(upbeat music) - [Heather] Oh, my gosh.

- [Yia] This looks so delicious.

- This is the rainbow in your mouth, the burst of everything.

(upbeat music) - We're in the kitchen today with the curry diva herself, Heather Jansz.

Heather, thank you so much for being here with us.

- Thank you.

- Let's get to know you a little bit.

- [Heather] I was born and raised in Sri Lanka.

It's a little island off the very bottom tip of India.

So a lot of people think it's part of India, but it isn't.

So we call it the pearl of the Indian Ocean.

There's a lot of different cultures in Sri Lanka.

I am the third minority group.

So we have the Sinhalese and the Tamils, and then we have the Portuguese Dutch, which is what I am, a Portuguese Dutch Burgher, not hamburger.

(giggling) That's my heritage.

And so food is like, for us, a celebration every single day, just like it is probably for you.

- So what are we making today?

- Well, I thought I would make something really traditional.

We're gonna make curried lentil, which is what we call dhal.

And then something green called a mallung with toasted coconut.

- Right now we're gonna start with the lentils, right?

- Yes.

- So what are the first steps we're doing here?

- Okay, so we're just gonna cut an onion and show you how to pop these mustard seeds.

It's super simple.

And once it gets going, it's only gonna take like about seven minutes.

We want the pan to be just a little bit warm, 'cause what I want it to do is to pop these.

So in about- - These are the mustard seeds?

- These are the brown mustard seeds.

So you just toss a bunch of them in there.

They're starting to get a little wiggly and you'll hear them like little popcorn things.

They'll start to pop.

Most of the stuff that I make, you know, activates all six senses: sweet, sour, salt, bitter, pungent, and astringent.

And in one of my meals, it activates all of those six.

Otherwise we have that sitting dormant.

It's starting to pop right now.

- Oh, you can actually see it.

- Yes, they're popping.

The sweet, sour, and salt gets activated pretty much every day in most diets But you want the others too, which is your bitter greens, your spices, your legumes, you know, those kind of things.

These brown mustard seeds, these also, you know, in that pungent part with the spices.

So I'm gonna cook this with ghee and it's gonna be kind of rich, right, with the ghee.

You can use whatever you like.

So while this is popping and getting all toasty and wonderful, I'm usually gonna throw in a little bit of like the pandan leaf.

I'll just cut some of that in there.

And these are Ceylon cinnamon sticks.

So they come from Sri Lanka.

So they say that, you know, if you can't make that crumble like that in your hand, then it's the cassia.

Can you smell that?

- So this is totally different from the cinnamon sticks that we have here in America?

- That's right.

That is cassia sticks.

- Yep, this is so much more fragrant.

- I know.

And just crush it, get all the flavor you want drop it in there like that so that the oil catches a bit of it as well.

And at that point, you're gonna throw in my little dream - [Yia] With the Curry leaf, it's kind of like bay leaf.

- [Heather] Right.

- [Yia] I'm sitting here and I can smell all of that.

- [Heather] I know.

This is so good.

- [Yia] It's nutty, it's toasty.

- [Heather] So what we do is we take all the spices and we roast them, and that releases the oils.

And the oils are then what you're getting like in your food and in your body.

So I'm gonna put the lentils in right now.

After a while, all the spices got all toasty in there.

So at this point I'll add the rich, the really rich coconut cream, and then my water, and typically that's all it is.

It's really simple.

(food sizzling) And you wanna add...

It's just so funny 'cause my mom, and I asked her how much water mom?

And she would be like, oh, up to there.

And I'm like... - She use the finger method?

- [Heather] Yeah.

So is your finger, what?

I don't get it.

Okay, fine.

- When we first learned how to make rice.

That was it.

It was this knuckle right here, that pinky.

But it doesn't matter whose finger or hands it is.

It still works all the time.

- So it's kind of like so funny.

this is gonna cook up in like six to seven minutes.

And if you add more water than you think you might need, because they expand.

It's like a rice obviously, to like three times more their size.

And then you just cook it on full, and right before you take it down, you add the salt to taste.

- [Yia] Was your family an influence in your cooking?

- [Heather] Yes.

So my mother was a big influence.

I started to cook when I was really little, on three brick stones with the firewood that I would have to find.

And my first thing I remember cooking was the Lentils, you know.

- Just put a pot on top, water.

- [Heather] It's a little clay pot, brought my own water.

And then sometimes if there was something growing in the garden, I could experiment with those too.

I would watch her.

And then I would go try to do that outside, you know.

And she'd give me little bits of spices 'cause you couldn't waste anything, you know.

And then she'd say, okay, bring it in.

Let's try it.

It feels like I'd come from like the stone ages but it is how they did it, you know.

So that was fun.

So I have vivid memories of making things like that.

So it's pretty much done at this point.

So the stove's turned off and that's what it's supposed to look like.

