Odiyal Kool (ஒடியல் கூழ் (Odiyal kool))
Overview
Odiyal kool is a thick, spicy seafood soup from Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. Its base is odiyal flour, made from dried sprouts of the palmyra palm, which is soaked and stirred into a broth to give it a smooth, slightly sticky body. Crabs, prawns, fish, squid and sometimes cuttlefish are cooked in water with tamarind, dried chillies, garlic and black pepper, along with long beans, jak seeds, spinach or manioc. The odiyal paste is added at the end until the soup thickens. It is hot, sour and full of seafood flavour.
History
Kool is a dish of the Tamil people of the Jaffna peninsula, where the palmyra palm is a symbol of the land and every part of it is used. Making kool is a social event: families and neighbours gather, often on rainy days or at weekends, to cook a large pot together and eat it from bowls made of folded palmyra leaves. It is one of the dishes Jaffna Tamils abroad miss most, and it is cooked at community gatherings across the diaspora.
Main ingredients
Odiyal flour (palmyra root), crab, prawns, fish, tamarind, jak seeds. The soup is built on seafood broth thickened with palmyra flour and is usually served hot. Diet: pescatarian; usually gluten-free.
Explore: Fish and seafood soups · More soups from Sri Lanka
Recipe
Method
- 115 min
Bring 2 l water to the boil with the chilli paste, tamarind, jak seeds and beans and cook for 15 minutes.
- 210 min 5 min
Add the crabs and cook for 10 minutes, then the fish, prawns and spinach for 5 minutes.
- 3
Drain the odiyal flour, mix it with a cup of cold water and stir it into the pot.
- 410 min
Simmer, stirring, for 5 to 10 minutes until thick.
- 5
Season with salt and serve hot.
- ✓
Serve. About 1h 15m from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
