Explore Sri Lanka
No Result
View All Result
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • What’s On
  • What’s On April 2024
  • What’s On August 2024
  • What’s On December
  • What’s On July 2024
  • What’s On June 2024
  • What’s On March 2024
  • What’s On May 2024
  • What’s On October 2024
  • What’s On September 2024
  • Home
  • Issues
    • 1983 - 1990
      • 1987
        • May 1987
        • June 1987
        • July 1987
        • August 1987
        • September 1987
        • October 1987
        • November 1987
        • December 1987
      • 1988
        • January 1988
        • February 1988
        • March 1988
        • April 1988
        • May 1988
        • June 1988
        • July 1988
        • August 1988
        • September 1988
        • October 1988
        • November 1988
        • December 1988
      • 1989
        • January - March 1989
        • April 1989
        • May 1989
        • June 1989
        • July 1989
        • August 1989
        • September 1989
        • October 1989
        • November 1989
    • 2010 - 2019
      • 2010
        • January 2010
        • February 2010
        • March 2010
        • April 2010
        • May 2010
        • June 2010
        • July 2010
        • August 2010
        • September 2010
        • October 2010
        • November 2010
        • December 2010
      • 2011
        • January 2011
        • February 2011
        • March 2011
        • April 2011
        • May 2011
        • June 2011
        • July 2011
        • August 2011
        • September 2011
        • October 2011
        • November 2011
        • December 2011
      • 2012
        • January 2012
        • February 2012
        • March 2012
        • April 2012
        • May 2012
        • June 2012
        • July 2012
        • August 2012
        • September 2012
        • October 2012
        • November 2012
        • December 2012
      • 2013
        • January 2013
        • February 2013
        • March 2013
        • April 2013
        • May 2013
        • June 2013
        • July 2013
        • August 2013
        • September 2013
        • October 2013
        • November 2013
        • December 2013
      • 2014
        • January 2014
        • February 2014
        • March 2014
        • April 2014
        • May 2014
        • June 2014
        • July 2014
        • August 2014
        • September 2014
        • October 2014
        • November 2014
        • December 2014
      • 2015
        • January 2015
        • February 2015
        • March 2015
        • April 2015
        • May 2015
        • June 2015
        • July 2015
        • August 2015
        • September 2015
        • October 2015
        • November 2015
        • December 2015
      • 2016
        • January 2016
        • February 2016
        • March 2016
        • April 2016
        • May 2016
        • June 2016
        • July 2016
        • August 2016
        • September 2016
        • October 2016
        • November 2016
        • December 2016
      • 2017
        • January 2017
        • February 2017
        • March 2017
        • April 2017
        • May 2017
        • June 2017
        • July 2017
        • August 2017
        • September 2017
        • October 2017
        • November 2017
        • December 2017
      • 2018
        • January 2018
        • February 2018
        • March 2018
        • April 2018
        • May 2018
        • June 2018
        • July 2018
        • August 2018
        • September 2018
        • October 2018
        • November 2018
        • December 2018
      • 2019
        • January 2019
        • February 2019
        • March 2019
        • April 2019
        • May 2019
        • June 2019
        • July 2019
        • August 2019
        • September 2019
        • October 2019
        • November 2019
        • December 2019
    • 2020 - 2024
      • 2020
        • January 2020
        • February 2020
        • March 2020
        • September 2020
        • October 2020
        • November 2020
        • December 2020
      • 2021
        • January 2021
        • February 2021
        • March 2021
        • April 2021
        • May 2021
        • June 2021
        • July 2021
        • August 2021
        • September 2021
        • October 2021
        • November 2021
        • December 2021
      • 2022
        • January 2022
        • February 2022
        • March 2022
        • May 2022
        • April 2022
        • June 2022
        • July 2022
        • August 2022
        • September 2022
        • October 2022
        • November 2022
        • December 2022
      • 2023
        • January 2023
        • February 2023
        • March 2023
        • April 2023
        • May 2023
        • June 2023
        • July 2023
        • August 2023
        • September 2023
        • October 2023
        • November 2023
        • December 2023
      • 2024
        • January 2024
        • February 2024
        • March 2024
        • May 2024
        • April 2024
        • June 2024
        • July 2024
        • August 2024
        • September 2024
        • October 2024
        • November 2024
        • December 2024
    • 2025-2029
      • 2025
        • January 2025
        • February 2025
