The Hirshon Sri Lankan Garlic Curry – සුදුළූණු කරි

WELCOME, Citizens! The stars have at long last aligned – Cthulhu stirs in the depths and to prevent apocalyptic disaster, the Viscount of Vegetables must drop all pretense and show some overdue love to TFD Nation’s long-suffering VEGANS to appease Him! Yes, it is well known how I profess a profound disdain for most things from the cornucopia of Gaia’s vegetal bounty, but the proverbial scales drop from My eyes if it involves anything with garlic! Add in that this is the cuisine of Sri Lanka – the land of spices, gold and gems that has long fascinated Me – and YES, we shall return Cthulhu to the abyss by sharing a STRICTLY vegan recipe today – garlic curry!

You read it correctly – curried garlic and LOTS of it! 😀 “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Those are famous words from the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, often called the father of Western medicine. He prescribed garlic to treat various medical conditions — and modern science has confirmed many of these beneficial health effects. In the typical serving size of 1–3 cloves (3–9 grams), raw garlic provides no significant nutritional value, with the content of all essential nutrients below 10% of the Daily Value (DV).

In a reference amount of 100 g (3.5 oz), raw garlic contains some micronutrients in rich amounts (20% or more of the DV), including vitamins B6 (73% DV) and C (35% DV), and the dietary mineral, manganese (73% DV). Per 100 gram serving, raw garlic is a moderate source (10–19% DV) of the B vitamins, thiamin and pantothenic acid, as well as the dietary minerals, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc.

The composition of raw garlic is 59% water, 33% carbohydrates, 6% protein, 2% dietary fiber, and less than 1% fat. Garlic cloves are used for consumption (raw or cooked) or for medicinal purposes. They have a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking. The distinctive aroma is mainly due to organosulfur compounds including allicin present in fresh garlic cloves and ajoene which forms when they are crushed or chopped. A further metabolite allyl methyl sulfide is responsible for garlic breath.

Numerous cuneiform records show that garlic has been cultivated in Mesopotamia for at least 4,000 years. The use of garlic in China and Egypt also dates back thousands of years. Well-preserved garlic was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (c. 1325 BC). It was consumed by ancient Greek and Roman soldiers, sailors, and rural classes (Virgil, Eclogues ii. 11), and, according to Pliny the Elder (Natural History xix. 32), by the African peasantry. Garlic was placed by the ancient Greeks on the piles of stones at crossroads, as a supper for Hecate (Theophrastus, Characters, The Superstitious Man).

Garlic was rare in traditional English cuisine (though it is said to have been grown in England before 1548) but has been a common ingredient in Mediterranean Europe. Translations of the c. 1300 Assize of Weights and Measures, an English statute generally dated to the 13th century, indicate a passage as dealing with standardized units of garlic production, sale, and taxation—the hundred of 15 ropes of 15 heads each—but the Latin version of the text may refer to herring rather than garlic.

Garlic has been used for traditional medicine in diverse cultures such as in Korea, Egypt, Japan, China, Rome, and Greece. In his Natural History, Pliny gave a list of conditions in which garlic was considered beneficial (N.H. xx. 23). Galen, writing in the second century, eulogized garlic as the “rustic’s theriac” (cure-all). Alexander Neckam, a writer of the 12th century (see Wright’s edition of his works, p. 473, 1863), discussed it as a palliative for the heat of the sun in field labor.

In the 17th century, Thomas Sydenham valued it as an application in confluent smallpox, and William Cullen’s Materia Medica of 1789 found some dropsies cured by it alone. The sticky juice within the bulb cloves is used as an adhesive in mending glass and porcelain. An environmentally benign garlic-derived polysulfide product is approved for use in the European Union (under Annex 1 of 91/414) and the UK as a nematicide and insecticide, including for use in the control of cabbage root fly and red mite in poultry.

Garlic is present in the folklore of many cultures. In Europe, many cultures have used garlic for protection or white magic, perhaps owing to its reputation in folk medicine. Central European folk beliefs considered garlic a powerful ward against demons, werewolves, and vampires. To ward off vampires, garlic could be worn, hung in windows, or rubbed on chimneys and keyholes. In the foundation myth of the ancient Korean kingdom of Gojoseon, eating nothing but 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of Korean mugwort for 100 days let a bear be transformed into a woman.

