- And here it is guys, the local mullet fish.
(speaking in foreign language)
It's honestly some of the hardest work
you'll ever experience.
Alright, check it out guys, it's Trevor James.
We just got into beautiful Galle, southern Sri Lanka.
And I am so pumped, because today we are gonna be
having a ton of delicious southern Sri Lankan cuisine,
we're gonna be having a home cooked meal.
Let's check it out.
(upbeat music)
And just look where we are guys.
Stunningly beautiful southern Sri Lanka, right on the beach.
There's all these fishing boats up here
and they're actually pulling in the lines as we speak.
So we're gonna get some seafood and bring it to our friends
and have a big seaffod, southern Sri Lankan meal.
Can I help?
Okay.
So we're gonna help pull it in.
Whoa, that is heavy.
And you can see the line goes so far out there.
And you can see Galle in the background.
Incredibly beautiful here.
Look at that beautiful old fort city in the back.
And this is gonna be full of parra, local parra fish.
(laughing)
This is hard work.
- Yes.
- Yeah.
- My hobby. - Your hobby?
- Not job, not job.
- Not job?
Hobby. - Hobby.
- Oh, for exercise.
- Exercise.
- For health.
(laughing)
Whoa.
Pull.
(speaking in foreign language)
We're getting closer.
(speaking in foreign language)
And you can see all of the rope down there,
it's getting coiled up and we're just bringing it all in.
This is awesome.
Pull.
You can see everyone is putting in so much work here.
Wow.
The final pull, after two hours.
We're here, it's finally here.
It's finally here and look at all the guys working.
Let's hope there's some big ones in there.
(speaking in foreign language)
This is the net.
Looking pretty empty.
(speaking in foreign language)
There's the net.
Wow.
There's the fish.
(speaking in foreign language)
Oh, there's a few in there.
But they don't look too big.
Oh, hopefully there's a couple in there worthy of eating.
(grunting)
That is heavy.
I think that's it right there.
Whew, that is pretty empty-looking.
Just a few fish in there.
I don't know if this is a good day in there for them or not.
(grunting)
It's not big.
Small.
We'll see what's inside.
You never know.
There might be some good ones in there.
Oh, I think there's definitely a few in there,
judging by the feeling.
It doesn't look like a really good catch.
And as we stared at the catch
and what's become incredibly clear to me
as we've traveled around the world
is that this Earth has a huge plastic problem.
And in my excitement for the fish,
I didn't say anything on the spot,
but after looking at this footage, it has to be said.
We have to reduce out plastic consumption all over the world
if we want a clean environment.
Oh yeah, you can see...
Wow.
Here we go.
There's a big one in there for sure.
Oh and here it is, whoa.
That's a giant.
(speaking in foreign language)
Oh, look at that.
That's a giant.
What an amazing experience and all that hard work.
You can see we've just got a few big ones, just a couple.
- It's mullet.
- Oh, mullet.
Mullet, tasty?
Are they tasty?
How much?
- Mullet?
- Mullet.
- Mullet one kilo, 800 rupees.
- 800 rupees, for one kilo.
- Yeah, local price.
- Okay.
That's a big one there.
800 rupees, one kilo.
(speaking in foreign language)
- Local price, local price.
Can we buy the big one?
(speaking in foreign language)
Can we buy it?
- This big one?
- Yeah.
(speaking in foreign language)
Oh, let's weigh it.
Let's try and see if we can buy that one.
And bring it to our friends to cook.
(speaking in foreign language)
Yeah, how much?
- [Man] Six and a half kilo.
- Six and a half kilo?
- 5200 rupees.
- 5200.
- Whole fish, yeah.
- The whole fish?
- Yeah. - Okay.
There it is.
And just look at all the fish,
we're buying the biggest one
from the catch and we're gonna bring that
to our local family here and cook it up.
- Take picture.
- Take a picture.
- This side.
- Oh, this side?
- Yeah.
(grunts)
- Okay.
- Oh, look at that, this is out mullet.
We are gonna buy this here and have a huge feast.
And here it is guys, the local mullet fish.
How many kilo?
- Six and a half.
- Six and a half kilo.
- Yeah.
- Curry in, curry good.
- Curry is good. - Yep, yep.
- To cook this with the curry.
Spicy.
Oh, look at that beauty right there, wow.
