Food straight from the heart
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- Chicken wings with nai miris sauce
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- Nishan Liyanage: Comfort food his forte
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- Nishan’s breakfast burger
There is a purpose for every ingredient in a well-balanced dish. And perhaps one of the crucial instincts of every professional chef is knowing where to draw the line – when to stop adding things. If that decision isn’t made, there is no limit as to what could go on a plate. But the entire culinary experience would be lost, if the diner is unable to taste the dish for what it is. After all there’s no point of having a lovely seafood stew if the spices and herbs overpower the flavour of the seafood itself.
“I like to be able to taste the dish for what it is,” Nishan Liyanage, a young professional chef / entrepreneur tells us as we talk about his latest culinary adventures. For him it’s always about highlighting the main ingredient in each dish and building around it.
Nishan loves working with wholesome comfort food. Hearty soups, stews, fresh pastas, rustic sandwiches and pies are a few of his favourites. Besides relating a story with his food, he also strives to incorporate “a sense of ‘home’” with each dish that he prepares, to make it feel “soulful.”
This is the same principle he follows with his venture ‘Wine N Dine by Nishan Liyanage’ that caters to small intimate parties (35 pax maximum). Prior to the pandemic, Nishan would also prepare plated course dinners for small home functions. But, owing to the current situation, these plans have been put on hold and his menus are based on buffet and family-style meals.
These would include slow-roast pork loin with crispy crackling and gravy, thyme and lemon roasted chicken, rustic beef and stout stew, chicken and mushroom pot pie, cheesy potato gratin etc. Additionally, Nishan will also be introducing a range of frozen dumplings that could be steamed or pan-fried at home.
His latest addition includes a range of homemade hot sauces made with different types of local chillies. These include a ‘smoked green chilli sauce’ and a ‘mixed chilli sauce’ – a combination of red and green bird’s eye chilli, ripe scotch bonnet and the regular green chilli. The most popular sauce amongst his customers however is the ‘nai miris’.
The sauces go well with pastas, chicken wings, pizza and would even work as a dip.
Nishan has always enjoyed playing around with bold flavours, some of which make no sense at first glance. “But if you put it all together, it just fits well on your palate,” he explains.
Some of these pairings include apricot, pumpkin with kaffir lime, roast pork with spiced marmalade, beef with stout beer, and grilled chicken with pomegranate syrup.
Nishan’s experience in the kitchen stems from his days working for the Hyatt Hotel Group in Dubai. This was the gateway to his culinary career since he got the chance to work with chefs from around the world, being exposed to people from different cultures and cuisines – Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, classical, modern, rustic and fusion cuisines.
But, no matter where he was in the world, Nishan always remembered the lessons he learnt at home and at the Ceylon Hotel School (SLITHM) where he studied hotel management. His Sri Lankan palate never left his side and he began to experiment by incorporating local spices in classical sauces.
He carried these lessons even during his tenure as the consultant chef at Baker’s Choice Café in Borella from 2019 to earlier this year.
Nishan is always inspired by certain chefs who strive to make ‘food from the heart’; “those who’d use their people skills to really understand regions and their people, and then translate that knowledge to the food they prepare,” he explains.
In fact his earliest memory in the kitchen is helping his “Ammi” prepare roti at home. Nishan, who was around seven or eight at the time, would stand on a stool to flatten the roti and pound the ‘lunu miris’. His love for food stems from these memories and to date he still calls his mother to ask for some recipes which he can’t get right.
Realising that spice plays an important role in the Sri Lankan palate, he wanted to make his own contribution with his hot sauces and being a perfectionist, he’d often seek out the best quality of chillies in the market.
Nishan sources his chillies from a handful of suppliers, in order to ensure the quality of the sauces. Just like his hot sauces, whenever possible, he would also always incorporate local and in-season ingredients in his other dishes as well.
You can do a lot with local sustainable produce, he says, and at the end of the day his dream is to also start a small farm that would produce fresh ingredients.
He also looks to expand his catering business beyond dinner parties, to include brunches and high teas at home. However, with the current pandemic situation this talented chef is content to cater to his family and friends, after all home is where the heart is and good food comes straight from the heart.
Follow his Instagram page on @wineNdinebyNishanLiyanage and Facebook page on- facebook.com/wineNdinebyNishan/Colombo, Sri Lanka
Or contact him on 0775707226 for bookings.