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RecipesSri Lankan

Sri Lankan Kola Kanda Recipe (Herbal Porridge) + Reasons for Bed Allergies

written by Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi January 12, 2018
Kola Kanda recipe (Herbal Porridge)

Kola Kanda , herbal porridge or even called as herbal gruel  is one of the best healthy porridge from Sri Lanka that you must try if you visit Sri Lanka one day. Kola kanda is full of nutrients and full of flavours. Although you can cook Kola Kanda or herbal porridge by using only Gotukola, you can even cook it by adding more different leaves for the mix. With a blend of flavours from all these edible leaves which are easily found in Sri Lankan home gardens, Kola Kanda is a well-known herbal drink/herbal soup which gives many benefits for humans.

Apart from the many healthy benefits of kola kanda, today I selected this recipe to share due to its cooling effect for the body. In Sri Lanka Kola kanda is well known as a healthy herbal porridge which is good to cool the body. In our family, it is like a tradition to cook this herbal porridge whenever there is a need for cooling the body or whenever there is any allergy situation.(Of course, with proper medication)

Kola Kanda recipe (Herbal Porridge)

 

Sri Lankan holiday and lots of sneezing

Last month we were in Sri Lanka for more than one month holiday. At the time we returned to Singapore, although we cleaned and mopped the home and floor, my kid started sneezing and showed signs of itching. Our home was closed for this whole duration, so I guessed this can be due to the dust collected inside home. I started reading around to find some reasons and cures for these allergic signs. I was shocked to read that this can be due to the dust mites which we cannot see inside the bed room!

Reasons and causes of bed allergies

Bed allergies can be due to the dust mites. Recently I came across a post on Mattress Test about bed allergies which shares some shocking facts. According to that post, these reactions are actually not because of the dust mites, but due to their feces. These feces can be accumulated under the coils of mattress creating allergic conditions such as itching and sneezing.

Anyway I reacted fast by cleaning all mattress, pillows and sheets again other than mopping the floor. These reactions and signs were faded away in few days from my kid. But, during these days I also cooked some cooling food to avoid heat of the body.

In Singapore, I can’t find all these edible leaves easily to cook traditional Sri Lankan Kola Kanda. Instead, I found gotu kola and karapincha (curry leaves) for my herbal porridge. The photos in this post are from my recent Sri Lanka holiday because my mother cooked kola kanda few times.

 

What are the leaves suitable for Sri Lankan Kola Kanda?

Kola Kanda recipe (Herbal Porridge)

Hatawariya – Asparagus racemosus

Below are some of the popular herbal leaves that you can add for your kola kanda or herbal porridge. You can add all or some of the leaves from this list.

Gotukola – Centalla asiatica

Wepenela – Cordiospermum halicacabum

Iramusu – Hemidesmus indicus

Hatawariya – Asparagus racemosus

Polpala – Avera lantana
Karapincha – Murraya koenigi
Ranawara – Cassia auriculata

There are many other herbal plants that are suitable for this porridge. Above are some of the plants and leaves that we use commonly for making kola kanda.

So below is the recipe for Kola Kanda which I learned from my mom.

Recipe : Sri Lankan Kola Kanda Recipe (Herbal Porridge/Herbal Gruel)

Sri Lankan Kola Kanda Recipe (Herbal Porridge/Herbal Gruel)

Sri Lankan Kola Kanda Recipe (Herbal Porridge/Herbal Gruel)

Ingredients

½ cup red rice (or white rice)

About 2 cups of Fresh grated coconut

Bunch of edible leaves including gotukola ,penela,hathawariya

1-2 cloves of garlic

2-3 black pepper corn (or as per taste)

Salt to taste

 

Method

Wash all the leaves. Blend it in a blender together with fresh grated coconut using some water. Squeeze the juice. Keep aside.

Meantime, wash rice and cook it by adding   water. Add garlic cloves to the rice at the time of cooking. Add 2-3 black pepper corn if you like this to be bit spicy. (Optional)

When rice is cooked well, add the juice of the leaves which we kept aside.

Add salt as per taste. Mix well and simmer. Add little bit of water to achieve the required thickness of the porridge.

When the porridge starts boiling, remove from the heat.

Serve with a piece of juggery (palm sugar)

Hope you will try Kola Kanda at home. Please let me know the outcome in comments.

Edible LeaveskandaKola Kandaporridge
33 comments
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Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi

Amila Gamage is the blogger behind Food Corner. She is a Sri Lankan living in Singapore and shares her cooking adventures in this blog. Apart from recipes, you will also find travel, health and kitchen inspirations in this blog. She is the founder of Sihela Consultants. (www.sihelaconsultants.com) She started writing this blog in 2011 and still continuing.