We're just gonna clean that
and just look at the size of that beauty.
Whoa.
Oh and we're just gonna cut it open here.
That's a huge fish, that's giant.
Wow.
Giant fish.
Wow, and we're just slicing it up nice here.
(chopping)
And you can see, we're just slicing through it,
we've got the head in the back, being chopped up,
right in the fish market here.
So much selection, the catch wasn't the best today,
there was just a few big ones.
We got the biggest one here and that is gonna be so tasty.
Those are like mullet steaks.
Look at those, big size.
And look at the flesh there.
That just looks like it's gonna go so well with some curry.
Look at all those steaks.
Wow.
And as they're chopping up our beautiful mullet,
you can see all of the beautiful,
fresh local seafood here in Galle.
This is gonna be
one of the most delicious seafood feasts ever.
And after bagging up that nice and plump mullet,
we made our way out to our friend Ruizaina's friend's home
for a huge southern Sri Lankan feast.
And got a look
at their backyard Sri Lankan cinnamon production,
used not only for spice, but also for cooking fuel,
adding even more cinnamon-smoky goodness into the cooking.
This is just amazing guys.
We are in the car with Ruizaina and Ting right now
to meet Ruizaina's friends from southern Sri Lanka
and just look out the window,
look at how green and lush and vibrant this is.
Sri Lanka is just like the most gorgeous,
heavenly place on Earth.
This is just so beautiful.
So what's the plan today, Ruizaina?
- So we've been invited by people that I know
and that are dear to us, to cook the fish head
in the southern style.
- [Trevor] Southern style.
- [Ruizaina] Southern Sri Lankan style.
- Oh, what a beautiful country.
We are in the south, just so green and lush here.
- How are you?
- Hi, how are you?
This is amazing.
- Yeah, so this is like a traditional hearth.
- [Trevor] Traditional style kitchen here.
- [Ruizaina] Yes, traditional hearth,
Sri Lankan traditional hearth.
You don't really get this anymore,
but all here to come really deep--
- Really deep local food--
- Yeah, yeah, local food is.
- Wow, so it's all made with fire here.
- Yeah, this is made of clay inside as you can see.
- [Trevor] Oh.
- [Ruizaina] So it's like made of clay and made of cow dung,
because it absorbs heat.
- [Trevor] Hm.
- [Ruizaina] So everything that you cook in here
is very smoky and very flavorful.
- [Trevor] Awesome.
- Chunks of fish,
they're gonna cook it in the southern style
like with onions and vinegar and peppery and chilly.
And the head is gonna be cooked in like a milk,
like a coconut milk based soup.
- [Trevor] Oh.
- Yeah, it's very southern, very Sri Lankan, very--
- Amazing.
- Old Shillong style.
- Old Shillong.
- Old Shillong style cooking.
- [Trevor] Oh, and are these mustard seeds?
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, so this is also very traditional method
of grinding and blending, this is our Sri Lankan blender.
- [Trevor] Wow, these are mustard seeds.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, these is mustard seed,
so she's like grinding it,
the taste is completely different.
This is the pure way of getting the taste out.
- [Trevor] Oh, the real flavor.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, so when you grind it this way, the oils
come out perfectly, as opposed to using a modern blender
where it becomes liquid--
- [Trevor] Oh!
- [Ruizaina] This becomes a paste.
- [Trevor] Beautiful.
- [Ruizaina] So this is called cinnamon wood.
- [Trevor] Really?
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, so this is cinnamon wood burning,
so just imagine the smoke and the flavor--
- [Trevor] Wow.
- [Ruizaina] Of the cinnamon wood in that pot.
You put water, curry leaves, pandan leaves,
chilly powder, little curry powder.
- [Trevor] Wow, right over the cinnamon wood.
And then we're gonna make a different one
with the meat from the body, right?
- [Ruizaina] Yes, that is also a southern style
traditional method of cooking.
- [Trevor] Oh, right here.
- [Ruizaina] This is the base of that,
so this is the flavors, the onions, tomatoes, curry leaves
and they'll be putting capsicum in it,
a little bit of ginger, garlic and pepper and vinegar.
- Oh wow, this is just incredibly stunning
and this is just stunning guys, right from the market.
Right out of the water, we hauled it in for two hours.
And now we're having local, southern style.
Smells good.
Wow, what's this here?
