2016 Apr 29
by Anuki Premachandra
A “Jaffna-Curry” tale
The one thing that makes all Jaffna curries stand out from the rest them around the island, is their intense mix of spices, or locally known, thunapaha. The curries in Jaffna are loaded with them. Marinated to perfection with a shock of spices taking your taste buds over with every single bite. It’s more about the spices than about the curry really. Their preparations and their recipes definitely makes them stand out from any other type of Sri Lankan curry you’ve tasted.
In our extensive search for a restaurant that served authentic food in the city, we were led to the Green Grass hotel. It’s not a saiwar kadé and neither is it a fine dining place, it’s more of an in the middle, but-not-quite kind of place.
Green Grass is located adjoining the Valampuri Hotel and Restaurant. Valampuri is a new hotel with modern architecture, from the outside, the place looked quite well. Valampuri and Green Grass share the same kitchen. But Green Grass is the less “posh” place compared to the hotel right beside it. We have to note though, the bathrooms here were quite clean, this is something rarely found in Jaffna. Green Grass is right near the Jaffna Railway station. Just as you come out of the station, it’s right down Hospital Road.
Ambience
The place didn’t look so bad after all. With white tiles and tables in blue table cloths with chairs covered in a white material with an orange strip on it, the place instantly gave out a ‘reception hall’ kind of vibe. The place is more of a middle-income dining restaurant in Jaffna and by far, one of the best around.
The place has A/C, which we were glad they did because the excruciating heat and all the travelling had literally drained the life out of us. All of the tables have the cutlery and wine glasses faced down (no, they don’t serve wine with your meal) and the table serviettes rolled up in a peculiar way, whatever they’ve done with the table arrangements, it looked interesting.
Green Grass is both a restaurant and hotel, but the exterior of it doesn’t look that welcoming. When you walk inside, you are greeted by their staff and you’re either guided to a table or in our case, your table is set up really fast. The staff is super friendly and nice and was generous enough to tell us what tasted best at the restaurant and what we Colombo city earthlings should order.
Food and Drinks
Everything was filled with spices, specially loads and loads of thunapaha. They definitely give you a run for your money. Vegetable rice and curry cost Rs.350 per person. We bought the meat items separately so the final cost came up to about Rs.750 per person.
The potato dish was one of a kind. The ala curry didn’t look the normal light yellow, it was a thick dark yellow that indicated that it was loaded with spices. It tasted as good too. The potato was boiled right and the curry had just about the right amount of thickness.
The brinjals were exceptionally flavoursome. It took a thick black roasted colour and texture. The Batu Moju was fried and had been given time for the spice to infuse itself into the vegetable. The beetroot curry was nothing like I had seen ever before. It wasn’t purple! I’m not even joking. The beetroot curry looked more like a carrot curry than beetroot. The spices had taken over the meal so much so that the colour of it was entirely gone and the curry had adapted itself to a dark brown texture.
The brinjal curry was in contrast to the brinjal moju. What a moju signifies is a dish that’s been pan-fried and oily and not curry with a paste. The brinjal curry looked more like parrippu. It was slenderly cut brinjal made into a thick curry. Not as spicy, but more like the ala curry with similar a taste.
Cabbage thel daala was also another favourite. Finely shredded cabbage, thel daala with lots of spices and curry leaves. This dish was quite oily compared to the rest but something different to our everyday rice and curry patterns.
The Jaffna Crab Curry is every sea food lover’s dream. If you have a thing for crab meat but haven’t yet tried a Jaffna crab curry, then my friend, you are definitely missing out on so much in life. The dish was a show stopper. Out of the few days I spent in Jafffna, one observation I made was the size of the crabs in the North as opposed to what we buy at our local malu kadé. They are huge. The claws are ginormous and packed with meat. The infusion of the spices was like the cherry on top coupled with the succulent meat. I could live on this dish. Their cuttlefish curry also needs be given enough value. Again, it’s not your usually yellow-red dish, its brown. In Jaffna, the infusion of spices isn’t really about chilli powder, it’s the generous use of thunapaha that creates this authentic taste and texture of nearly all dishes in that part of the island. The cuttlefish too, was succulent and well prepared. Their seafood needs honorary mentioning. It’s super fresh and massive compared to the ones in Colombo. You can literally taste its freshness. With every bite you take, you are guaranteed that you’re eating seafood taken only minutes ago from the sea and prepared with delicate care to make sure it’s original taste isn’t tarnished.
The Jaffna Mutton Curry was another story to write. If I could have a lifetime supply of it, I would be a very very happy man. The infusion of spices into the meat was surprisingly notable. It’s as if they’ve kept the meat to marinate for days. Every bite exploded into flavours in your mouth. Again, the meat was not overcooked and was definitely tender and braised. Another show-stopper for me.
The only downside to these dishes though, you’re probably wondering how there could possibly be a downside after such elaborative and lavish descriptions, is the spices. See, the spices work as a good and a bad. The bad part comes after we have the dishes. Maybe because we’re not used to eating dishes as loaded with spices as the ones here, most of us found this burning sensation in our throats that only went away after chugging ice cold water and mouthfuls of ice cream down our throats. This only happens the first time, and it’s not really that bad. But, if you have sensitive taste buds, you want to rethink your choices.
