Vegan Mofo 1st's Sri Lankan Soya Curry

 Soya meat, TVP very popular in Sri Lanka, but we didn’t notice as much of vegetarian presence compared with nearby India, but there is a strong Buddhist tradition.

Their favourite use of TVP is “Devilled” a term which is used a lot in Sri Lanka is usually means a chilli dish; devilled instant noodles.

We visited Anuradhapura, in the north of the island, and spend one day cycling around the ancient city ruins. There wasn’t a huge selection of restaurants and our hotels offerings looked really grim and overpriced compared to local eateries (the cheap room and free Wi-Fi were the main benefits).

We found a nice place to eat above the supermarket and we ate our lunch and dinner there that day. We chose the Devilled soya, which was little raspberry shaped pieces cooked in a tasty sauce with some stir fried veg and rice.

In the supermarket there was shelf upon shelf of packaged dry soya meats, in all kinds of meat, fish and curry flavours. Before we left the south of the island a few days before the end of our trip we picked up three packets. Two of which were ‘cuttlefish’ style, which I love the novelty that they are shaped like Cheerios when dry!

Last night I wanted to cook curry, I usually do this from scratch, but we realised there was a jar of Lloyd Grossman Bhuna sauce in the cupboard, bought on a whim and taking up space. So I cooked up an aubergine and butternut squash curry in one pan and the ‘Cuttlefish’ in the other. Wow! This was such a lovely curry flavour, every time I walked back in the kitchen the smell was a wonderful reminder…mmmmm



Which reminds me, I send a packet of this away as part of the Vegan Swap Box this month to the lovely Sarah at:

http://vgirlonamission.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope she has as much success with the soya meat :)

Vegan Mofo 1st; Vegan Swap Box

 

What a wonderful surprise this weekend to have my Vegan Swap Box arrive!

There was a lovely card inside as well as all the vegan treats.

 

The box included; Urban Fruit's Strawberries and Cherries, Sugar Free Peppermint Gum, Giant Couscous and the star of the show Indian Sweets.

My swap buddy lives in Leeds and has access to amazing Indian food, as proved by the menu included!

When I was in Mysore this year, I tried Indian sweets for the first time, and they did not dissapoint, they brought back lovely memories. I read in the Lonely Planet that 13 Tons of pure silver is converted into Edible silver to be used every year in the production of similar sweets.

Vegan indian sweets are mostly made of cashew nuts and look amazing!

 

Also in the package was that HUGE wholewheat couscous, which I had for lunch today, I mixed it with some salad and some chilli powder. This couscous really has to be cooked, even then I left it with a slight biting texture.

 

 

 

 

I added the Strawberries to my porridge this weekend too!

 

I've never taken part, and was a little intimidated by what to send myself, but I think my swappie will like what she got too!

 

I'm off to munch on more Indian sweets now...

 

 

You can sign up to the swap here, its once a month:

 http://www.tohappyvegans.com/wordpress//uk-vegan-food-swap-july-2012/