Sunday Lunch.. Lamprais/ ලම්ප්රයි/ lomprijst.. (not lump rice/ ලම්ප් රයිස්)
It is believed the history of the lamprais can be traced back to the interaction between the Dutch and the people of what would later become its multiple-island colony, the East Indies, today's Indonesia. The Dutch discovered on Java that the villagers ate their meals of rice and curry wrapped in a banana leaf, which conveniently fitted in their hand, ready to be eaten anywhere, anytime.
The Dutch appreciated the concept, refined it by adding some of their own ingredients, and named it lomprijst "a packet of rice", perhaps derived from lemper, which in Malay has the same meaning. When they ousted the Portuguese from the island they called Zeylan in 1640, the Dutch brought with them the lomprijst, and adapted it with local ingredients. Later it became part of the colony's cuisine with the Anglicised name "lamprais" (the "s" is not pronounced when referring to one lamprais).
Prepared everything from scratch. On this plate, the authentic flavours and sides that makes a genuine lamprais.
Short grained Samba rice, sauteed in ghee and saffron, then cooked to perfection in stock and spices, Spicy onion sambol, belacan Sambal (a paste with chili, fried shrimp and other spices), Brinjal moju (pickled eggplant), fried, then cooked ash plantains in a dry creamy curry, a mixed meat (chicken, pork and beef) curry, a fried full boiled egg and frikkedel (in this case, a fish cutlet. All wrapped up in a banana leaf and baked in the oven.
I surprised myself how incredibly good this was, usually I'm critical about my own cooking. Family gave rave reviews.
Eggplant Moju (Pickle) වම්බටු මෝජු
Samba Rice cooked in spices and stock
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