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This blog is to help people to cook tasty Sri lankan food in an easy way.

When I was young most of the ingredients required in cookery books were not available in Sri Lanka. Therefore most of the food I cooked did not turn out well as the substitutes I used were not the ideal ones. Many were the days I baked flat cakes, burnt cookies and hard milk toffee that broke everyone’s teeth! This was really frustrating. When ever I was in the kitchen, my father used to come and bully me saying “another experiment”? But as I grew up, my father had to bite his words as I became a good western cook! Lasagna, Baked Alaska and Crepe Suzettes were my speciality.

I have to thank Anusha Dickman for having first inspired me and encouraged me to try various recipes,  saying cooking was easy, you can do it. Later, her sisters book, Anita Dickman’s cookery course, became my cookery bible. Buying this book will never be a waste – it is really worth it as the recipes are spot on and comes out so well. Thank you Shanthi and Anusha for giving us such a wonderful book.

It was only when I got married that I really learnt how to make Sri lankan curries. At first it was really frustrating as the recipes called for large quantities and we were just two. The I stumbled upon Doreen Peiris’s book on Sri Lankan cooking and that started me going. I adapted some of these recipes to my own taste, adjusted the quantities, added a few spices and made my own “ideal” recipe. I wrote them all down in a little spiral bound book and called it “Day to Day cookery collection”. Into this book I also wrote various recipes given by the cooks that worked at home and those given by friends, amending them to suit my own tastes.

It was the initial struggle to cook that made me decide that one day I will publish the recipes so that every young wife could easily be able to cook.

I hope this blog will help you to be a better cook. And most of all – enjoy cooking and of course eating!