- Old-school machine, old school--
(laughing)
Scraping machine.
You have to know how to do it, if not, your hand will slip.
- [Trevor] Oh, and you'll get cut.
And what are we gonna do with this coconut here?
- [Ruizaina] They're gonna put some warm water in this
and squeeze out all the milk and the oils that comes from it
and that's what's going into the fish head.
- [Trevor] Oh, so it's super natural.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, everything is natural.
- [Trevor] Super natural.
- Nothing is, you know--
- [Trevor] Wow.
- Fake or powder.
- [Trevor] This is the real deal right here.
Okay, and this is the final step here?
- [Ruizaina] Yes, so there's more mustard
that's going into the coconut milk.
- [Trevor] Oh.
- Yeah so she's going to like,
melt it into the coconut milk before she adds it in
so that's more flavor in there, like rich mustard.
- [Trevor] Wow, so rich.
- So that kick of mustard and the coconut milk
and then the chilly and the curry powder
and when you're like having the soup, you'll see.
- [Trevor] Oh, I can't wait.
And that's gonna go wight over the top of the fish head.
- [Ruizaina] Yes.
- [Trevor] Wow.
That is beautiful.
That's gonna make it so nice and creamy.
- [Ruizaina] So nice and creamy.
- [Trevor] And slightly mustardy.
- [Ruizaina] And flavorful.
- [Trevor] With that cinnamon bark--
- [Ruizaina] And the cinnamon smoke.
- [Trevor] Oh, wow.
- And even this seeds marinating now,
so the fish is absorbing all that favor, all that pepper,
the mustard, the cinnamon, the curry leaves,
it's now marinating, because this fish, the mullet
is very soft and mild,
so it's absorbing all the flavor right now.
- [Trevor] Wow.
Oh and here's the fish head.
There it is.
Oh, just look at the color of that.
And as all the dishes were finishing up and being plated
Ruizaina brought me to the backyard
to see all the local Sri Lankan cinnamon being dried out.
So what are they doing up here?
- [Ruizaina] This is, they're drying it.
- [Trevor] Oh, drying the cinnamon?
It is so aromatic.
When you walk in here,
it just smells like the most potent cinnamon.
Oh and what's he doing here?
Is he just like stuffing it in?
- [Ruizaina] So what they do is
they scrape off the tree from there.
- [Trevor] Hm.
- Right, so each tree's been scraped,
each tree bark has been taken
and now, he's putting it all together to--
- [Trevor] Ah.
- [Ruizaina] So it's rolled all together.
So this is the cinnamon tree in its raw formation
so he's gonna scrape it.
- [Trevor] Just scraping that bark.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah.
- [Trevor] And it's the inside of the bark that's used?
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, it's inside.
So they clean the top bark and then they start slicing--
- Oh yeah.
That smells so good.
And before we knew it, it was time to feast.
Wow, this is just amazing.
Ruizaina can you please thank everybody
for their hard work for this beautiful meal?
(speaking in foreign language)
- Thank you.
- Thank you, thank you so much.
So what do we have here today?
- This is red rice.
- Oh.
- So our Sri Lankan version of the red rice.
- [Trevor] Wow, so that's just like
from the local farms here?
- [Ruizaina] From the local paddy field.
This is a type of yam.
Again, very famous in southern style.
- [Trevor] Wow.
- [Ruizaina] It's called kiri ala.
- [Trevor] Kiri ala.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah so it's like a root, it's a root.
- Oh okay.
And it's creamy.
- It's creamy, it's very, very creamy.
- Wow.
- So this is young jackfruit.
- [Trevor] Young jackfruit.
- [Ruizaina] Young jackfruit.
- [Trevor] It looks like meat.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, it does look like meat.
- [Trevor] Wow, and there's lots of curry leaves
and dry style.
- [Ruizaina] Yes, dry style, again a lot of pepper,
cinnamon flavors and curry leaves.
Yeah and this is the jackfruit seed.
- [Trevor] Jackfruit seed.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, jackfruit seed.
Again, they've used like black coconut in it.
- Oh wow, look at that.
And then this is the real specialty here.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, this is the fish--
- [Trevor] This is right from the net.
We got this this morning, from the beach in Galle.
- This is another southern style fish preparation.
It's called Maalu Ambul Thial.
- [Trevor] Maalu Ambul Thial.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, so they use
a lot of brindleberry in this.
