About one mile away from our house there is a forest called “Kalu Mukalana “(dark forest). Elder aunty grows vegetables on a land on the edge of the border of this dark forest! My elder aunty grows variety of fresh and nutritional vegetables with the intention of selling them for villagers! I thought of going to my aunts vegetables growth that afternoon to pick some freshly grown bitter gourd for curry and Picked up extra quantity of bitter gourd for so many favourite dishes made with bitter gourd/bitter melon . This dark forest is a home for various types of different species of birds where you will never miss their chirping and chatting. I picked up my bitter gourds admiring this different voice practices of the birds, wondering what are they really gossiping about!

I picked the bitter gourd and came home with the idea of making a curry for lunch as well. It gives a yummy taste When bitter gourd curry cooked with fresh coconut milk and reduced it completely. Obviously I cooked half of the lunch with a reduced fish curry, raddish root and leaves sambol and the rice before I left home! Grandmother likes the bitter gourd tangy curry, so I cooked that for her to please her. Fried bitter gourd sambol is her 2nd favourite. The bitter gourd rings should fry until dark to make the fried bitter gourd sambol. Otherwise you cannot get that authentic bitter gourd fried sambol taste and the texture! When cooking bitter gourd, I have seen some people boil the bitter gourd and strain the water to reduce the bitter taste! Some also boil the bitter gourd with coconut water too and there are so many other methods of removing bitterness from the bitter gourd. It’s not a recommended method as the boiling process will destroy all the medicinal properties that are in the bitter gourd. Bitter gourd's bitterness is very well known for its natural healing power for diabetes and reducing blood sugar level and it has all the nutrients of the vegetable. Then why should we remove all the goodness form the bitter gourd. My trick of getting rid of the bitter taste is to cook bitter gourd by adding a sour ingredient such as either lime, tamarind or goraka(garcinia cambogia). Obviously when a sour agent is been added, it balances the bitterness of the curry! but not removing completely.

It was good that elder aunty passed us by reminding the Village meeting(Samithiya). Since Wednesday is the Government Agents official day, as a practice Village meeting is held on Wednesday morning. Due to the current Covid19 situation, people won’t attend the meeting as usual but just go to the Government Agent's office to pay the membership fee and to sign the attendance record. I rushed to the GA's office after handing over the frying of the bitter gourd slices to the brother and for him to make the sambol as well. Being such a creative guy, brother had made the sambol as well as one of his other fried bitter gourd inventions too. Though brother's creation was something that I never expected , his dish was definitely tingled my taste buds!

As usual such a sweet soul, our uncle Siriwardena had brought us some grapes from different colors as he said the grape prices had gone down in the Negombo town! Initially I was planning to have the grapes after lunch but suddenly I decided to make a quick dessert with grapes and the chocolate cake which I had at home. My dessert turned out to be very scrumptious, topping up the chocolate cake and grapes with a custard made out with condensed milk cashew nuts and mint leaves. A heavenly treat indeed.

Love you All!
Nadee

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Delicious curry! Who would say "NO" to bitter gourd, if those cooked like this! | Traditional Me

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Please turn on CC (Subtitles) to know the ingredient names.

乡村烹饪 cuisine de village गाँव का खाना बनाना cucina del villaggio طبخ القرية Dorfkochen 村の料理 dorp koken 마을 요리 pagluluto ng nayon деревенская кухня cozinha da vila ഗ്രാമീണ പാചകം cocina del pueblo গ্রাম রান্না vesnické vaření landsby madlavning ចម្អិនអាហារតាមភូមិ kylän ruoanlaitto गाउँ खाना पकाउने masakan desa கிராம சமையல் masakan kampung หมู่บ้านทำอาหาร gotowanie na wsi köy pişirme làng nấu ăn ရွာချက်ပြုတ် μαγειρική στο χωριό villa coctione

Inspired by 李子柒 Liziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge

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