And I added the salt towards the end and it's perfect as it is, ready to go.

It'll suck up some of that water as well.

(piano keys playing) - So how did the lentils are done?

That was really quick.

- I told you, right?

- Yeah.

And so we're gonna let that sit for a minute.

- What's the next thing that we're making here?

- So we call it a mallung and a mallung technically means greens that's chopped up, toasted with coconut and spices.

So that even if you're not a person that loves greens, you'll probably eat greens this way.

- How about I help you chop up some carrots.

- Okay, do that.

- Is that okay?

Yeah, just chop it up fine.

So with some of the greens that we make it's not always a kale.

The greens that we have in Sri Lanka are probably similar to the ones that you've had.

So we have kankung, which is like the hollow vegetables.

We have something called mukunuwenna.

We have something called swamp cabbage.

It's all those kinds of different things.

But technically it ends up being a green.

- [Yia] So Heather, we have everything ready, what are the first steps?

- We're gonna throw in some onions, some of the spices, a little bit of garlic, some fresh curry leaves.

And if you don't have curry leaves, you know, you can always use like some sage or something.

Don't stress that you don't have that, but they're very good for you if you do have them.

Start with some of the rice bran oil.

Again, I'm gonna throw these in there and let them pop a little bit.

So I'm a garlic lover.

This is gonna look like a lot, but it isn't.

- Also, you have to realize too that we're using a lot of kale, you know.

- Yes.

- It's gonna absorb all that flavor.

- Right.

So once those, the garlic is all toasty.

You throw in the onion, coriander and cumin.

You put a little bit of that in and you want it toasting into the oil part.

Because we like hot, I'm gonna put some pepper.

Is that okay?

- Fine.

Definitely.

- Well there, most of it.

And then, toast that in there.

And now at this point, you just throw in the kale.

I'm gonna do all of this because it shrinks down to nothing.

- [Yia] Absolutely.

- [Heather] This is super simple.

Now watch.

See all those toasty bits in the bottom, that's kinda yummy.

Then you have to salt.

(food sizzling) And at the very end, you're throwing in the toasted coconut.

- And I liked that coconut, cause it brings a little kind of a counterbalance to the heat.

- Hmm.

It does, 'cause there's - Right to the chilies.

- that little sweetness.

- little sweetness.

- Yep.

The natural sweetness in there.

- Yep.

And so basically, that is it.

It's done.

(upbeat music) Our food, when it's served, it's like a little rainbow.

So you have rice and you have the colors.

You eat what's in season.

So you get your squash and your beets, and all that kind of stuff, but always a green and always the lentil.

(upbeat music) - So Heather, what do we have here?

- Oh my gosh.

- This looks so delicious.

- [Heather] So we have the turmeric infused rice in the middle, the lentils, the mallung, and Brussel sprouts, green beans, pickled eggplants, squash, and then there's beets.

- [Yia] Incredible.

And we have that chutney in the middle?

- [Heather] Yep.

Fig chutney there in the middle.

And then that's the other one for you to sample.

And then that your hot, and this is a pickled radish.

- And normally we just eat this with our hands.

- Right.

Yep.

- Right?

Is there a certain technique that you do?

- [Heather] Yes.

Will you do it with me?

- Absolutely.

- Okay.

Alright.

So you kind of, get yourself a little space.

And you start with the rice.

So you want the rice to be your base.

So you're starting with the rice, then you're using your fingers but you're trying to not get it in this area.

Okay?

So this particular bite, I want a little bit of lentils, maybe a little bit of that, some of that.

So you're making yourself this fun little mouth right here, and then you're gonna pick it up like this.

And then you have this whole thing right here.

And you're gonna go.

Hmm.

Hmm.

- This is incredible 'cause all the flavors.

It's like you're creating yourself the perfect bite.

- [Heather] I know.

- And that's so, so delicious.

- This is the rainbow in your mouth, right?

The burst of everything.

- Hmm.

- Hmm.

- Growing up, was this how you guys ate?

- Hmm.

Maybe in one meal, we didn't get every single one of these but like four of those, and a meat or not a meat.

But we always had these on the side, always.

- Here in the Midwest, not a lot of people eat with their hands or they They consider that wrong.

Growing up where you and I come from, eating with your hands, I mean, I always joke, this is my fork, this is my spoon.

You know, let's go at it.

- It's really true.

- And so that's what we had, you just eating with your hands.

- When I dig into something like this especially with my fingers, the first thing I think about is like running into the kitchen, trying to see what my mom's made for the night is that, oh, these memories of childhood.

And me, learning how to cook the dhal when I was little.

It just all comes racing back.

So I love it.

(upbeat music) - Look at what you did.

Perfect.

Look at you didn't get any.

Look at.. - Not my first rodeo.

We've done this before.

- I said, look at you.

He didn't even get it on his palm.

He did it so well, you know.