        • March 2025
        • April 2025
        • May 2025
  • For Digital Subscription
  • About Us
  • What’s On
    slide
No Result
View All Result
Explore Sri Lanka
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Issues
    • 1983 - 1990
      • 1987
        • May 1987
        • June 1987
        • July 1987
        • August 1987
        • September 1987
        • October 1987
        • November 1987
        • December 1987
      • 1988
        • January 1988
        • February 1988
        • March 1988
        • April 1988
        • May 1988
        • June 1988
        • July 1988
        • August 1988
        • September 1988
        • October 1988
        • November 1988
        • December 1988
      • 1989
        • January - March 1989
        • April 1989
        • May 1989
        • June 1989
        • July 1989
        • August 1989
        • September 1989
        • October 1989
        • November 1989
    • 2010 - 2019
      • 2010
        • January 2010
        • February 2010
        • March 2010
        • April 2010
        • May 2010
        • June 2010
        • July 2010
        • August 2010
        • September 2010
        • October 2010
        • November 2010
        • December 2010
      • 2011
        • January 2011
        • February 2011
        • March 2011
        • April 2011
        • May 2011
        • June 2011
        • July 2011
        • August 2011
        • September 2011
        • October 2011
        • November 2011
        • December 2011
      • 2012
        • January 2012
        • February 2012
        • March 2012
        • April 2012
        • May 2012
        • June 2012
        • July 2012
        • August 2012
        • September 2012
        • October 2012
        • November 2012
        • December 2012
      • 2013
        • January 2013
        • February 2013
        • March 2013
        • April 2013
        • May 2013
        • June 2013
        • July 2013
        • August 2013
        • September 2013
        • October 2013
        • November 2013
        • December 2013
      • 2014
        • January 2014
        • February 2014
        • March 2014
        • April 2014
        • May 2014
        • June 2014
        • July 2014
        • August 2014
        • September 2014
        • October 2014
        • November 2014
        • December 2014
      • 2015
        • January 2015
        • February 2015
        • March 2015
        • April 2015
        • May 2015
        • June 2015
        • July 2015
        • August 2015
        • September 2015
        • October 2015
        • November 2015
        • December 2015
      • 2016
        • January 2016
        • February 2016
        • March 2016
        • April 2016
        • May 2016
        • June 2016
        • July 2016
        • August 2016
        • September 2016
        • October 2016
        • November 2016
        • December 2016
      • 2017
        • January 2017
        • February 2017
        • March 2017
        • April 2017
        • May 2017
        • June 2017
        • July 2017
        • August 2017
        • September 2017
        • October 2017
        • November 2017
        • December 2017
      • 2018
        • January 2018
        • February 2018
        • March 2018
        • April 2018
        • May 2018
        • June 2018
        • July 2018
        • August 2018
        • September 2018
        • October 2018
        • November 2018
        • December 2018
      • 2019
        • January 2019
        • February 2019
        • March 2019
        • April 2019
        • May 2019
        • June 2019
        • July 2019
        • August 2019
        • September 2019
        • October 2019
        • November 2019
        • December 2019
    • 2020 - 2024
      • 2020
        • January 2020
        • February 2020
        • March 2020
        • September 2020
        • October 2020
        • November 2020
        • December 2020
      • 2021
        • January 2021
        • February 2021
        • March 2021
        • April 2021
        • May 2021
        • June 2021
        • July 2021
        • August 2021
        • September 2021
        • October 2021
        • November 2021
        • December 2021
      • 2022
        • January 2022
        • February 2022
        • March 2022
        • May 2022
        • April 2022
        • June 2022
        • July 2022
        • August 2022
        • September 2022
        • October 2022
        • November 2022
        • December 2022
      • 2023
        • January 2023
        • February 2023
        • March 2023
        • April 2023
        • May 2023
        • June 2023
        • July 2023
        • August 2023
        • September 2023
        • October 2023
        • November 2023
        • December 2023
      • 2024
        • January 2024
        • February 2024
        • March 2024
        • May 2024
        • April 2024
        • June 2024
        • July 2024
        • August 2024
        • September 2024
        • October 2024
        • November 2024
        • December 2024
    • 2025-2029
      • 2025
        • January 2025
        • February 2025
        • March 2025
        • April 2025
        • May 2025
  • For Digital Subscription
  • About Us
  • What’s On
Home April 2022