In celebration of Nowruz (Persian calendar New Year), garlic is one of the essential items in a Haft-sin (“seven things beginning with ‘S'”) table, a traditional New Year’s display: the name for garlic in Persian is سیر (seer), which begins with “س” (sin, pronounced “seen”) the Perso-Arabic letter corresponding to “S”.

In Islam, it is recommended not to eat raw garlic prior to going to the mosque, which is based on several hadith. Some Mahāyāna Buddhists and sects in China and Vietnam avoid eating onions, garlic, scallions, chives and leeks, which are known as Wu hun ((Chinese: 五葷; pinyin: Wǔ hūn), ‘the five forbidden pungent vegetables’). Due to its strong odor, garlic is sometimes called the “stinking rose”. People of all Hindu castes can enjoy garlic except Brahmins, who eschew onions and garlic in their very specific caste and associated cuisine.

Why, you might ask, do these members of the priestly caste avoid garlic?

I’m glad you asked! Onion and garlic both are considered “tamasic foods” – according to Ayurvedic health practices, it is believed that tamasic food slows down the mind’s functionality, which generates emotions like insecurity, jealousy and mood swings. A tamasic person loses calmness and may have longer sleeping cycles than usual and an individual consuming tamasic food is likely to be lazy. Yogis say eating them is even worse than eating meat, causing impurities in the nadis and delayed spiritual progress – thus off-limits to Brahmins who are held to the highest Hindu standards.

There is, in fact, a folk story regarding this very topic!

“When Vishnu was distributing Amrita between the Devas and Asuras in the form of Mohini, Svarbhanu, an Asura, realized that she was giving all the Amrita to the devas and nothing would be left for asuras. So he hid among the devas and drank the Amrit. The sun and the moon pointed him out to Mohini who threw the ladle at the Asura. It became Sudarshana chakra and cut off his head. But he already drank it, so he did not die but became Rahu and Ketu. When the neck was cut off, a few drops of Amrita fell on earth and became garlic. So even though it has properties of Amrita, it also has the tamasic qualities of asuras. That is why it should not be eaten.”

I pity the Brahmins – as in My eyes, garlic is LIFE!!!

Perhaps surprisingly so, garlic is a fairly recent addition to the Sri Lankan culinary palette (and palate), with garlic having only arrived in the last thousand years to the island! Known as “Sudu luunu” in Sinhala, garlic today holds a prominent place in the country’s culinary heritage. Originally introduced by Arab traders in the 10th century, garlic quickly became a staple in Sri Lankan cuisine. To understand the dish, we must first examine the history of Arab trading in Sri Lanka and how it has bitterly influenced the recent history of Sri Lanka in the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Sri Lankan Moors (اَیلَࢳَیچْ چٗونَكَرْ) are an ethnic minority group in Sri Lanka, today comprising 9.3% of the country’s total population, with most being native speakers of the Tamil language. The majority of Moors who are not native to the North and East of the island also speak Sinhalese as a second language. As to be expected, Moors are predominantly followers of Islam – the Sri Lankan Muslim community is mostly divided between Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Moors, Sri Lankan Malays and Sri Lankan Bohras. These groups are differentiated by lineage, language, history, culture and traditions.

The Sri Lankan Moors are of diverse origins, with some tracing their ancestry to Arab traders who first settled in Sri Lanka around the 9th century, and who intermarried with local Tamil and Sinhala women. Recent genetic studies, however, have suggested a predominant Indian origin for Moors compared to the Arab origin speculated by some. The word “Moors” did not in fact even EXIST in Sri Lanka before the arrival of Portuguese traders in the 16th century.

The reasons the term “Moor” was chosen by the Portuguese for these local Muslims was simply because of the Islamic faith of these people and not a reflection of their origin. Moors originated in North Africa, but invaded Spain in the 8th century and ruled there until the 15th. The Tamil term for themselves was “Sonakar” along with the Sinhala term “Yonaka”, thought to have been derived from the term Yona, a term originally applied to Greeks, but sometimes also Arabs and other West Asians. Historically, all Tamil-speaking Muslim communities in India and Sri Lanka were known as the Sonakar.

