Sri Lankan Summer Desserts

The tang of Sri Lankan desserts can be incredibly tantalising.

These healthy lip-smacking delights from the tropical island of Sri Lanka are effortless to make and a relish for your taste buds.

Fruits and summer go together. Many Sri Lankan dessert recipes are based on seasonal fruits.

Fruits are great for hydrating your skin, ensuring you to stay fit and fabulous.

DESIblitz is bringing you these delicious five minutes Sri Lankan summer delights.

Sri Lankan Avocado Delight (Avocado Milkshake)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 average sized Avocados
• ½ cup of Condensed Milk
• ½ cup of water
• Sugar (According to your preference)
• 3 to 4 ice cubes
• Mango chunks (optional)

Method:

1. Skin the avocados and cut into pieces.
2. Make a smooth paste of avocado, sugar, ice cubes and condensed milk using a blender.
3. Add water if necessary, and serve cold.
4. The smoothie is best served with juicy mango chunks on the top.

Tip: Strawberry can be easily substituted for mango for the top.

Sri Lankan Treacle Curd

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of Curd/Natural yogurt
• 4 tbsp Kithul Treacle
• 4 to 7 coarsely shredded cashew nuts

Method:

1. Allot the curd into a serving cup.
2. Pour the Kithul Treacle on top.
3. Do not mix, let the treacle gush freely.
4. Decorate with shredded cashew nuts.
5. Serve cold.

Tip: Almonds can be used instead of cashew nuts. Kithul or ‘Caryota urens’ is a flowering plant in the palm family found in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan Jaggery Pudding (Watalappam)

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 500 g Kithul jaggery (unrefined sugar)
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tin of thick coconut milk /1 tin of condensed milk
• 8 eggs
• 3 roasted Cardamoms
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Beat all the eggs together.
2. Add ¼ cup of water to the jaggery and heat in a pan.
3. Pour the mixture into a bowl.
4. Add the eggs into this treacle and then coconut milk.
5. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla essence and the roasted cardamoms. Beat well using an electric beater. Prepare a shallow pan and pour the blend into it.
6. Cover the pan with a clean cloth or aluminium foil very tightly.
7. Place the pudding pan into the steamer set over a saucepan of boiling water.
8. Steam for about 35 to 45 minutes.
9. Serve hot or cold.

Tip: Shredded Cashew can be sprinkled over the pudding before steaming. Wattalapam can also be served as a dessert as well.

Sri Lankan Falooda

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 scoops of Vanilla ice cream
• 2 tsp Rose syrup
• 2 cups fresh milk
• 1 tbsp Kasa kasa (poppy seeds)
• 3 tbsp set jelly cut into specks (Preferably in 2 colours)

Method:

1. Soak the kasa kasa (poppy seeds) for 10 minutes in a ½ a cup of water.
2. Add the rose syrup and drained kasa kasa to the milk and blend well.
3. Pour into tall cocktail glasses.
4. Add a scoop of ice cream on top and serve with a long spoon along with a straw.

Tip: You can add cooked vermicelli if you want make your falooda quite rich.

Sri Lankan Strawberry Cold Tea

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Fresh milk
• 1 cup water
• 3 tea bags
• 2 Strawberries

Method:

1. Boil the water in a pan and add tea bags.
2. Add milk and let it boil for a while.
3. Squeeze the juice out of strawberries using a filter.
4. Let the tea cool in the room temperature.
5. Add the Strawberry juice into the tea and refrigerate.
6. Serve cold.

Tip: Add a roasted cardamom to the boiling tea to get a richer aroma.

Sri Lankan Summer Delight

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 big Mango
• 8 Strawberries
• 2 Bananas
• 1 Papaya
• 1 Lime
• Water
• ¼ Milk
• Sugar
• Salt

Method:

1. Make a thick juice of the mango in a blender adding a little water. Add sugar if necessary.
2. Refrigerate in an ice tray.
3. Make a juice of strawberries by adding ¼ cup of milk and blending together. Freeze in a separate ice tray.
4. Seed the papaya and cut into chunks.
5. Peel the banana and cut into slices.
6. Blend the banana and papaya into a thick juice using water sparingly in an electric blender. Squeeze out a lime into the juice.
7. Add a pinch of salt and sugar if needed.
8. When serving, pour this blend into a cocktail glass and add a few cubes of mango ice and few cubes of strawberry ice and serve very cold.

Tip: You can experiment with many seasonal fruit cubes of different colours and varieties depending on the occasion and your own creativity.

Chase away the summer heat with these exciting and refreshing quick fixes from Sri Lanka, exclusively for your palette. So, take few minutes and give them a go!