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Food

Aatukal Sothi (Bone Broth) Recipe

The cooking of necessity brings the best out of humble ingredients and can yield very special results.
Aatukal Sothi (Bone Broth) Recipe
Photo by Kim Lightbody.

Servings: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

9 ounces|250 grams lamb or mutton bones (about 5-cm|2-inches long, with a little meat on them)
1 medium tomato, cut into quarters
3 whole cloves
4 cardamom pods, crushed
4 whole black peppercorns
4 garlic cloves
8 fresh curry leaves
3 green chillies, split lengthwise with seeds in
½ medium yellow onion, sliced
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons|100 ml coconut milk
juice of lime, to taste

Directions

Wash the bones well and put them in a medium, lidded saucepan. Add all the ingredients except the coconut milk and lime juice, plus 14 ounces|1 ⅔ cups|400ml water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, partially cover the pan with the lid and simmer for 35–40 minutes. When the water is reduced almost by half, increase the heat, add the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for a further 5 minutes until you have a thin broth. Taste for salt and remove from the heat. Add the lime juice, to taste, mix well and serve.

This recipe is reprinted with permission from Sri Lanka: The Cookbook by Niranjala Ellawala and Prakash Sivanathan, published by Frances Lincoln.

READ MORE: Meet the Husband-and-Wife Team Behind Sri Lanka's First Sinhalese-Tamil Cookbook

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