Sri Lankan Restaurant Praba In South Harrow - For Moreish Masala Dosai, Apams (hoppers) and More

Colourful Sir Lankan restaurant, Praba, In South Harrow

The Praba Sri Lankan restaurant is within walking distance of South Harrow station and bus garage.  It is just before the South Harrow Baptist church. The area looks rather downmarket compared to Harrow On the Hill and other areas, but inside the restaurant it is quite elegant but reasonably priced. The name Praba comes from the sanskrit word for light, radiance, luminance splendour. Does the restaurant live up to its name?

Dancing Light Decor

Praba restaurant's overhead lights changing colour. Photos by Angela Lansbury.

Central ceiling decoration, changing colour. Momentarily disconcerting, even irritating. Then intriguing, interesting, attractive. Finally, forgotten when your food arrives. Meanwhile, look around.

The toilet is downstairs. Handy for those who hate stairs and saves time.

Indoor stairs lead upstairs. What is up there, we wondered.

Angela with masala dosai.

Masala Dosai

 I ordered masala dosai. A huge 'pancake'. Filled with potato. 

Dips

Served on a wide metal tray, like a thali, with three dips. White - yogurt and something? Red - tomato based? Darker red - spicy - red pepper?

Leftovers

When I asked for my leftover food to be packed up to take away, they gave me a round transparent box with a lid. I like to pack my leftovers. 

Later I commented to my husband, 'No risk of them forgetting and throwing it away. Or giving you the meal with missing items. No need to worry your food might have got contaminated.' (My husband says to me, drily, 'You can find something else to worry about.')

Service

The service was obliging although a bit erratic. They happily allowed three of us to all pay separately. They also said a group of us could come in after a meeting ended at 10 pm and order just drinks or desserts (having eaten earlier). And they were happy to let me take away the leftovers.

The menu could do with more translation. Apam is a thin pancake cooked and served in a bowl. An apam is also called a hopper.

The waiter got confused and gave one of my dishes, coconut apam, to another person who had three apam oreos. (A thin dessert pancake made with a spread of American \Oreo biscuits, which seemed very strange, but my club's President, who is Asian, ordered three of the Oreo Apams.) So my friend got to pay for something extra. And I was not able to try out the dish which was new to me.

They were out of mango for mango lassi and could offer only sweet or salted lassi. So one of my friends ordered the sweet lassi instead. 

I shall definitely go back. I loved the masala dosai. It was just right for me. Soft like a pancake. Not overcooked to a brittle crisp.  

Leftovers Next Day

I had taken home the spicy dip which I had hardly touched.  It was still too spicy, especially without the large helping of bland potato which I had had in the restaurant. So, at home, I added two tablespoons of yogurt to cool down the effect.

The test is, will I go back? Yes. I hope to try an apam. To get mango lassi. I might indulge in my family's favourite, gulab jamun (known to us from Tandoori restaurants which feature the cuisine of northern India.) 

Getting There

South Harrow is on the H12 bus route from Stanmore via Hatch End, and Rayners Lane.

South Harrow station is on the Piccadilly line.

Useful Websites About Praba Restaurant and Sri Lankan Food

https://www.prabarestaurant.co.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appam

https://lankawebsites.com/blog/culture-traditions/hoppers-appa-traditional-breakfast

Apam/hopper mix

https://koodai.co.uk/collections/drinks-tea-coffee-instant-mixes/products/elakkia-appam-instant-mix-1kg

https://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/mdk-easy-hopper-mix-appampancake-mix

Hopper cooking pan about £14 plus £4 or £5 postage from various sellers on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226323175045?_skw=hopper+pan

Royal Gulab Jamun dessert from Tesco supermarket online £4

https://www.tesco.com/shop/en-GB/products/

Travel to South Harrow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Harrow_tube_station

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/stop/490G000752/south-harrow-bus-station/

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Indian Desserts, Drinks and Teas: chai, gulab jamun, halva, jelabi, kulfi, lassi

Shikrand at Sakonis restaurant in Hatch End.

