Serendib Kitchen

I didn’t have a lot of time to cook for the refugees this weekend, so only one experimental new recipe — we’d signed up for breakfast, so I made Venezuelan scrambled eggs, known as perico, cooked with onion, pepper and tomato. Very similar to scrambled eggs I’d make for myself and the family. It was […]

Spent a little time this weekend making elderberry syrup, which is supposed to be a tonic for colds and such. It’s a little bitter until you sweeten it with honey, but it does taste like it’s good for you. One tip I found said to freeze the berries before trying to remove them from the

Red Cabbage Varai / Muttaikoss Varai (15-20 minutes, serves 8.) Sweet, firm, rich with coconut. 8 oz. cabbage 1 medium onion, minced 2 fresh green chilies, seeded and chopped ¼ rounded tsp. ground turmeric ¼ rounded tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1 rounded tsp. salt 2 T lime juice ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut 1.

I had some red cabbage leftover from cooking for the Venezuelan refugees (making an entire half-tray of cabbage slaw for 40 only used up half a cabbage!), so I thought it would be a good time to experiment with it a little for Sri Lankan cooking. I’d tried using red cabbage before, in a varai,

Despite my doughy arepas, I did end up fairly pleased with what I dropped off to the refugees on Saturday; I think it’s a pretty classic Venezuelan meal. Clockwise from top left: roasted sweet potatoes, pulled pork topped with cotija cheese, pickled red onions, arepas, cabbage & carrot slaw, chicken & avocado salad, black beans,

So, I was a little anxious about trying to make arepas, and rightly so, I think — it’s not that they’re particularly difficult (if you can make pancakes, you can make arepas), but doing them well? I’m pretty sure mine were more doughy and dense than is ideal — they didn’t puff up the way

Cooking for the refugees this weekend, I made a Venezuelan slaw to go with the pulled pork and arepas. It’s funny — it’s only in recent years that I’ve gotten to actually like this kind of thing, but now I think it makes the sandwich so much better. Although admittedly, this was a little mild

One of the suggested fillings for Venezuelan arepas is sweet potato, which seems to be typically sliced and then just sautéed on the stovetop until cooked. That takes a while stirring, though, especially if you’re cooking in bulk for a large crowd. I ended up roasting them instead (toss in olive oil, salt and pepper,

Reina Pepiada is a Venezuelan chicken salad traditionally served with arepas — apparently the name means ‘queen with beautiful curves,’ so that’s nice. It’s a pretty typical chicken salad, I think, except that it includes mashed avocado, which gives a creamy lusciousness to it overall. It comes together quickly — poach the chicken in water

Cooking for the Venezuelan refugees. This is a little bit of an adaptation — browsing recipes, I came across ‘tizana,’ which is similar to sangria, but without the red wine. A refreshing fruit and juice drink. Usually it has grenadine (pomegranate syrup), which gives it a characteristic color. I didn’t have any on hand, but