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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Vegan MoFo - Stopover 2 - Sri Lanka


It was an exciting moment when the young man drew Sri Lanka out second, it was a country I really wanted to appear in this challenge because I knew exactly what I was going to make. Many years ago I worked as a travel agent and one of the companies I was employed with was a Sri Lankan family business. During my time there I was introduced to several of their fiery hot curries yet it was their greasy deep-fried snacks known as short eats that remain to this day as my favourite part of Sri Lankan cuisine.


After sampling many of these types of snacks, pan rolls became my favourite short eat and when I introduced the man to them he was hooked too. They resemble a large spring roll that has been crumbed and fried and the spiced, peppery filling inside is irresistible. Traditionally pan rolls are contained inside a pancake before being crumbed and fried which is where the name comes from. I took a shortcut with my version and used spring roll wrappers to cut down on preparation time and because I was fearful about pancakes falling apart.


Most of the ingredients are easy to come by although there are a couple of unique components to the dish like pepper powder and pandan or rampe leaves. I purchased pepper powder from a Sri Lankan spice shop ages ago for the sole purpose of using it in these rolls but I haven't been able to determine whether it is a different type of pepper to the standard black variety that is widely used around the world. Pandan leaves have a mild flavour and aroma and are often used to flavour desserts. There is one across the back of the top photo if you are interested in what they look like.


A few months ago I had my first attempt at making pan rolls which were a huge success even though I had been a little heavy handed with the spices. I didn't post the recipe at the time as I wanted to fine tune it a little but when I came to making them this time I couldn't locate my notes! This time around the pan rolls weren't spicy enough so at least I have recorded this effort now and will get the spices perfect next time around. I couldn't bear to serve up just fried food for dinner so I went served this with a fantastic Sri Lankan cashew curry from the soon to be released Vegan Eats World.

Edited to add (29/10/2012): The recipe has been modified slightly after making a better version and I have also included cooking times for a deep fryer. 


Sri Lankan pan rolls
Makes 10-12 

750g potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2cm piece ginger, minced
3 birds eye chillies, finely chopped (reduce the amount for a milder version)
300g carrots, finely diced
1 ½ - 2 teaspoons pepper powder (depending on your pepper tolerance)
1 ½ - 2 teaspoons salt
12 curry leaves
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh pandan (rampe) leaves OR
2 stalks frozen pandan leaves cut into 5cm pieces
½ cup water
1 cup frozen peas
10-12 25cm spring roll wrappers
soy milk (or other non-dairy milk) and breadcrumbs, for coating
peanut oil, for shallow or deep frying

Place the potatoes in a saucepan filled with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until very soft. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli for 5 minutes or until the onions have softened. Stir through the carrots, pepper powder, salt, curry leaves, pandan leaves and water, cover and cook on low for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and mash them lightly into the mixture with a wooden spoon, then stir through the peas and allow them to cook until thawed. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly. If using frozen pandan leaves, remove the stalks from the mixture.

Spoon about ¼ cup of the mixture into each spring roll sheet. Roll each one up to enclose the filling. Dunk each roll into soy milk then the breadcrumbs and transfer to a clean plate.

Heat the peanut oil in a deep sided frying pan, wok or deep fryer. If not using a deep fryer, test the readiness of the oil by sprinkling in some breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs will sizzle immediately when the oil is ready. In you have a deep fryer, set the temperature to 180C.

Fry the pan rolls in batches for a couple of minutes on each side until lightly browned or deep fry for 5 minutes. Drain the excess oil on paper towels and enjoy!

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Did you know?

Sri Lanka was the first country in the world to have a democratically elected head of state who was a woman.


Do you want to know where else I've been this month? Click here for the round up.

26 comments:

  1. I was quite excited to see sri lanka - I went to a sri lankan restaurant in Northcote some years ago and loved it - but can't remember if we had pan rolls (it was before blogging) - they sound delicious

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    1. I can't tell you how excited I was too! They are really yummy and usually very spicy.

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  2. Yum! Sri Lankan food was one of my favourites in my pregan days and I haven't tried any vegan dishes. My mum's Sri Lankan friend used to make the pan rolls and they were the first Sri Lankan food I'd tried, many years ago. This is a fab recipe! Looking forward to the next draw :)

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    1. Yay for another Sri Lankan food lover! I'm not sure how many of their dishes are vegan either, at my local spice shop they don't seem to grasp the concept of not eating meat so I haven't bothered investigating vegan options. Glad you liked this!

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  3. Though we had Sri Lankan family friends when I was little, I haven't ever had the chance to try the cuisine as an adult--that cashew curry & the pan rolls look amazing & I know I'd love them!

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    1. Hope you get the chance to try some Sri Lankan again one day. As a spice lover I'm sure you would love these!

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  4. Loving this theme - it's totally paying out. I salute the Sri Lankans for working out how to make the spring roll even better. Deep frying it and covering it in breadcrumbs? Genius!

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    1. I'm loving the theme too so I'm glad you are as well! They deserve an extra salute for wrapping their curry in a pancake shaped spring roll! The traditional ones are slightly softer than mine turned out but they still worked well.

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  5. I love around the world themes and I never knew about food from Sri Lanka, I will definitely follow your MoFo theme :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Cara! I'm glad you like the theme and found out a bit about Sri Lankan food.

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  6. Looking forward to all the places this theme takes you, nice that you got one you were really hoping for too! I haven't met a South East Asian dish I didn't like yet and this one definitely looks tasty. An interesting "Did you know?" as well.

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    1. I'm looking forward to my future virtual travels too. As I have no overseas travel plans in the near future it has been a bit of fun pretending! Glad you liked the trivia too!

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  7. how cool! i've never heard of pan rolls before! my favorite sri lankan food is anything mixed with coconut sambula!

    xo
    kittee

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Kittee! You should keep an eye out for pan rolls, I highly recommend trying them if you find some vegan ones around.

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  8. I wonder if I could try these with rice paper or with a really thing gf crepe because I want to try them! Also, I know what you mean about only serving fried food for dinner, I always need some sort of veggie with it on the side!

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    1. They could work with rice paper wrappers, have you tried frying them before? GF crepes would need to be fairly robust to contain the filling whilst frying otherwise the contents may leak out.

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  9. This is such a fun theme! I don't believe I've ever had a Sri Lankan anything, but these pan rolls sound like the perfect place to start!

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    1. Thanks Bobbie, I'm enjoying the theme too! If you are into spicy foods, you should definitely try some Sri Lankan food.

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  10. I love your stopovers theme! These rolls look delicious...The spicier the better! Thanks for the recipe :)

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    1. Thanks, the theme is a lot of fun and glad you like the looks of these!

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  11. Thank goodness Sri Lanka was drawn, because I imagine it would have been seriously frustrating to want to make these all month and not be able to! I love the sound of the filling of these.

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    1. I would have sweated the month out and made them at the start of November I guess. ;) Thanks, they are very tasty.

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  12. My head-of-department is Sri Lankan-German, and one of her sisters makes Sri Lankan curry spice packs. They are so yummy! Subtly different from Indian curries, but different no less. I love rampe leaf in them. These little rolls look so great, too.

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    1. Indians and Sri Lankans do use a lot of the same spices but still manage to produce their own unique curries. I love rampe too but should have added curry leaves too, must remember that next time!

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  13. Yum, I love Sri Lankan food! Sri Lanka is one of the only places I've been where I could eat the same local food every day and never get bored of it. I can't wait to try these.

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    1. Thanks, it is such wonderful food. I would love to travel there and eat some really authentic food. Hope you enjoy them!

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