Puduma Rahak: Amazing Authentic Tastes

by
0
327
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
PDF Button

Food connoisseur Arjuni Ranatunga, in recalling her fond childhood memories of the island’s culture and heritage intertwined with food, has embarked on an exciting journey that is sure to reawaken your sense of pleasure and satisfaction. Cliched as it may sound, authentic food comes back through the latest food label ‘Puduma Rahak’ launched by Arjuni Ranatunga. Her flavorful options will not disappoint your palette.

Words Jennifer Paldano Goonewardane.

Arjuni is a recipe collector, researcher, and experimenter. She’s the cook extraordinaire who indulges in the art of cooking. Arjuni Ranatunga is the new face of our vibrant online ‘food nation,’ revolutionizing the take-out culture in unprecedented ways. Her endearing Facebook pseudonym ‘Veddhi’ – the indigenous woman whose brand ‘Puduma Rahak’ is churning out a motley of foods has been received with open arms in Sri Lanka and abroad within a short period of launching.

Fondly known as Veddhi among friends, the name pinning resulted from her famous association with the indigenous community in Sri Lanka. As the daughter of a Police Officer serving in Mahiyangana, where the indigenous people lived, Arjuni enjoyed her visits to the Veddah territory. The spirited foodie that she was even then, young Arjuni, was curious to learn about indigenous dietary habits. That spurred her to explore the ‘limited edition’ world of specialties prepared by the native community.

Another marker for the affectionate name is her frizzy hair, which Arjuni thinks caught the chieftain’s attention to whom she was an ‘adopted’ daughter. So, what’s unique about Puduma Rahak and its value proposition? Arjuni Ranatunga sets herself apart in the modern foodscape of fusion food, religiously standing by authentic tastes as a tribute to tradition, culture, and heritage. She associates food from her childhood with warm feelings and good memories. They have a personal value and an expression of cultural identity. She wants to cherish those memories by retaining the ornateness, taste, and nutrition.

Her brand Puduma Rahak means an amazing taste, a name inspired by her associates who gave their food reviews in two simple words – fantastic taste. Such passion for cooking that Arjuni would embark on cooking sprees, which ended with her serving her near and dear, whose collective chorus of appreciation was that her food tastes amazing. Well then, why not proposi-tion her new business as amazing taste? Puduma Rahak was launched in December 2021. Always the food buff dishing out fabulous food for the love of cooking, Arjuni left her job as a television news producer to pursue education in England in 2010. She spent 12 years studying and working. While overseas, she continued dab-bling in her favorite cooking hobby and shared extraordinary insights into juices on her ‘Juice for Life’ Facebook page.

Returning to Sri Lanka in May 2021, Arjuni received rave reviews for her Facebook posts as she continued her sojourn with food. As December approached, encouraged by her husband George, Arjuni decided to lunge into the food business. With a fastidious demeanor, her value proposition was ready in two weeks in time for Christmas 2021. Making a statement at the outset, Arjuni’s hamper of Christmas goodies in a Palmyrah leaf basket was a delightful new combination of the Sinhala New Year sweets and Christmas Cake, merging her unique eastern yuletide flavor with the characteristically festive Christmas cake. Many were skeptical when she unveiled her offering. Will people depart from the norm, where the Christmas celebration was symbolized by food adaptions and derivatives from colonial influence? Her gamble paid off. Arjuni made a paradigm shift of sorts, bringing the tastes of the native new year’s festive table to the festive table at Christmas. People embraced the native flair to the latest twist. Her combo was overwhelmingly appreciated, and orders for the same began to pour in, which extended to the dawn of 2022, producing hosts of gratified gourmands. The offering was genuinely creative, a blend of environmentally friendly handwoven reed baskets laden with sweets from a native festival. 

Her success story combines ingenuity, creativity, and commitment to taste and quality. In a copycat food culture of blends, dilutions, and charlatan experts, Arjuni would make the same thing differently. As a habitual recipe collector, who shared her findings of longstanding recipes with friends on cooking groups, she set herself apart as the specialist in authentic food. As a newbie in the online food industry, Arjuni received that vital fillip that any newcomer desires from her food group buddies, who unveiled her as a cook extraordinaire. 

 

Arjuni Ranatunga, Founder of Puduma Rahak.

Saru Achcharu offers a range of authentic flavors of pickles packed in clay pots.

Her collection of clay-pot-packed pickles under the Saru Achcharu tag is a testament to her commitment to authenticity. Pickles are made from jackfruit and lasia, and the unique Sinhala Achcharu boasts a complex mix of ingredients that makes it spicy and pungent. The banana blossom mixed with dried baby shrimp, the Malay Pickle, mango, and ambarella curry is a gateway into our everyday cuisine. Intrepid food hunters can discover a heritage through their food, a food culture that balances flavors, color, and nutrition. 

