Sri Lankan Kale and Coconut Salad and ELEPHANTS


I remember the moment I discovered ecology. It was sometime during the year of my second fake ID, sometime between Phish and Dave Matthews and Smashing Pumpkins, sometime after I knew I wasn't going to be a medical researcher, but maybe neuroscience was still on the cards ... sometime before I moved into that crazy, Victorian sharehouse with the hot, flat roof and the view over the Iowa River. 

There it was. A whole career out there based on watching animals, and camping trips, and disentangling tiny, warm birds from nets strung out over snow. Seriously

I was sold.

Over the next decade, I learned the reality.
Ecology is hard work and long hours (mostly, for some reason, pre-dawn) and summers of thermal underwear and mud up to your hips and frozen toes and sand-blasted skin and the sweet joy of birth and the heartache of death.

But still. It's awesome.
And for some, there are elephants.


Two days before we left on holidays, Robbie happened to mention to a friend of ours that we were off to Sri Lanka. "Oh!" she said. "I have a colleague studying elephants there - let me introduce you!"

I'll be honest with you - I wasn't there overseeing the conversation, so I'm making up the specifics. The point is, our friend did put us in contact, and we ended up spending 2 days at a research station in Udawalawe, Sri Lanka, with a great guy called Ashoka who studies elephant behaviour.  

And even after 17 years studying or researching ecology in one form or another, it still amazes me that people get to do this stuff for a living. 

El. e. phants. 
They absolutely blew my mind.


Located in south-central Sri Lanka, Udawalawe National Park is about 310 sq km (118 sq mi) in size and has a resident population of some 1000+ wild Asian elephants, which roam freely across the park. Most of these elephants are females and young, who remain in multi-generational family groups. Up close, they were larger than I'd ever imagined, and stronger, and the females had breasts (I'm not kidding. It was - um - unexpected.) 


We spent a few breathless hours standing in the back of a jeep, driving along ruddy rutted roads from grassland to waterhole to a place with smooth gray rocks that looked suspiciously like elephants (but, of course, were not). And we met many of the individuals in the population - new mothers, babies, and a lone desiccated female who looked as old as she probably was. 

Sometimes even professional ecologists (like us) need to get out into the wilds and reacquainted with real life, in all its sweat and dust and scorching sun. Life outside of words on papers, or grant applications, or numbers in spreadsheets. Regain the wonder. 

And try to come up with a way to work on elephants.
Or monkeys.


I loved Sri Lanka for so many reasons - the people, the culture, the loud markets in busy cities, the quiet walks up overgrowth paths, the wildlife, the food. The FOOD. I have so much to tell you about the food, but I want to start with this: a favourite, simple salad based on greens and onions and coconut. Sri Lankans eat coconut with everything, in everything. We drank water from young coconuts and then spooned out the soft flesh, we ate lentils and rice softened with coconut milk, and salads mixed with freshly-scraped coconut - the "real" version of the desiccated we have here. 

This is a great - different - way to use greens like kale that you pick up at the market. I'm prone to tossing greens into quiche or sauteing them up with garlic and olive oil ... the addition of coconut here makes this into something just a little new and exciting. 

Which is how I feel about ecology the moment, too.

More soon, I promise. 
Hope you're having a great week :)
Amanda xx


***********
Sri Lankan Kale + Coconut Salad
serves 4

We had salads like this many times in Sri Lanka, but this particular recipe I adapted from here - feel free to substitute in your favourite greens, or mix them up. Serve with flatbreads, curries, dahl - or all on its own.

The time
10 min prep + 10 min cooking

The ingredients
1 Tbs olive oil
4 scallions or 1 medium onion, finely chopped
1-2 chillis, finely chopped (seeds make it hotter - your choice to remove or not)
1 large bunch organic kale - washed, de-stemmed and finely chopped + 2-3 Tbs water
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut + 2 Tbs water
1-2 Tbs lime juice
sea salt and black pepper, to taste

*use organic ingredients when you can


The process
1. Mix the coconut with 2 Tbs water and the lime juice and set aside.

2. Saute the onions/scallions and chillies in olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Stir the cumin and the kale into the onion mixture - adding 2-3 Tbs of water as needed to keep the it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

3. When the kale wilts, remove from heat and add the coconut mixture to it. Mix well, adding salt and pepper, to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The cost
Desiccated coconut isn't expensive, so the main cost is your bunch of organic kale. At market prices, I made this salad for $5 ... but I do have some kale growing in my garden ...

Comments

  1. You are filling your daughter with such a healthy diet on so many levels not to mention the food you prepare for her.
    So very few children have the opportunities that you have presented to her with all the amazing travels and adventures you have shared together and she's what...only five,six already.
    I know that she probably doesn't fully realize the gift that you and your husband are giving her but her young brain is sopping it all up like a sponge and I just think that is beautiful. As an young adult, she will too and she will be forever grateful for your gift.

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  2. i love kale + coconut so together this is already great i know! i'm trying this week. thanks amanda, i love your recipes.
    jen x

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  3. @Paula Oh, Paula - thank you! I do hope so. It's so hard being a parent, harder than I ever imagined, so your words mean so much to me. I hope my baby girl never loses her sense of adventure, and always wants to travel with mum and dad. Otherwise, we'll just have to stalk her haha ;)

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  4. @jen @ hello great health Thanks Jen! And thanks for passing the recipe and website on to your clients, too! I'm so excited for all you've been doing to help people :) xx

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Thanks for commenting! Amandaxx