Eggless cake with ice cream at Sakonis. This is the chocolate and nuts version of the Sakonis restaurant's Indian cheesecake. (Better than frozen mousse cheescakes I've had elsewhere but not as good and sucky and sticky and yummy New York Cheesecake.) Good if you like chocolate and nuts. 

Mango pulp at Sakonis.

Problem
What do the names mean?

Answers
Desserts:
eggless cheesecake and ice cream
gajar halwa
Wiki says:

Gajar ka halwa (Also known as gajrela or gajorer halwa,^[1][2] is a sweet dessert pudding originating from the Indian subcontinent, associated mainly with North India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.^[3] It is made by placing grated carrot in a pot containing a specific amount of water, milk and sugar and then cooking while stirring regularly. It is often served with a garnish of almonds and pistachios.^[4] The nuts and other items used are first sautéed in ghee, a South Asian clarified butter.^[5]

The dessert is a favourite all over Northern India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is traditionally eaten during all of the festivals in India, mainly on the occasion of Diwali, Holi, Eid al-Fitr and Raksha Bandhan.^[6] It is served hot during the winter.^[7]

Nowadays, gajar ka halwa is a popular worldwide dessert with many variations such as red velvet halwa, carrot and beetroot halwa, and cheesy carrot halwa.

gulab jamun - (usually 2 in a portion) ball like a sweet dumpling with brown outside in syrup
halva - smooth
jelabi - batter spirals in syrup, often orange colour, very sweet and sticky, crunchy
kheer - wiki says:

 'Kheer is a rice pudding from the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, made by boiling rice, broken wheat, tapioca, or vermicelli with milk and sugar; it is flavoured with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios or almonds. It is typically served during a meal or as a dessert. It is also known in some regions as payesh, payasam, payasa, phirni, gil-e-firdaus and fereni.'

kulfi - flavours could include malai, mango, or pistachio); Indian ice cream, sometimes with gritty texture, often a tapered cylinder with a flat top.
mango pulp - my friend tried it in Sakonis and was expected fplain fruit puree and found it too sweet
rasmalai (listed as 'each' meaning you get one ball)
shikrand - yogurt - I tried this at Sakonis in Hatch End and recommend it.

Drinks
chai - spiced tea, tasty, more flavour than fruit tea (chai as in 'a cup of cha' and 'char lady' which could be from chore or chai) From Sakonis - I recommend it
lassi is a non-alchoholic white refreshing drink, a mixture of yogurt and milk with salt or sugar/syrup or fruit added
fresh lassi (salty/ sweet)
mango lassi
passion juice

Where to try and buy
1 UK: Sakonis restaurant, Hatch End, London, England.
Also shops and restaurants in Harrow (Sakonis) and Rayners Lane (other) and Wembley.
2 Tesco, Hatch End and other branches for packets of gulab jamun.

3 Singapore: Mohammed Mustafa 24 hour supermarket near Farrer Park MRT (railway) station. Look in the chiller cabinets gulub jamun and for other made up desserts. You can also buy dry mixes.
4 Singapore: many restaurants and delis in Little India.
5 Other Indian delis, supermarkets and restaurants worldwide.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

While in London - try the Indian sweetmeats, for example Shayona

We stopped for some tea-time take away. You can see the green of the pistachio and the brown of the dates in this sweetmeat from Shayona in North Harrow on the Pinner Road leading from the Pinner area to Harrow on the Hill.

This sweetmeat above comes from their double front Pinner Road branch which has savouries on one side of the shop and the sweets on the other. Their food is vegetarian and the menu online for catering to events includes drinks such as sweet and sour lassi (yogurt mixed with milk - hm - is that vegan I wonder, I suppose it does not involve killing unlike meat) foods such as mock duck and eggless cakes. The other branch is further along the road on the opposite side (left driving north from North Harrow to Harrow on the hill) on the corner.

www.sayacaterers.com