Dandila Aluva prepared from Rajali yam.

Mukulu

The good thing is that as an experimenter and researcher, Arjuni has tested her different recipes against spoilage. Preserving food in the old days was facilitated by the ingredients and utensils used to store them in, which continues with her pickles thanks to this food expert’s commitment. Her sojourn into Sri Lanka’s food heritage continues with delightful sweets such as Peni Walalu, soft rings of honey glistening in translucent freshness.

Her cashew-based Cadju Aluva is no longer a charade that many had made it to be, but a heady mix of Ulundu flour (Urad) with a great fusion of ground cashew, making it stand as a testament to the name. The new culture of reviving some of those sweet tastes that have gone to be in the backburner of the country’s food lexicon is evident in Dandila Aluva. It’s a lovely sweet that gets its looks from the beautiful shade of mauve in the Rajali yam. This very nutritious variety had lost its glory in the break-fast table for some time now. Indulging once in a while in the sweetness oozing semolina-based Rulang Aluwa and sesame-based Thala Aluwa and Thala Dosi makes it worth the while. It’s easy to navigate through Arjuni’s food repertoire as her business model is created by promoting a concept based on three labels.

Puduma Rahak is the primary business under which Arjuni sells her range of sweetmeats and confections, distinctive Sri Lankan foods such as sour fish curry wrapped in the betelnut tree husk, and the sought after sweet and savory eggplant-based ‘Batu Moju’.

Saru Achcharu includes the various pickles and the popular range of fruit-based relishes that are a portion of popular street food. Maru Bite has a range of deep-fried mixtures of gram and sprats, the conception allowing her to continually optimize the quality of her offer. So, when she posts her next big undertaking on social media, she selects the range, with Wednesday set aside for accepting orders duly delivered to anywhere in the country on Friday and Saturday. The cornerstone of her heritage food concept is taste and quality assured by adhering to the most authentic and original recipe available among the sea of replicas, with hand-picked ingredients, which are ground and prepared at home and sourced from the best suppliers. The compromise people make when they look for cheap versions of their favorite dish is obviously, they come at the cost of quality and artificial taste. She said that investing in only the best ingredients is the portal to our heritage.

A trailblazer in her own right, Arjuni’s entrepreneurial launch is a fun project that hinges on a set of rock-hard values. Rather than being the regular restaurateur churning out food to suit customers’ altered palettes, she decides her menu in advance and promotes it on Facebook. However, the more profound quest is to change people’s food mindset. That food reflects culture, where traditional cuisine is passed down from one generation to another. That food is about history and livelihoods. Hence, they don’t deserve to be compromised. The best way to preserve some of our authentic food for posterity is by sharing recipes and making them with authentic ingredients so that today’s fast-food culture doesn’t cloud the tastes of some of the dearly known native fare, explained Arjuni. With the list already complete for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, new on Arjuni’s palette is a range of ‘fun’ sweets that has evaded the local food wordlist for a long time. Uda Balum means one has to look up to eat this stuffed papadum-like delicacy lest the filling spills, the quirky Mukulu will bring a smile to everyone’s face as per its meaning, Komala Watan is an oil cake that gets its name from the spirals around them. More plans are ongoing for some delicious new spicy offerings made from river fish, such as fish-based pickles, with a combination of fruit. Wishing Arjuni’s endeavor a great success to stand uniquely in the food market, with a touch of remarkable flair and a twist in the delicacies to indulge in. 

Puduma Rahak
Mobile: (+94) 764 509 868 Facebook: Veddhi

Komala Watan.

Peni Walalu.

Dandila Aluva will add sweetness to your breakfast meal.

Pick a favorite choice from the deep-fried mixtures of gram and sprats from the ‘Maru Bite’ range.

Adding a touch of creativity to packing.

Tags: CuisinefeaturedfoodgeneralSweetsTradition
Previous Post

Bejeweled Bling

Next Post

Kott Kilangu: Delightful Experiences of the Island

Next Post
Kott Kilangu: Delightful Experiences of the Island

Kott Kilangu: Delightful Experiences of the Island

No Result
View All Result

Categories

exlpore-sri-lanka-logo

Location

20-2/1 Lauries Place Facing R A de Mel Mawatha Colombo 04.

Contact

(+94) 715 134 134

Email

info@btoptions.com

© 2023 BT Options. All Rights Reserved.