Chicken Pomodori melt - Panino

Can I just say that I absolutely love Panino?

It started as a mild infatuation, while I was searching for a substantial lunch at the Good Market. I'm not a huge rice fan and hence sad to say, the options were scarce, expensive and hardly sufficient.

That's when I came across Panino. I had one of their roast paan panini first (I believe it was a chicken pomodori melt) and I was hooked.

I have tried so many of their creations so far, the BBQ pulled chicken, the mushroom & cheese, the chicken burritos and etc, all of which had a unique identity of their own. While I absolutely loved some, others I generally liked and some I did not like (for example, the burritos has a little too much of rice and too little chicken in it which was not to my liking. However, the flavours were good) But today I shall rant and rave about the Chicken Pomodori melt that, hands down, tops the list for me.

I love, love, LOVE the chicken! Very well seasoned and dare I say, melt in the mouth? I love what they have done with the spinach there and that spread! Oh dear god, that spread! Whatever that spread is, it gives all the flavour that the panini needs. It coats the chicken, the spinach and whatever else is in that filling and perfectly balances it out. Would I have it seven days a week for lunch? Hell yeah!

Oh btw, I like my Chicken Pomodori in a wrap. Sure it costs Rs 50/- more but it sure is worth it.

Best part is, it's healthy. I'm bit of a health conscious person and like to watch what I put in my body. Because of this, it is somewhat difficult to find "snacks" for myself. Another reason why Panino is just about perfect for me. And I know this will sound weird but it tastes healthy too (probably it's the spinach. Shrug)

Not a huge fan of their drinks though. Prices are outrageous. For a bottle of thambili, they charge Rs 150/-. For a bottle of narang or ginger beer, its 250! I mean sure, I understand that the eco friendly glass bottling and everything costs, but as an actual food item, its way too overpriced for me. I did try their homemade ginger beer once out of curiosity. It was good, but would I pay Rs 250/- for it? No.

All in all, I'm happy. I found my go-to place for those little cravings. Sad part is I have to go all the way to the Cotton Collection to get my fix. Oh well......

Pasta - Sri Lankan style

Pasta. Essentially Italian. Essentially European. But like all things in Sri Lanka, we Sri Lankans like to make it our own.

Accepted that there are many ways of preparing this dish. Be it with a traditional Bolognese sauce, carbonara, amatriciana or etc, nothing beats the ways in which us Sri Lankans choose to serve the dish. The last time I saw it, it was being served with dhal & chicken curry in a roadside kade. Not too bad I must say.

Pasta is also an alternative for rice in a typical fried rice kind of situation. Toss together some finely sliced carrots, leeks, cabbage, onion with some garlic and ginger in a fiercely spiced stir fry, toss in your prepared pasta and some Knorr or Maggi chicken cubes for good measure et voila! You got yourself fried pasta!

I must confess that the above is a lazy dish that I myself like to make sometimes. We enjoy the fried pasta quite frequently at our household.

But being a lover of all things creamy, I love the special occasion pasta my mother makes, well, on special occasions. It is a combination of fresh cream (the Kotmale kind), bacon (or chicken. But bacon for some reason suits the recipe well), some veggies (onions, carrots, leeks & chopped up tomatoes. No cabbage please) and salt and pepper to taste. Garlic, ginger and onions are sauteed in a pan until golden to which bacon is added and fried till crisp. To this mixture, carrots cut into small cubes & leeks are added. A quick toss and an adequate sprinkling of salt and pepper later, the fresh cream is added and simmered till the mixture is slightly thick. To this mixture the pasta must be added. mix thoroughly and simmer for about 5 minutes and take it off the heat lest that the sauce will dry off. If a slightly more spicier version is required or even for a bit of a kick, add a bit of dried chili flakes, bit of parsley and load up on the black pepper.

If you're feeling a bit fancy, you can serve this with some Parmesan cheese which will add more creaminess to the dish. The veggies must be left slightly crunchy and not cooked all the way through so as to provide texture to an otherwise easy-on-the-teeth dish. The bacon provides a smoky, meaty salty kick whenever bitten into which contrasts heavily with the mellow creaminess of the sauce and the gentle passive taste of the pasta. The best type of pasta to use for this dish is the tubular kind (Penne, Rigatoni or other hollow shapes) as it holds the sauce better while the thickness of the sauce will hold all the other ingredients together.

......or you can just pour some leftover dhal or chicken curry over the pasta and wash it down with a sweetened plain tea. Simple and easy.

And there you have it, Pasta a la Sri Lankan!      

And here is my mother's creamy bacon pasta!

Street food fix - Isso roti/wadei

I was feeling hungry the other day (shock, gasp, yelp!) as I was going home after work, and anybody knowing the area would agree that there is not a single pastry shop/cafe/petti kade, etc to be found around there, the area being the bathroom central that it is (this part of Nawala is bombarded with shops selling bathroom fittings, tiles and the like. Whose bright idea it is to flock all bathroom shops in this place I do not know). However, as I started crossing the road and wait for my trusty office transport I notice this duwanagiriya by the side of the road willed with roti-like disks and what to my delight looked like isso wadei! Determined to get myself an isso wadei, I hastened towards it. On closer inspection I noticed that what looked like isso wadei was not the isso wadei that we know. Oh well, it had isso on it and looked flat like a wadei so I bought three of it. And almost missed Gamage transport in doing so as well! 

The man had hastily taken the wadei-like disks out of the hot oil and packed it up for me so it was quite hot when I took them out. As I opened up the parcel, a delicious aroma filled the van and I noticed out of the corner of my eye a few nosy aunties peeking in as well. It looked quite spicy (my palate has low tolerance for chilli) so I gingerly took a bite. And then, I was hooked.

Although it looked like a wadei, it was a small round roti, a combination of what I suspected was a hint of ground dhal, plenty of coconut, flour and a dash of Maldives fish here and there. It was topped by three scrawny looking prawns and was deep fried in oil. The seasoning was just perfect. Not disappointingly bland like some street food out there with a hint of chilli and the perfect amount of salt, just enough to bring out the flavour of the dhal and the coconut and of course, the scrawny prawns. Not too overpowering either so my palate was happy. The man had topped each disk with a dollop of curry (a thick sort of gravy like what you get with koththu) and a generous sprinkling of finely diced fresh onions and green chilli. It was indeed, a textural extravaganza. As you bite into the wadei/roti, at first you get the yielding softness of the roti followed by the tad bit harder shell of the prawn. Once you start munching on the mouthful, you are treated to the fresh crunch of the onions and the slight sting of the green chilli all blending with the overall mellowness of the rotti and the flavourfulness of the prawn. Gravies usually gross me out but the gravy that was added to this actually adds character to the whole food spectacle. It gives the very necessary streety-ness, that tastes-so-good-that-it-must-be-bad-ness to the whole thing, rounding it up in that special way that makes you hide your saiwar kade cravings from your mom. 

Will I buy from here again? Absolutely. Although I’m bit of a health nut and this is anything but healthy, (oozing with oil, complimented with mysterious condiments god-knows-how-old and kept at a dusty old open cart) I am quite fond of my street food. Yes, I’d definitely go back for more for my weekly street food fix. Want to try the big white roti that looked like godamba roti next time. Wonder what obscure delights he would be offering with that one!  

True that the picture does not look too alluring, but that's the beauty of street food ; they overdeliver and amazes you when it comes to the taste! I should also maybe add that these wadeis were hastily gobbled down after the picture :)