a day or two before being re-fried and decorated with a thick sugary syrup.
Athirasa
Athirasa, as the term implies is an extremely tasty Avurudu sweet, which is quite rich in sweetness as well. It is a form of oil cake made with jaggery and rice flour rolled into a paste, flattened into circles and fried.
Bibikkan
Bibikkan is a rich, dark, chewy and moist cake made of shredded coconut, jaggery and semolina. The ingredients include grated jaggery or treacle, melted in a little water, heated, then cooled and mixed into a batter with roasted semolina. Chopped dates, winter melon, ginger preserves, candied peel and cashew nuts are added, along with crushed fennel, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. A dash of salt too is included. A beaten egg is folded in before the mixture is popped into the oven.
Aluwa
This is a sweet made with just two ingredients: rice flour and coconut or palm treacle. The process begins with roasting rice flour on medium fire. Next, the treacle is heated to a boiling point. The rice flour is added with a dash of cardamom and handful of chopped cashew. Aluwa is easily identifiable with its diamond-shaped pieces and heavy coating of rice flour.
Unduwel
Unduwel is a very sweet food item made during Avurudu. It originated from the central province. It is a deep fried coil of a mixture of Urad dhal and rice flour soaked in sugar syrup.
Murukku
Coming in a range of sizes and shapes, murukku is prepared using a variety of flour. The snack can be savoury or sweet. For the sweet murukku, also known as seeni-murukku, it is coated in sugar syrup after the murukku is fried. The savoury murukku is prepared adding chilli powder and sesame seeds to gram flour.
Sour fish curry
Sour fish curry, popularly known as fish ambul thiyal, is one of the most beloved varieties of the many different fish curries available. The fish (usually tuna) is cut into cubes, then sautéed in a blend of black pepper, cinnamon, turmeric, garlic,goraka, pandan leaves and curry leaves. All the ingredients are simmered with a small amount of water and cooked until the liquid reduces. This allows for a thick spice coat on each cube.
Hath Maluwa
Hath Maluwa as the name implies is a dish made of seven vegetables, cooked in a fine blend of spices such as ginger and garlic, green chilli, dil seed, cumin, sweet cumin and pandan leaves with coconut milk. The Hath Maluwa is prepared for special occasions and is a famous dish that adorns the festive table during the Avurudu season. Today, the type of vegetables used for this curry varies from one district to another.
Seeni Sambol
Seeni Sambol is a fried onion mix of chili powder, tamarind and sugar. Onions are chopped and sautéed in oil along with the other ingredients until it is caramelised, by the sugar. A touch of Maldive Fish adds taste. Seeni is the Sinhala term for sugar, which demonstrates the importance of sugar in the preparation of the dish. Seeni sambol is a fine accompaniment for milk rice.
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