Failed Recipes From My Sri Lankan Kitchen

Ah!Are you sure you want to share failed recipes? Yes,why not? Haven’t you heard of many inspirational quotes which say failure is the beginning of success? 🙂

Yes, today I am going to share some of the recent recipe failures. It’s true. Being a food blogger is not an easy task. To bring a recipe post alive, the food blogger has to play lot of roles behind the screen.Failed recipes are part of food blogging journey! 🙂

It is true with me too. From being a cook to food photographer, I have to play many roles on the day of cooking. Next, it is time to write the recipe and publish the post. In between there is a thing called post processing of food photos. Ah! A lot of work for publishing a single food post!

But, it is interesting. It brings happiness. Food blog is a way to connect with other fellow bloggers and readers. So, I love it!

Well, if you have noticed, recently, I didn’t update Food Corner with many recipes. There is a reason for it. I was in a full time engagement as an Engineer where I had to play many roles during the day time. That made me not to cook much at home. No cooking, no recipes to publish! 🙂

But, I started cooking again. Not as before. It was a start with lot of failures. Some food, tasted good but not photogenic at all!

I learnt few lessons from these recipe failures. Therefore it is worth sharing some of the recent failures of this food blog. I don’t feel embarrassing to share these because I know everyone learn from the mistakes. 🙂

Well, as this is basically a Sri Lankan recipe blog, you will see lot of ‘Curry Failures than ‘Baking failures’.

Read on! You’ll see some of the failed recipes in my Sri Lankan Kitchen…

The Fried Egg

Well,there is no failure in the taste.But,it looks weird .I wanted to cook fried egg that has beautiful sunny egg look with beautiful circular shape.It was for a Keto recipe post.

Reason : I’ve chosen the wrong pan which is larger than the size of the egg.It looked weird.Finally,fried both sides and prepared it as a fried egg that can eat. 🙂

Chana Masala (Chickpea Masala)

Chana Masala is one of the most admired curry from Indian cuisine.

Recently I visited Indonesia, and tasted some Indian food from an Indian restaurant there in Batam.Chana Masala was the best dish for me.

Coming back home,I wanted to cook chana masala at home.I went to Little India and bought a chana masala spice pack and followed a recipe.The recipe I read asked for 2 tomatoes.I followed exactly and it came out as below…. 🙂

No red look nor thick gravy! 🙂

Finally I added coconut milk and made it a bit Sri Lankan style Chickpea curry.At least,I didn’t waste the curry!

Reason: Later I found that I have to use pureed tomatoes to cook chana masala.Canned tomatoes are another option to have such a vibrant and thick gravy. 🙂

Amabarella Curry

This is a failed recipe for few times.Ambarella curry is one of the delicious Sri lankan food.However in Singapore I cannot easily find ambarella fruits for cooking.

Attempt 1:

Recently,I found this fruit in Little India and bought thinking of cooking a delicious curry for both Food Corner recipes and for our tasting.

I was too careful when cooking to keep the look of the curry.

It was all good until I add coconut cream.

But,I have added more coconut cream and final look is not appealing at all.Failure! 🙂

Reason: In Singapore, I use coconut cream packets not natural fresh coconut.Therefore,I have to be careful not to add more cream as it changes the colour.If I use natural coconut milk extracted from fresh coconut,there won’t be a problem.With fresh coconut,you can get a luscious looking curry with separated oil layer on top. 🙂

Attempt 2:

In the same recent Indonesia trip,I found similar fruit for sale in an Indonesian fruit stall.It looks like Ambarella,but small in size.

I talked to the lady at the stall and surprisingly they also called this fruit as ‘Ambarella’.I was over the moon.I can cook the Ambarella curry specially for Food Corner.

Why failed? Although raw fruits tasted bit sweet,I continued cooking it.The gravy was not thick at all.It was sweet.Seems like these Ambaralla I bought are not fresh raw Ambarella.It is a sort of pickled fruit with honey…The taste was Yuk!

Had to throw the whole dish. 🙁 Even no photos!

So,until I find Fresh Ambarella fruits again,there will be no updates of this Sri Lankan recipe… 🙂 So sad!!

Finally,

What I learned from Recipe Failures?

Cooking is all about concentration,relevant ingredients and suitable appliances.When you fail in one of these the results will be the same.Failure!

Anyway,I never share any failed recipes in Food Corner as successful recipes.I only share those recipes that I have tried personally with actual pictures.These failed recipes are to share part of the life as a Food Blogger.

It is not easy to maintain a food blog.But,I am glad that there are readers around the blog and they trust the recipes I share.A big thank for all of you!

It’s Your Turn

Now it is your turn.I am sure you have lot of stories related to failed recipes.Please share.It can be use of salt instead of sugar or burnt food instead of perfectly roasted food.

Let your mind speak and share me a comment! 🙂

What are your failed recipes?