- Shalika Rathnayake on cooking Sri Lankan cuisine abroad and more
Food is a love language for many people. Shalika Rathnayake, a Sri Lankan living in Perth, Australia, is one of those people. She adores cooking, not just for herself but also for her loved ones, and presents them with new and interesting dishes everyday.
Somewhere along her cooking journey, she decided to start a blog (@shashtagram) and it became quite the hit.
Brunch reached out to her for a chat on all things food. Here’s what she had to say.
How did you discover your passion for cooking?
I wasn’t a good cook at all before I moved to Australia with my husband in 2009. I was a person who ate anything available to eat, without thinking about the nutrients, flavours, or the quantity.
The idea of how rich our Sri Lankan flavours and different food cultures around the world are was totally gone from my mind when I moved here. Then I realised I just have to start learning proper ways of cooking, including Sri Lankan meals.
Why did you decide to start a food blog?
First, because I love presenting my food in an appealing way. Every time I cook, I love to see it through my lenses. Second, I think our traditions need to continue. Many these days don’t know how to cook our traditional dishes. I believe we can proudly pass our inheritance to the next generation.
I love different local and international recipes and food bloggers. A few, amongst many, are local YouTubers like Anoma Wijetunga and Mallika Joseph, as well as Nagi from “RecipeTin Eats”, Marion from “Marions Kitchen”, John Kanell from “Preppy Kitchen”, and Sanjyot Keer from “Your Food Lab” are a few of my favourite people.
What are your cooking inspirations? A famous chef, your mom, a cookbook, a blog; which would you say?
My most favourite people are my late mum and grandmother. They were great cooks during their times, and very popular within my family. I still remember how they cooked many dishes from scratch, without using any instant ingredients, etc.
What’s one ingredient you can’t stand, and one you can’t live without? Why?
I can’t bear the smell of cinnamon in any of my sweet dishes, although the whole world loves it.
I can’t live without Sri Lankan jaggery or treacle. Any time you check my store, I’d have a few pieces of jaggery and a few bottles of Ceylon kithul treacle.
I think I’ve become more efficient in the time I use for cooking. I love to use tools and cooking equipment for my cooking in a more efficient manner than I used to when I lived in Sri Lanka.
What is the availability of ingredients like in Perth? Are you able to cook all of your favourite dishes?
I find lots of ingredients in local markets and Asian/Indian shops in Perth. There are a few Sri Lankan shops as well, where we find our favourite types of fish or jaggery, etc. I won’t say I get everything I love to eat – some vegetables, which I prefer to eat fresh, I usually only find in frozen packets. But I have to accept the fact that this is not a tropical country like Sri Lanka.
You focus on Sri Lankan cuisine a lot – is that your favourite cuisine to cook? What makes it so unique?
I think that’s my strength. Many acknowledged my Sri Lankan curries, such as meat and jackfruit, or Sri Lankan traditional sweets. I strongly believe that I have my mum’s genes and cultural inheritance, which help a lot in this.
However, my favourite cuisine to cook is Indian. I love to make lots of Indian food as it’s something my kids and husband enjoy a lot.
What’s your biggest failure ever in the kitchen? Did you ever overcome it?
Yes – the very first and second times I made ‘pol roti’ without coconut for my husband. Just after we got married, I made roti without coconut, and he complained about how sticky the rotis were.
I thought I hadn’t made a single mistake and was swearing that this was the way my mum made them. Rotis are something I easily make these days. Nowadays, I actually love cooking different rotis from around the world.
Do you hope to ever open a restaurant one day? Any other dreams for your future?
Maybe not a full restaurant, but I’d love to start a small business for traditional Sri Lankan sweets and condiments!