My Amma: The Writer, The Cook, The Revolutionary
Written by Shakya Seresinghe, edited by Michaela Hayes
This week's post is written by me, Shakya. Alongside Kim, I serve as the overall editor, pitching ideas, putting together articles, posting, and making small edits etc. When Kim and I first conceived the idea for the MILK Blog, we wrote our own pieces as an exercise to see how feasible the project is . I really enjoyed the process of thinking and writing about food from a different perspective. Too often, cuisines of refugees are exoticised and merely seen as a symbol of "diversity" for host communities. This piece serves as my way of recentring the significance of food; for us, it represents an act of resistance against violent borders. I hope you enjoy.
My Amma: The Writer, The Cook, The Revolutionary
My amma is a writer who dedicated her life to writing about the political landscape of Sri Lanka. She also translated beautiful novels about love, loss, and resilience. Like many diasporic writers, my amma’s literary success and her writings mean very little to the English-speaking world. However, to our family, her success in the Sinhala-speaking literary circles served as a significant reminder that we had lives outside the Western gaze. This knowledge elevated us and often my thathi pushed her to write: "Stop wasting your time in the kitchen" he’d say.
This is because my amma is also a dedicated cook, she would spend hours making extravagant Sri Lankan dishes that her husband and kids love. Back then, we saw her cooking as an ordinary activity, what women, wives, and mothers were meant to do; it was her writing that was radical and had the power to transform our lives. We desperately wanted her to write more. Of course, the rebel that my amma is, she did not adhere to this expectation; over the years, she wrote less and less. Instead, she dedicated more time to cooking, often relying on Sri Lankan diasporic women on YouTube, who documented ways of maintaining the ‘authentic taste of home’ using alternative ingredients found in foreign countries. With all this knowledge in hand, my amma fed us daily.
I now live and work in Scotland, while my amma lives in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Although I don't get to have her food as often, at MILK, I catch glimpses of my amma's spirit in the women we work with. Despite the challenges they face from oppressive border policies, their passion for cooking and feeding each other resonates with me as an act of defiance.
When my amma’s work as a journalist threatened our safety in Sri Lanka, we moved to the UK seeking refuge. The UK's asylum system kept my family in limbo for years. I recall this time as a continued displacement; we were frequently relocated from one accommodation to another. In these temporary dwellings, we sought alternative non-material ways to create a sense of home.
My amma's food had the power to turn these structures with their harsh material conditions into a place of comfort and warmth. She served Sri Lanka on a plate; on auspicious days, we’d wake up to Kriri Bathth, coconut milk rice with Katta Sambol and Seeni Sambol. On a cold evening, she’d make Wattalappan, a pudding made with eggs and coconut milk; coated in Kithul Panni, a type of natural syrup extracted from the fishtail palm tree. It was difficult to find Kithul Panni in West Yorkshire, but my amma’s research on YouTube led her to the perfect substitution: molasses infused with cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Just like that, another dish, another set of familiar scents and tastes that we left behind in Sri Lanka, were reintroduced into our lives.
While writing this piece, I reached out to my amma for a recipe that could encapsulate the creative and resilient lives we lived as asylum seekers. After some debate, we settled on Wattalapan, the quintessential Sri Lankan dessert. Wattalapan for the two of us is a potent act of resistance against the circumstances of displacement. So, here's the recipe for my amma’s revolutionary gesture:
Amma’s Wattalapan Recipe
Ingredients:
Dark brown sugar 325g
Coconut milk 250g
5 large eggs
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Pinch of salt
Directions:
Step 1
Dissolve the sugar in coconut milk with 2 tablespoons of water in a saucepan. Add nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom to the mixture. Warm the mixture over medium heat until it absorbs the aromatic spices. Once the sugar is completely dissolved and the spices are infused, remove the syrup from the heat and set it aside to cool down.
Step 2
In a mixing bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. The goal is to ensure that the egg yolks and whites are well combined without overbeating. Be cautious not to over whisk, as this can affect the texture of the final dish.
Step 3
Gradually add the coconut milk to the whisked eggs, stirring gently to incorporate the two. Carefully introduce the cooled syrup into the egg and coconut milk mixture, ensuring an even blend of flavours. To achieve a smooth consistency, pass the entire mixture through a fine sieve into a greased bowl.
Step 4
Cover the bowl securely with aluminium foil to prevent water from entering during steaming. Place the bowl in a steamer over a water bath. Steam the pudding for 40 to 45 minutes, maintaining a gentle heat.
Step 5
To confirm if the pudding is set, insert a toothpick into the centre. It should come out clean or with minimal residue. Once the pudding is set, turn off the heat, and allow it to cool within the steamer. Only remove the pudding from the steamer when the surrounding water has reached room temperature.
Enjoy!
Kim Supajirawatananon and Shakya Seresinghe act as the overall contributors for the blog, pitching article ideas, putting together articles, posting, and making small edits. We also run a peer-writers project on the side, where creatives from the wider community support the blog through editing, interpretation, translations etc. This blog is a collective effort, and we thank everyone for their contributions.
All our content is free. If you can, we ask you to consider making a small pledge so we can compensate the contributors in small ways.
Thank you very much!
just made this, SOOO YUMMY thank you for sharing!
Well done