Big May Energy

TV and radio appearances, a beetroot cook-along, London’s newest Sri Lankan restaurant, the Sri Lankan youth uprising, and finally the Sri Lankan food walking tour.

May’s mango madness

Little did I know that my post about the lack of Alphonso mangoes would land me on TV and the radio, but it did, on BBC News London and Bobby Friction’s show on BBC Radio London. It was the fun piece on the news cycle, but the message was clear. Our food systems are fragile. Unpredictable weather patterns coupled with the current geo-political climate affects something we take for granted, the arrival of the Alphonso mango. That said, I have managed to get a few boxes, boosting the sales of Tooting’s beloved mango uncle!

The beetroot cook-along

This was weeks in the making.

Aliza Ratnayaka is the founder of Little Big Flavour Kits. These cute spice kits have everything you need to make lip-tingling Sri Lankan curry.

What drew me to Little Big Flavour Kits is that the spices are sourced from small farms in Sri Lanka.

Last Sunday, Aliza and I jumped on Instagram and cooked a beetroot curry, live.

I had scheduled an hour for our live, but we had that beetroot curry ready to eat in 30 minutes. Aliza’s top tip was to use soy sauce in place of salt (I’ll be trying that again!).

Keep an eye on Instagram as we’re going to run a giveaway for a three-pack spice kit. That’s something you don’t want to miss!

A new Sri Lankan restaurant to add to the list

I always keep my eye out for a new Sri Lankan restaurant. And at the start of May, Coconut Island, in Angel, London, opened its doors to diners.

Where some of the newer Sri Lankan restaurants have opted for muted colours and minimalist interiors, Coconut Island is bold, vibrant, pulsating with colour. Coconut Island wants you to feel that once you’ve left the restaurant, it’s only a short stroll to the beach, not two minutes from Angel station (super handy for the journey home!).

The menu offers a great selection of the classics: black pork curry, a solid chicken curry, a comforting pile of kothu roti. The hot butter prawns (I know my relatives in Sri Lanka are screaming this should be cuttlefish) were crispy, spicy, and enormous! The milk hoppers were divine.

Sambols have been rebranded as salads, which I know will have purists up in arms, but as the staff explained, they want to make the food more accessible to a non-Sri Lankan audience.

If you can, pay them a visit.

The Republic of Amnesia

The Republic of Amnesia documents Sri Lanka’s youth uprising which led to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country. It was eye-opening and moving, and gave me a ringside seat to this monumental event.

Film-maker and artist Kannan Arunasalam has remade the film, a new edit with new footage from within the uprising. Central to the film are three passionate young activists who risked their lives to get involved.

The film was initially shown at the ICA in London last year, and now has moved on to the academic circuit throughout the world. It’s being studied as almost as a blueprint for the subsequent uprisings in Bangladesh and Nepal.

If you get the chance, please go and see this film. It’s an important part of Sri Lanka’s recent history and the repercussions are still being felt.

And finally, the Sri Lankan food walking tour

Yes, it’s happening!

I will be starting the tour at the end of June.

There’s been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes to build this tour. I’ve teamed up with the incredible social enterprise Women In Travel CIC, who have supported me with their expertise to create a truly immersive, experiential Sri Lankan food tour in Tooting.

For the past few months I’ve been researching, scripting, working out logistics, and sourcing community partners.

I’ve walked different permutations of the route find the most seamless and impactful one that tells the story.

The tour will give you a chance to discover Tooting’s Sri Lankan food scene, get to know the Sri Lankan migration story, learn how our history informs our food. And, of course there’s plenty of eating!

You’ll get to sample short eats such as mutton rolls and cutlets, as well as string hoppers with sothi and sambols, kothu roti, sweet hoppers, and traditional drinks.

We’ll be stepping into a Sri Lankan grocery store where everything you find in Sri Lanka is here: roast paan, moringa leaves and pods, gotu kola, winged beans pea aubergines, Elephant House ginger beer, dried fish and prawns, walls of chutneys, pickles and curry pastes (I’m munching my way through a jar of ambarella pickle), rice as far as the eye can see, kithul and palmyrah jaggery. And the utensils: clay pots, pittu makers, coconut scrapers…it’s all here!

I’m excited and nervous in equal measure. I can’t wait to get the tour on the road and welcome you to Tooting, where we can explore Sri Lankan food together.

If you want to be first to hear about when the tour opens for booking, join my wait list!