X’mas in Bandarawela

Christmas day of 2013 is about to begin. It marks a happy time for both Christians and others alike. Irrespective of our religious views and beliefs we love this time of the year for the joy and happiness that it brings for everybody.

I spent my most memorable Christmas holiday in Bandarawela. My good friend Charles invited me and two other batch mates to spend Christmas season of 1979 with his family. They had a townhouse in the middle of Bandarawela town.

Bandarawela at that time was a typical up-country town in Sri Lanka that served many communities nestled in between vast tea estates. It was also famous as a holiday destination due to its mild climate, beautiful scenery and British colonial ambience. It had a charming blend of English cottage style architecture and vernacular architecture of the estate region. Beautiful flowers and trees that grow only in temperate climates, and the thin veil of mist and light drizzles made it a very picturesque place. Therefore, we were thrilled to receive Charles’ invitation to spend our Christmas holiday in Bandarawela.

  

Bandarawela can be reached by road or by railway. Although road travel is only 200km from Colombo, travel by railway is the most interesting. The railway track passes through some of the most scenic areas of Sri Lanka. If you travel along the Colombo-Badulla Road the first landmark you see is the Bandarawela Railway station at the beginning of the town. Just ahead on the left side corner, you can see the famous old building of Cargills Shop. Established in Colombo in 1844 during the British colonial rule, Cargills is the first department store in Sri Lanka. Perhaps its branch in Bandarawela was one of the few Cargills shops located outside Colombo at that time. Hence it was surely a land mark in the city.

The other notable buildings of any architectural value are Bandarawela Hotel, Bandarawela Church, Dutch house, and the National Holiday Resort. They cannot be compared with an architectural masterpiece located on a small hill above the town. It is a small chapel designed by Architects Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner in 1961 for the nuns of the Good Shepherd Convent. “It consists of a solid hulk of rubble masonry terminating in a square tower which acts as the skylight for the altar. The north side of the nave is fully glazed, its window frames forming the three crucifixes of the Calvary” (www.geofreybawa.com). It is a hidden gem that many visitors to the town are not aware of. I think it is deliberately kept low-profile so that too many visitors will not come and disturb its tranquil environment. The more public place of worship for Catholics is the St. Anthony’s church located in the center of the town. It is not a very impressive edifice of architecture.

Bandarawela Hotel

Bandarawela Church

Dutch House

Chapel at Good Shepherd Convent (by Archt. Bawa & Plesner)

Charles invited us to join the mid-night mass held at the St Anthony’s church on Christmas Eve. We went there few minutes before midnight in shivering cold. I could witness the conduct of a Catholic mass for the first time. The singing of famous Christmas songs and organ music enchanted me. At the end of the mass most elders walked towards the head priest who conducted the mass to receive his blessings. The priest was putting coin sized white thing in the mouths of everyone who kneeled in front of him. When I tried to follow Charles he stopped me saying “උඹට ඒක ලබන්න අවසර නැහැ’ (You are not supposed to receive it). So I could not taste it.

But on the Christmas day I could taste a sumptuous Chinese lunch at his house. Charles’ family is of Chinese dissent. Charles is the one who introduced me to Chinese cuisine as well. He accompanied me to the famous Lyon Café in Kandy several times. It was run by his maternal uncle. He always ordered the ‘Lyon Special’ which is stir fried (chow mein) egg noodle topped with a mixture of several meats and vegetables. It was a hearty meal at that time but on a later occasion many years later, I suffered from indigestion after having a ‘special’.

Charles’ elder sister, Susan is a good cook. She prepared baked whole fish in Chinese style for the Christmas lunch. It was something new for me. Later in life I have tried to bake whole fish following Chinese, Thai and South Indian recipes. I think baking fish is one of the healthiest ways of cooking fish.    

 

 

My attempt to bake whole fish in Chinese style

Ingredients

2 medium size whole red snapper or silver pomfret

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

3 cm-piece of fresh ginger finely chopped

2 tbsp. each fish sauce and oyster sauce

2 tbs rice wine

2 tsp. sesame oil

4 sprigs of spring onion finely sliced lengthwise

1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Few slices of lemon

Preparation

Scale and gut the fish. Make a deep parallel cut to the center.

Wash the fish under running water.

Pat dry with paper towel inside and outside.

Make 2-3 diagonal cuts on both sides of the skins. Do not cut deep.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C

Line a baking dish with some butter a flour.  

Mix chopped garlic, ginger, fish sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine and sesame oil and make a mixture. If the mixture is too little, add little water or stock.

Apply little bit of sauce mixture on the foil and place the fish on it. Insert few slices of lemon in the cavity of the fish. Pour the rest of the mixture over fish. 

Bake for 30 minutes and check if a fork insert on fish come off clean. If not continue to bake for 5-10 minutes.

 

Take off from the oven and garnish with chopped spring onion, cilantro and slices of lemon.