Delicious pelau, a favourite from Trinidad. - photo by Rosemary Parkinson

Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

Well, we're off to a great start and we continue our series of main dishes from the countries participating in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. This week we journey to Sri Lanka and Trinidad &Tobago.

Trinidad & Tobago have been influenced by cultures from around the world, which lend local cuisine a flavourful blend of international styles. 'Locals' come from all over, including India, China, Europe, and other parts of the Caribbean. Spanish culture also has influenced Trinidad & Tobago's cuisine and is seen in tasty Creole dishes such as pelau, a meal of rice, peas, and meat.

Sri Lanka's cuisine

Sri Lanka's cuisine mainly consists of rice. It could be cooked in a variety of ways. It could be boiled or steamed but whichever way you cook it, in Sri Lanka it is always served with curry. Curries in that country are not just limited to meat or fish platters, they could be vegetable or sometimes even fruit curries. A typical Sri Lankan meal consists of a 'main curry' which could be fish, beef, chicken or mutton, as well as several other curries made with vegetables and lentils.

Sources: http://trinidad-guide.info and http://en.wikipedia.org.

Pelau

2 cans pigeon peas

1 large chicken (remove skin

and cut into serving pieces,

lightly marinated in black

pepper, chives, garlic and soy

or oyster sauce)

2 large onions, peeled

and chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled

and chopped

4 tbspn. oyster sauce

2 cups long grain rice

1 large carrot

4 tbspn. of brown sugar

1 tbspn. butter

1 hot pepper (be careful,

make sure not to burst the

pepper when cooking)

Corn or Soy based cooking oil

METHOD

1. Heat two tablespoons of oil in large deep pot.

2. Add chicken and stir until slightly brown, then remove.

3. Add chopped onions and garlic to the oil and cook until slightly brown, then remove.

4. Add 1 three-quarter cup of water for each cup of rice - you can use the liquid from the can of peas bring to a rapid boil.

5. Add rice and peas to the pot.

6. Add browned onions and garlic, brown sugar, chicken, hot pepper.

7. Cover pot and reduce temperature to low simmer.

8. Check periodically and stir mixture.

9. When liquid has been absorbed into rice and the grains are properly cooked, you can add butter and stir. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4-6.

Chicken Curry

3 Chicken breasts chopped

into bite-size pieces

1 cup of curry massalla

gravy-click for recipe

Quarter of an onion,

finely chopped

3 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. chilli powder

1 finely chopped

green finger chilli

4 tsp. garlic pur?e

2 tsp. ginger pur?e

5 tsp. vegetable oil

4 tsp. roughly chopped

coriander leaves

1 tsp. whole coriander leaves

1 tsp. Garam massalla

METHOD

1. Make a paste of the curry powder and chilli powder with a little water.

2. Fry the onion until translucent in the vegetable oil then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir fry on medium for a further five minutes.

3. Add the curry and chilli powder paste and stir in and fry for a further 30 seconds.

4. Add the chicken pieces and seal well on all sides.

5. Add half the massalla gravy and simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked, stirring constantly.

6. If needed, add more massalla gravy and water to prevent the curry becoming too thick or dry.

7. Now add the finely chopped coriander leaves and cook for a further minute.

Serve with the whole coriander leaves sprinkled over the top.

Serves 2

Source: /www.visittnt.com/ and /www.curryfrenzy.com