Global cuisine brings the four corners of the world to my kitchen. The flavors and spices of Asian and Indian food are my weakness and I could cook and eat this food every day and sometimes go for stretches re-creating dishes. Like binge watching a television show, I'll binge cook Vietnamese or Thai. 

Sri Lankan food provides a lively and colourful combination of spices, flavours and textures which were influenced by South Indian, Indonesian and Dutch cuisines as well as its close ties to other neighboring South and Southeast Asian cuisines. It is naturally healthy, mostly gluten and dairy free due to the heavy use of rice flour and coconut milk, vegan and non vegan friendly, making it suitable for all and a great way to entertain as you can meet the needs of any dietary restrictions in your circle of friends and family. 

Emily Dobbs loves Sri Lankan food and is credited with being the first chef to popularise this cuisine to the London masses through her celebrated pop-up egg hopper, Weligama (since shuttered). Her debut cookbook Weligama: Recipes from Sri Lanka shares those vibrant dishes that garnered a declaration from the Evening Standard as  "utterly fantastic". 

Hoppers are a Sri Lankan breakfast and street food made from fermented rice and coconut batter (don't let that description scare you) cooked into a bowl-shaped pancake in a special wok called an appachatti. This edible bowl is filled with curry and sometimes a fried egg. The author first tasted a hopper on Tabprobane Island (owned by her uncle), in Weligama Bay on Sri Lanka's south coast when she was a child thinking it strange to have curry for breakfast. That viewpoint has changed. 

Weligama, the cookbook, is a unique collection of easy-to-use, innovative recipes from hoppers to sweet treats, sample menus and tutorials on spices and ingredients. A culinary voyage to Sri Lanka with stunning photographs and enticing dishes, Weligama, will have you firing up your wok and replenishing your spice cabinet in no time.

Special thanks to Seven Dials for sharing a recipe with our members and for providing three copies of this fun book in our worldwide contest below.

 

Papaya, radish, buffalo curd and chilli salad
 පැපොල් ස ලාද
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I love the refreshing crunch of raw lotus root, juicy sweet papaya, crisp, bitter radish, fresh lime juice and hot chilli. Cut the radish so thin that you can almost see through it, like a stained-glass window, but just strong enough so it holds its shape.

Serves 2-4 as a side dish or starter

  • 450g ripe, juicy papaya, deseeded, flesh carefully scooped out with a spoon and cut into chunks
  • juice of 1 lime
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 245g buffalo curd or labneh
  • handful of radish and leaves
  • 1 mooli, peeled and sliced very thin on a mandolin
  • 1 lotus root, thinly sliced (if possible)
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced

Place the papaya in a bowl with half the lime juice and half the sea salt. Place the buffalo curd or yoghurt in a separate bowl and season with the remaining sea salt.

Arrange a few chunks of papaya on each serving plate, followed by a dollop each of the buffalo curd or yoghurt, the radish, mooli and lotus root.

Sprinkle the chilli over the salads and serve immediately.

The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members worldwide. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index would you try first?

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won't be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on March 13th, 2018.