Name: Odiyal Kool
Yield: Serves 6-8
Cuisine: Sri Lanka
Ingredients: 100 g (3½ oz) dried fish*, burnt over a flame, then chopped into2 cm (¾ inch) pieces (optional); 15 g (½ oz/½ cup) drumstick leaves* (or English spinach leaves, chopped); 200 g (7 oz) cuttlefish, cut into 4 cm (1½ inch) pieces; 150 g (5½ oz) snake beans*, cut into 3 cm (1¼ inch) pieces; 2 small blue swimmer crabs (about 330 g/11½ oz each), washed and quartered, guts removed; 200 g (7 oz) firm white fish fillets (such as whiting), cut into 4 cm (1½ inch) pieces; 16 green (raw) king prawns, peeled and deveined, leaving heads and tails intact; 100 g (3½ oz) bitter gourd* (bitter melon), seeds removed and cut into 1 cm (½ inch) pieces; 350 g (12 oz) manioc* (cassava) (or 300 g/10½ ozfrozen), peeled and cut into 2 cm (¾ inch) cubes; 300 g (10½ oz) pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2 cm (¾ inch) cubes; 80 g (2¾ oz/3 tablespoons) red samba rice*; salt; 1 small whole bulb garlic; 100 g (3½ oz/⅔ cup) odiyal flour*; 80 g (2¾ oz/2 tablespoons) tamarind pulp*, soaked in 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) warm water; 1½ teaspoons black peppercorns; 6 dried long red chillies*, stalks removed

Preparation info

Serves
6-8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka

By Bree Hutchins

Published 2013

About

This thick seafood soup is one of Jaffna’s signature dishes and each family makes it slightly differently. The soup is thickened with odiyal flour, which is made from the roots of a young palmyra plant. For many Sri Lankan families kool is not just about the food, it’s about bringing family and friends together and should always be prepared and eaten by a lot of people.