We had continuous rain during the past months but now the hot and dry season has started with cold air in the mornings. The dew drops are all over the leaves of the tomato trees and on other trees in the early morning and when the hot sun rises, all the leaves in the tomato trees get burnt. The tomato leaves become white and the harvest becomes less. I knew that my elder uncle was a bit worried about the reduced harvest. when the first harvest season came, my elder aunty called me first to be there in the tomato field. All the green trees were decorated with beautiful bright red tomatoes. what a sight for sore eyes! like a carnival with red shining bulbs. Didn't feel like going and enjoying the festive sight of the tomato trees because of the scorching heat. I went to the tomato field in the late evening. My brother was the one who helped the elder uncle to grow and maintain the tomato harvest this time. when I went there that evening, my brother was also busy in the tomato field, tying the trees to the wooden supporters.
In previous harvest seasons, there were other vegetable crops such as brinjal, lady's fingers, bitter gourd, snake gourd, ridged gourd, cucumber and pumpkin planted and received a very good harvest. Yet since it was continuously raining during the past few months, elder uncle was not at all keen to grow anything else. This time he planted half-grown tomato plants in the field even.
Earlier I was planning to make a chutney or sauce out of the tomatoes, but later I had to forget about the idea as there weren't enough tomatoes after giving the elder aunts share. I plucked half-ripened tomatoes mainly because I could keep them for about a week or so. Then I thought to keep the tomatoes for home use. It was a very busy day and had to do lots of household chores. So I didn't have much time to make something special out of the tomatoes that day. But since my brother was troubling me, I made a tomato-mixed roti to have with the evening tea. Since there was leftover chickpea curry and a chilli-dried fish after lunch, I didn't cook anything more to have with the tomato roti.
Since my dear brother couldn't eat leftovers, he went to the kitchen and made one of his special and peculiar dishes by using the leftovers from lunch. Even though I nag him sometimes, touch wood! his special dish was delicious. He had made a kind of mixed salad with purple cabbage, bell pepper and raw tomato slices, which elevated the taste buds to a different level. His dish was beautifully presented and delicious and was very filling, that I decided not to have dinner at all.
The next day morning Uncle Siriwardena brought us a spotted scat fish(Ilaththi fish) from the biggest and the main fish market (lellama) in Negombo. My mind got a different idea to do something different from this flat fish. Since the fish dish has to be an accompaniment with noodles, I deep-fired the scat fish and poured a sauce made out of tomatoes and garlic. I baked one whole lemon and mixed it with the sauce to give it a more tanginess. I mixed the leaves and the stems of the beetroot which gave a very pleasant crunchiness and a look as well. Since my main idea was to make the fish so crispy, moments before I put the fish into the very hot deep oil, I added the corn flour to oil so that when the fish was getting deep fried, the corn flour would coat the fish completely. This method gives a crispiness to the fish.
As a daily habit, lunch was ready in the centre of our small round table where grandmother, brother and I sit for our daily meals. The table looked nice with the vegetable noodles, with the special fried fish that was drizzled with my special tomato sauce. To fill the void of a salad, I added a simple salad made of sliced green cucumbers, onion and a lemon slices into it. Anyway for some reason, I kept some mango chutney also on the table, maybe because my heart was feeling a bit uneasy when I saw the lunch table only with two dishes that gave a decorated yet simple atmosphere. But when I took the first mouth, I was thinking how delicious and fulfilling our lives could be with only, one or two simple yet deliciously mindful dishes than so many varieties of unmatched dishes across one's lunch table.
Love you All!
Nadee
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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29 сен 2024