Although the Hindu majority caste system is not observed by the Moors as it is by the other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, their kudi system (matriclan system) is an extension of the Tamil tradition.

In the medieval period, the Sri Lankan Moors along with Mukkuvar dominated the pearl trade in Sri Lanka. Alliances and intermarriages between both communities were observed in this period. They held close contact with other Muslims of Southern India through coastal trade. The Moors had their own court of justice for settling their disputes. Upon the arrival of the Portuguese colonizers in the 16th century, a large population of Moors was expelled from cities such as the capital city Colombo, which had been a Moor-dominated city at that time.

The Moors migrated to the eastern part of the island, and settled there through the invitation of the Kingdom of Kandy. Robert Knox, a British sea captain of the 17th century, noted that the Kings of Kandy built mosques for the Moors. Sri Lanka being a predominately agricultural economy, international trade was underdeveloped during the medieval period. The arrival and settlement of Arab-Muslim merchants on the island’s coastal regions initiated overseas trade and helped unlock the country’s economic potential and it was through the Moors.

While there was an uneasy peace between the Hindus and the Moors for several centuries, the 20th century brought bitter warfare between them – the Sri Lankan Civil War was a 26-year conflict fought between the Hindu government and the separatist Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE were attempting to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in northeast Sri Lanka.

Since 1888, under the initiative of Ponnambalam Ramanathan, the Sri Lankan Tamils launched a campaign to classify Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan Moors as Tamils, primarily to bolster their population numbers for the impending transition to democratic rule in Sri Lanka. Their view holds that the Sri Lankan Moors were mainly Tamil converts to Islam. According to some Tamil nationalists, the concept of Arab descent amongst the Tamil-speaking Moors was invented just to keep the community separate from the Tamils.

This ‘separate identity’ was intended to check the latter’s demand for the separate state of Tamil Eelam and to flare up hostilities between the two groups in the broader Tamil–Sinhalese conflict. The expulsion of the Muslims from the Northern Province was an act of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in October 1990. In Northern Sri Lanka, the LTTE forcibly expelled the Muslim population from the Northern Province at gunpoint and confiscated their properties.

Yogi, the LTTE’s political spokesman, claimed that this expulsion was carried out in retaliation for atrocities committed against the Tamils in the Eastern Province by Muslims, who were seen by the LTTE as collaborators of the Sri Lankan Army. After more than two decades of bitter fighting, the civil war ended, but many Sri Lanka’s Muslims still hold a bitter grudge for their forced expulsion from the North by the LTTE. In 2002, LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran formally apologized for the expulsion of the Muslims from the North.

Mercifully today, the war is a bad memory for most and Sri Lankans of all faiths and languages bond over many things, including a shared love of garlic – best exemplified by the mighty garlic curry recipe I share with you today!

Now – with the historical, mystical and culinary backgrounds surrounding garlic and Sri Lanka firmly understood, let’s discuss garlic curry, shall we? 😀

As previously mentioned, garlic curry uses a LOT of garlic and no animal protein whatsoever – 5 HEADS worth in the recipe, to be exact, as well as an onion, tomato and hot peppers! Bathed in a coconut milk-based gravy redolent with Sri Lankan spices of the highest quality, this is NOT going to tear your mouth apart with heat, as the garlic is slow-cooked in the sauce and tempered into mild sweetness akin to roasted garlic! There is definitely some heat in this recipe, but far less than you would expect – it is spiced but NOT spicy, My Citizens!

As garlic is the star here, please DON’T use withered, store-bought garlic in this recipe – it will just be bitter and disappointing. One trick is to feel the weight of the head of garlic in your hand – it should feel heavy and be rock-hard. Look on the bottom of the head – there should be roots visible, as this indicates American-grown garlic, which by definition is going to be fresher than Chinese or European garlic shipped over many months to the United States. If you see a clean bottom with no roots – it’s imported. Try to avoid buying pre-peeled garlic, it’s usually old. I’ll share a trick to easily peel garlic in the recipe!