- [Trevor] Oh wow, and what type of fish is this?
- [Ruizaina] It's a type of tuna.
- [Trevor] It's a type of tuna.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, strong tuna.
- [Trevor] Wow.
And then what else do we have here?
- [Ruizaina] So this is jackfruit.
- [Trevor] Jackfruit. (laughs)
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, jackfruit curry, very famous in Sri Lanka
especially in southern areas.
And this is ambarella.
- [Trevor] Ambarella?
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, it's a type of fruit.
- From the tree here?
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, just from the tree here.
- [Trevor] Oh wow.
- [Ruizaina] And fried fish is a must.
Fresh sardines.
- [Trevor] Fresh sardines?
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, fresh sardines fried.
- Oh, look at that rice.
Thank you, thank you.
Red local rice.
- Yes.
- Right from the farms.
Oh and this is the fish body here.
- [Ruizaina] This the fish body made southern style
with pepper and vinegar.
- [Trevor] Pepper and vinegar.
And you can see the mustard seed in there too.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Ground up, they ground it up--
- [Ruizaina] Mm-hmm.
- [Trevor] With their own stone grinder.
Look at that color, look at that plate.
Oh and here comes the fish head.
And they added their own homemade coconut milk in there.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, so you put it on top of that.
- [Trevor] That is stunning.
- [Ruizaina] And add that--
- And just drizzle that sauce on.
Wow, amazing.
Is that for me?
- Yeah, that's for you.
- Oh.
I can't wait to try this.
Can you tell them we pulled it in?
- Yeah.
Did you tell them we pulled--
(speaking in foreign language)
- Yeah, we pulled it in.
(speaking in foreign language)
- Thank you. - Thank you.
So we should just dive in.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, just--
- [Trevor] Take a piece of that fish head.
Oh and you can just use hand and mix it with rice.
- [Ruizaina] Or just have it on its own.
- Oh.
- Fish head.
- Hm.
Wow.
Oh wow.
(laughing)
- So good, right?
Unbelievable.
- [Trevor] Incredibly delicious.
Hm!
(speaking in foreign language)
- Like slightly creamy and mustardy and spicy.
- Mm-hmm.
- Hm, wow, delicious.
What I'm really excited to try is the body.
The fish body that we got from the net today.
- [Ruizaina] Mm-hmm.
- [Trevor] Looks like it's got so much mustard
and they topped it with that tomato onion fry, right?
- [Ruizanina] Yeah.
- Mustardy smooth beauty.
Oh.
- Oh, yum, right?
- Oh, wow.
(speaking in foreign language)
- That is divine.
Oh, and it's just the perfect mixture there
of those tomatoes and onions and the pepper.
- [Ruizaina] Mm-hmm. - [Trevor] And mustard.
- [Ruizaina] Mm-hmm.
- [Trevor] That garnish that they put on top, that fried--
- [Ruizaina] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Beautiful mixture combined with the fish.
The flesh is so soft.
- So much vinegar, right?
- Hm, slightly sour.
Oh wow.
And what's this here?
- [Ruizaina] This is the cooked fruit.
The cooked ambarella.
- [Trevor] Cooked ambarella,
right from the local trees here in the backyard.
- [Ruizaina] Local trees, yeah.
This is really, really good.
- [Trevor] And what's this sauce on here?
What's that gravy?
- They use palm sugar.
- Hm.
- Yeah and spices and--
- So it's sweet.
- Yeah, it--
- Oh, hm.
Oh it's sweet. - [Ruizaina] Yeah.
- You can taste the palm sugar.
And spicy.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, spicy and sour.
- [Trevor] It's like you're biting into a firmer pineapple.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, yeah.
- [Trevor] It's kind of like a pineapple.
- [Ruizaina] So southern style,
they mainly use sour and pepper and spice.
- [Trevor] Hm.
- [Ruizaina] Yeah, so that is the main flavor
that you get in your palate.
They're saying that they feel like they didn't do enough.
- What?
- Yeah.
- This is so delicious.
- Hm.
- This is amazing,
some of the best food we've ever tasted right here.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- Really good.
(speaking in foreign language)
- This was honestly one of the best meals we've ever eaten.
Made with so much love from these amazing people.
Sri Lanka truly is a beautiful country
with delicious food, friendly people,
and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
It's just amazing.
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