Topic: Questions about the dish Ceylon.

[Malc.]

A first for me tonight, was a Chicken Ceylon from my local. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish almost like a grown up korma of sorts, which took me way back. Of course it was very grown up and needed to be savoured with respect.

Looking at what I was served and the recipes I have seen, I have but one question: Does your local serve this dish with a reddish colour coming from tomato pur

[Stephen Lindsay]

Axe - locally I would see a Ceylon as being like a Madras with the addition of coconut - therefore more red than any other colour.

[chewytikka]

Hi Malc
Thats a memory jogger.
My first Ceylon was in the 70's, looked just like a Madras, but was hotter, flavoured with coconut flour
and a wedge of lemon, but here's the strange thing, it had tinned green beans in it.

The menus around here started updating the name in the 80's, just like the country.
All Sri Lankan dishes now and no green beans.

cheers Chewy

[PaulP]

I had a chicken Ceylon about 2 years ago in a restaurant in Ormskirk, Lancs.

It was just like Chewy's description: Looked like a madras but a bit hotter and with a coconut flavour. No greens or anything like that. Quite nice really although a bit too hot for me.

Paul

[Gav Iscon]

Chicken Ceylon is my wifes usual and as described above its always like Madras with added coconut. I've done a hot Korma for her which is totally different as its a lot sweeter. In some restaurants the Ceylon goes under the name of Sri Lankan. When I've been working in Yorkshire, Chicken Ceylon / Sri Lankan always draws a blank look when I've asked for it but that could be my 'delicate' Geordie accent.

[Malc.]

Thanks guys, very interesting comments as my first thought when I sampled the dish at the restaurant before taking it home, was that it would be great with prawns and/or fish, something I commented on. So that takes care of the Sri Lankan bit.

I kept back a fair bit of the sauce as it really was quite hot and I wasn't going to eat it all. I've taken a pic (below) and had a good nose at the sauce. As you'll see from the pic, it looks quite grainy which is probably due to two reasons; the coconut which i'm sure is flour not milk powder and curdling from the use of cream and lemon juice. I think you'll agree that this dish hasn't seen any tomato puree. Looking closely, you can see a hint of red in the oil which probably comes from the chilli powder. The sauce clung to the meat (chicken) but was loose not claggy.

Taste wise it was the hot end of madras if not slightly hotter. It wasn't sweet (I had asked if they added sugar and, if so, to omit it) but you could taste the coconut and whilst I couldn't pick up the lemon per se, I knew it was there. The aroma this morning had a feint hint of BIR about it and a real depth of vegetable, which leads me to think that the green flecks are coriander rather than methi, though their pale green colour would suggest the latter, any thoughts? Also that it is more likely cooked with little other influence to the dish relying mostly on the base and the afore mentioned ingredients.

I shall be cooking the sauce tonight and reducing it a little. To which i'll add the remaining prawns I bought for the omelette, maybe some cashew nuts and serve it with the left over mushroom jeera rice and a chapati, no doubt with more pics to follow.

[Malc.]

Well I used the remaining sauce last night but was disappointed, despite the lovely prawns that I had put in it. The sauce had become very bitter almost chaat like but not in a nice way. I've no idea why this was, as I expected it to taste even better, any thoughts?

But I was pleased with the samosa I made using a little of the sauce to make the potato and pea masala. Of which I made six, so it wasn't all bad.

[Naga]

Shame about the sauce going bitter on you and can't help with an explanation, but the plateful still looks delicious!

[Malc.]

Thanks Naga,

I am wondering if it was due to leaving the lemon in the sauce overnight. I did notice that with the cold sauce mixed on the plate with the prawns prior to cooking a watery liquid was visible leaching out of the sauce. Some of this may have been due to the prawns but I could definitely detect the smell of lemon in the cold sauce. I'm not that concerned as I am unlikely to order this dish again at least for a while, but it was disappointing.

Cheers,

Malc.