Fresh curry leaves are a main flavor profile in garlic curry – please, for the love of Brahma, avoid dried curry leaves (which actually don’t taste anything like curry powder, they’re just used IN curries) and go with the fresh instead! You can buy fresh, organic curry leaves inexpensively from this grower on Etsy – their quality is top-notch and they pick them to order – once you’ve tried fresh curry leaves, you’ll use them frequently, I promise! Nigella seeds (used in a special white curry powder for this recipe) may be purchased from here, and Kashmiri chili powder (very mild) from here.

My preferred brand of coconut milk is Chaokoh from Thailand – you can easily buy some from here on Amazon, and you will need some fresh or frozen pandan leaves for an amazing fragrance, vanilla-like flavor and adding vibrant color – mercifully, fresh is easily found here. I also suggest serving this garlic curry with a classic mint sambal, all of whose ingredients complement the garlic curry and add a wonderful flavor and color contrast to the main dish.

Citizens, I may not reach for vegetables often – but when I do, I treat them with all the reverence they deserve! O vegan/vegetarian Citizens and those fans of the ‘stinking rose’ – fall to your knees in rhapsodic delight before garlic curry, as your prayers have indeed been heard and ANSWERED! 😀

Battle on – the Generalissimo

The Hirshon Sri Lankan Garlic Curry – සුදුළූණු කරි

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• Author: The Generalissimo

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Ingredients

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• 9 oz. garlic cloves (about 5 very fresh, rock-hard heads)
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 Tbsp. neutral oil
• 10 fresh curry leaves
• 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped – preferably heirloom
• 2 jalapeño chilis, slit lengthways
• ***
• 2 tsp. white curry powder, made from:
• 1/4 oz. fresh curry leaves
• 2 1/2 oz. coriander seeds (preferablty the football-shaped ones from India, as they are more fragrant)
• 2 oz. fennel seeds
• 1 oz. nigella seeds
• 1 oz. cumin seeds
• scant 1 oz. turmeric powder
• ***
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. ground fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 tsp. freshly-ground green cardamon seeds
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. Kashmiri chili powder
• generous 3/4 cup coconut milk, Chaokoh brand strongly preferred
• 4 1/2 inch piece of pandan leaf (optional but strongly recommended)
• ***
• Mint sambal – grind together in a food processor:
• 1/3 cup grated coconut
• leaves from a small bunch of mint
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 serrano chilis, seeds scraped out
• a pinch of kosher salt
• a squeeze of lime juice and a little water to loosen the blades

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Instructions

1. Make the white curry powder:
2. Place the curry leaves in a frying pan over a medium–high heat and cook gently for about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat a little and cook for another 1–2 minutes until they are dry and toasted, but not browned.
3. Allow the leaves to cool completely, then combine them with the remaining spices and grind to a fine powder. Store leftover amount in an airtight container.
4. Make the curry:
5. Peel the garlic cloves by putting the whole cloves into a metal bowl. Cover the bowl with another equal-sized metal bowl and shake very hard for one minute – the skins should slip right off!
6. Trim the onion, halve lengthways then slice lengthways again into wide petals.
7. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the mustard seeds until they begin to pop. Add the onion, curry leaves and salt and fry until the onion softens, then starts to turn golden and sticky.
8. Add the garlic cloves and cook for a few minutes, to sear the outside. Add the tomato, chilies and spices (including the required amount of white curry powder) and cook for about 5 minutes so the tomato breaks down into a sauce.
9. Pour in the coconut milk with the pandan and bring to a simmer. Cook on a low heat for around 30 minutes, being careful not to stir too much as the garlic softens. You may need to add a little water towards the end.
10. Taste a clove – it should be very soft, sweet and with any harsh rawness cooked out. The timing will depend on the age and size of your garlic cloves, so taste is the best judge. Start checking at about 25 minutes and be ready to cook for 45 minutes, if needed.
11. This is a dish that works well being made in advance. Serve warm rather than piping hot with steamed rice, roti or dal and mint sambal.