WTF - Home Cooked Goodness With ‘My Sister’s Kitchen’ 

What - My Sister’s Kitchen 
Where - Negombo Fish Market 
When - Saturdays are the best 
Who - My Sis 

This week, we, together with the Jonathan's family, took a long trip out of Colombo all the way to Negombo. Jehan Wijayaratne who is a master with the sea in Negombo took me to buy the most fresh fish in the market. The plan was to bring it to my place and make my sister cook everything up in true Jaffna style! 

My day started at 5AM on a Sunday. But the most popular places in Negombo were shut down, as they have a huge Catholic community – they close everything down for church and a day to be with the Lord! But the old market was open with fresh fish just off the sea. 

Negombo is renowned for its lobsters, crabs and prawns. Across the lagoon bridge there’s a second fish market. If you can stagger out of bed at 5AM like me and can stand the BAD smell, it’s a good place to catch some big fish and good prices. I have to confess I have never ever been to the market alone, and I will not even look at anything uncooked! This was such a drama for me. I made all the ladies put a small giggle – the smell is also another reason why I will never do this again. 

I had a long chat about the dry fish business there. The sight of huge ‘kohulanu’ mats of dry fish laid out in the sun is pretty cool, but it takes a lot to breathe. But to do the dry fish they get the fish from Colombo, and what’s more interesting is that NOT one crow tried to attack the fish that was laid out. 

I was asked to buy paraw and crabs – we got both, it was not a pleasant feeling to cut it, but I’m happy I tried it. Speaking to Parwathy, she says “Saturdays are always a busy day, and making it on a Sunday is also good, the prices tend to drop more!” 

So the long drive back took us to ‘My Sister’s Kitchen’ established in 2014. It was just an idea to make my sister do what she loves the most - feeding people. She cooked up a storm for us on Sunday, but the paraw fish curry was the star! Here I have listed down the recipe: 

Fish Curry Recipe 

Ingredients 

Any fish of your choice cut in to pieces  - 500g 
Thick coconut milk - ½ cup 
Curry leaves 
Chillie powder - 2 tbs 
Coriander powder - 4 tbs 
Gingelly oil 
Tamarind paste - 2 tsp 

To Temper 

Green chillie - 3 
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp 
Garlic cloves - 5 
Onions - 3 large 
Tomatoes - 3 
Curry leaves 

Method 

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add all the items given for tempering and saute for about 5 minutes. 

Add one cup of water and add the chillie powder, coriander powder, salt and tamarind paste and let it boil until the raw smell of the spices is cleared. 

Add the thick coconut milk and lay the fish in the pan and let it simmer for 5 mins on low flame. Do not mix your curry with a spoon, which would damage the fish pieces. 

You can serve this curry with rice, pittu or stringhoppers. 

We enjoyed this curry with brinjal white curry, rice and fried fish, but we added a bit more with some fish cutlets and a pork curry to add some extra Sunday fest to it. 

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