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33 comments

Georgia Boanoro January 12, 2018 - 4:44 pm

Interesting recipe, impossible for me to try here in Belgium! I’ll try it when I’ll visit Sri Lanka

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi January 12, 2018 - 4:45 pm

In Sri Lanka,you can easily taste it from any food place…

Reply
Joan Cajic January 12, 2018 - 6:45 pm

I’ve never had anything like this but I wouldn’t mind trying it out plus it looks really healthy and I’m up for that.

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi January 12, 2018 - 9:49 pm

Yes,it is really healthy and bit similar to green smoothies… 🙂

Reply
Megan Tan January 12, 2018 - 8:02 pm

Interesting, I have never heard of this herbal porridge before. In Singapore, I normally take chrysanthemum drink or barley drink to cool down my body.

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi January 12, 2018 - 9:48 pm

Barley drink is one of my favourite drinks too,here in Singapore…

Reply
Amber Myers January 12, 2018 - 9:46 pm

I would give this a try! I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like this before so I’m intrigued. I hate allergies!

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi January 12, 2018 - 9:49 pm

It is easy to cook when there are some edible leaves…. 🙂

Reply
Joanna @ Everyday Made Fresh January 12, 2018 - 10:51 pm

I have horrible allergies. I’d love to give this a try. I’m not sure what sorts of edible leaves are around here, I’d have to do some research.

Reply
Jay Colby January 13, 2018 - 12:30 am

I’ve never heard of herbal porridge before but it sounds like a interesting recipe, I might give this a try!

Reply
Patricia-Ann Que January 13, 2018 - 1:52 am

it look very refreshing and would surely want to try if i can only get it here in Canada!

Reply
Dana Peller January 13, 2018 - 2:15 am

Sounds like an interesting recipe. I love using different herbs in my drinks.

Reply
Rose January 13, 2018 - 2:48 am

I like healthy drinks. Drinks are the easiest way for me to get healthy in my body.

Reply
corinne & kirsty January 13, 2018 - 4:28 am

I didn’t know Herbal Porridge was a thing. You learn something new everyday I guess. I have never had allergies before but we never know!

Reply
Amber Stanfield January 13, 2018 - 5:35 am

I have bad allergies, and nasal inflammation (rhinitis). This might be worth a try for me. I’m going to attempt to make it, and follow up with you to let you know how it turned out!

Reply
Aditi Kulkarni January 13, 2018 - 6:31 am

I’ve never seen this before but it sounds interesting and healthy! I wish I had known about it when I visited Sri Lanka!

Reply
Heather @ Kraus House Mom January 13, 2018 - 7:06 am

This sounds intriguing. I have never heard of most of these ingredients. I wonder if the larger Asian markets would have them.

Reply
Sarah Bailey January 13, 2018 - 7:08 am

Now this is such an interesting idea for a recipe, I would definitely be up for giving this a try at some time!

Reply
Heidi January 13, 2018 - 1:51 pm

Wow. I’ve never heard of herbal porridge. I’ll admit, it looks a little scary, but if it helps with allergies, it just might be worth it!

Reply
shubham mahajan January 13, 2018 - 6:58 pm

Well I dont have summer here right now. But its always good to get pre-prepped. 🙂

Reply
Laurence January 14, 2018 - 2:50 am

A nice remedy for sneezing? I love porridge, but this looks smoothie too. Thanks for the recipe!

Reply
Miljana January 15, 2018 - 9:52 am

Omg I love green drinks!

Reply
Fatima Torres January 15, 2018 - 10:09 am

Yum! What a delicious treat. Love that it helps clear colds as well.

Reply
Anosa January 15, 2018 - 12:28 pm

Ohh, this is my first time to learn about this and glad I got another information and knowledge. Now, what I need to know is the availability of this in my country.

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi January 15, 2018 - 4:41 pm

For this recipe,you need some edible leaves. 🙂

Reply
Farrah Less G. January 15, 2018 - 8:55 pm

I love juicing a healthy way to loss weight. Aside from east to prepare it is also very refreshing.

Reply
Mzuri Products January 19, 2018 - 9:04 pm

I like the recipe. Looks so juicy

Reply
akhil mahi February 23, 2018 - 2:36 pm

Very informative, you have covered some good areas here and im sure it will help many starting out. when you are going to publish new recipe

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi March 16, 2018 - 10:42 pm

Thanks for reading the blog….

Reply
cally wijesiri March 19, 2019 - 10:32 pm

Amila I shall try this kola kanda

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi May 14, 2019 - 10:33 am

Please try it and let me know your experience…

Reply
cally wijesiri March 19, 2019 - 10:36 pm

Amila can we mixed gotu kola and curry leaves to prepare this kola kanda

Reply
Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi May 14, 2019 - 10:32 am

Yes,you can mix gotu kola and curry leaves to prepare kola kanda.Make it in appropriate proportions,may be 1:1…
P.S.Sorry for late reply as I saw it now…

Reply

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