Wild life and landscape – Trip part two

We passed many tanks, paddy fields and forests in our way to Polonnaruwa.

In between Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura there is a reserve forest of a tank and it is famous for elephant watching. We were passing it in our way to Anuradhapura when suddenly a lone elephant showed up from the forest and walked along the road for some distance and disappeared in to the forest again. We were excited and clicking photos and shouting at same timeJ. It was a nice little surprise visit.

Passing forest …

The tanks … with water lilies and cool breeze…

Vistas… 

These are few shots of paddy fields I managed in moving vehicle.

More ruins and stone work to come … 

A trip to Anuradhpura & Polonnaruwa.

When my mother was ill she said that she wants to go worship Buddhist relics after she get well. So our family and my mother’s sisters’ families made the trip to very historic cities like Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka. These are main cities of two kingdoms ran across more than fifteen centuries. Very valuable in both religious and historic means.  These cities are great tourist attractions.

There are great stupa, large tanks, ancient ruins and wild life as attractions. I am going to share the few places we visited in our trip.

A stupa (from Sanskrit: m., स्तूप, stūpa, Sinhalese: දාගැබ, Pāli: थुप "thūpa", literally meaning "heap") is a mound-like or semi-hemispherical structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the ashes of Lord Buddha , used by Buddhists as a place of meditation. (Wikipeadia)

This stupa called Somawathi stupa and build by a princess called Somawathi containing right tooth relic of Lord Buddha.

This is thousands of years old and repaired and resized over centuries. This image shows the ancient brick walls. This part is left as it is to display how it was before repaired.

This is the ground area of the stupa build using big clay blocks.

This is the great Ruwanwalisaya constructed br king Dutugamunu containing many ashes of Lord Buddha.

I will make many posts about these cities which will contain other parts of ruins.

Embroidery in my first crazy quilt.

Sri lankan style butternut squash curry. - A recipe

I wanted to share some of our traditional recipes with you. So when I was cooking last Saturday I had my camera ready to take photos. First a little background information...

In traditional Sri Lankan culinary we use clay pots and coconut shell spoons on fire created using fire wood. I still use clay pots and coconut shell spoons but on gas cookers.

Coconut milk is the main liquid we use to cook curries. Coconut milk is extracted in homes using a small machine (Follows a picture of mine). Person has to hold the coconut shell into grater and turn around the handle to rotate the grater. This machine grates the coconut meat. We mix grated coconut meat with water and squeeze through a strainer to extract milk. This is done regularly in Sri Lankan households at cooking.

Butternut squash curry is a commonly enjoyed delicacy in Sri Lanka. It is a savory (but sweetness of squash is added) item and used as a side dish for rice. Following is how my mother taught me to prepare butternut squash curry. You can adjust red pepper powder and salt to taste.

 Ingredients:

One medium red onion minced

3 cloves garlic minced

2 green peppers minced

3 Curry leaves minced or 1 teaspoon powdered curry leave

3 teaspoon red pepper powder

1 teaspoon curry powder

Pinch of turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon maldive fish (optional)

500g butternut squash hulled and cubed (1 inch)

2-3 cups coconut milk (according to need for gravy)

Method:

Put all ingredients in a (preferably clay) pot and bring to a boil in medium heat stirring frequently.

When boiling reduce heat to low and cook covered for 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally.

                                               

When squash cubes are cooked (a fork can be inserted) the curry is ready.

Serve over Red rice. (Here I have added some stir fried chicken and green leaves.)