All of us might use a little bit dinner inspiration — even Ali Slagle, who dreams of dinner. In “Dinner Is Served,” she asks colleagues about one evening after they one way or the other reworked elements into dinner with all this life happening.
This month’s installment: Today, Cynthia Shanmugalingam is selling her debut cookbook Rambutan—considered one of Eater’s favorites this season—whereas additionally opening a restaurant with the identical identify in London. After which she comes dwelling and makes herself dinner—it makes her “really feel like an grownup.”
My days in the meanwhile are actually lengthy and tiring as a result of I’m in the midst of a constructing web site making an attempt to get the restaurant [Rambutan] open. It’s plenty of “go” power all day the place I’m speaking to the builders, determining the finishes, talking to a delivery man in Sri Lanka about sending chairs over and what all of the issues are in doing it. I’m speaking to my buddy Liam, who helps me with the drinks, about what cocktails we want within the bar and what bar package we want, and what I would like the drinks to say. I interviewed three folks at present. It feels type of relentless. I checked out spreadsheets for a very long time, so on the finish of the day I’m actually drained. I don’t wish to do something, truly. I don’t actually wish to socialize. I believe it’s simply because I’m working so onerous.
However I additionally had a recipe to jot down tonight and a few laundry and no matter. So anyhow, what I cooked at present is prawn curry as a result of prawn curry is absurdly fast to cook dinner. Sri Lankans eat plenty of prawns and seafood. Rising up as a child we had prawn or fish curry perhaps 4 nights every week after which hen a couple of times after which vegetarian perhaps the opposite day and perhaps a couple of times in a fortnight we’d have meat like lamb. However more often than not we had seafood.
Fish curry is considered one of life’s nice pleasures. However prawns I believe are this bizarre factor as a result of I didn’t truly used to love prawns. I believed they appeared bizarre, type of like bugs, and my mother and father had been like “What, you’re so ungrateful! Why don’t you eat them? You’re fortunate to have the ability to eat them!” and we’d struggle about it and I’d be like “No, don’t make me!” So I solely type of got here to them late after I was like 16 or 17 and I used to be like, oh… they had been proper and that’s embarrassing. However that meant that they really feel grownup and like my very own factor.
In Sri Lanka, we eat prawn curry with bread. We name it White Bloomers in England. It’s a easy loaf of white bread. Not sourdough, not something with a heavy crumb. Like a pillowy mushy white bread. Bread and prawn curry are fantastic collectively. We might eat it for breakfast truly or for dinner. Dinner and breakfast are type of the identical for us as a result of they’re each small, gentle meals whereas lunch is meant to be your correct huge meal of the day.
So I had some tamarind within the fridge and tamarind and prawns have a magical romance taking place. There’s acidity within the tamarind and with the sweetness of the prawns, it actually works collectively brilliantly. [The curry is] simply so fast. It’s like perhaps quarter-hour or one thing. [It starts with] onions and curry leaves in coconut oil. You odor that and you are feeling like dinner is coming and it’s all coming collectively. And you then add Sri Lankan curry powder. I already had some that I made perhaps a month or two in the past and so it’s not at its prime nevertheless it’s nonetheless scrumptious. It’s made with roasted chiles and different spices so it’s obtained type of a smoky taste. After which coconut milk. Prepare dinner all of that and when it’s prepared and performed, you add the prawns actually close to the tip. You solely have to allow them to cook dinner for a couple of minutes as a result of prawns cook dinner so shortly.
I additionally prefer to make a little bit ending oil from the heads. It doesn’t take very lengthy to do, simply stir-fry the heads and shells with some Sri Lankan curry powder in coconut or vegetable oil over excessive warmth till the shells are pink, not even 10 minutes. Pressure by means of a sieve to take away the solids. It makes the prawn curry actually filled with prawny taste. It’s only a scrumptious time. It feels good to cook dinner for myself and to really feel like an grownup, like I’m doing one thing unusual that isn’t working on the finish of the day.
This interview was condensed and edited for readability.
Ali Slagle is a recipe developer, stylist, and — most necessary of all — dwelling cook dinner. She’s a frequent contributor to the New York Instances and Washington Publish, and her cookbook is named I Dream of Dinner (so You Don’t Have To): Low-Effort, High-Reward Recipes.
Daniela Jordan-Villaveces is a artistic director and illustrator. She was born in Bogotá and raised between Colombia, Holland, and the U.S. She presently lives in sunny Los Angeles together with her husband, their son, Lou, two kittens, and a pup.
