Skip to content
LoginRegister
WhatToEat.Today

Recipes with roasted sri lankan curry powder

5 recipes that use roasted sri lankan curry powder, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Amba maluwa, takes 40 minutes. It is most often cooked with cinnamon stick, curry leaves and garlic.

Got a few things in the fridge? Search by everything you have

Nelum ala curry

The ancient irrigation tanks of the eastern province, around Ampara and the Batticaloa hinterland, are covered in pink lotus, and when the water drops, villagers wade in to pull out the long, pale roots. Sliced into lacy wheels, they are cooked into this richly spiced curry with roasted curry powder, chilli, cinnamon, garlic and ginger, finished with coconut milk, and the slices keep a satisfying crunch that makes the dish feel almost meaty. It is served with rice on festival and almsgiving days, when many families eat only vegetables. Lotus root browns quickly once cut, so slice it straight into water with a squeeze of lime. The common mistake is boiling it too long before it goes into the curry, which turns it starchy and floppy; ten minutes is plenty. Chef's tip: choose fat, firm sections with unbroken ends, which keep mud out of the hollow channels and save a lot of rinsing.

45 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Amba maluwa

Maluwa usually means a fish curry, yet in Matara and the southern villages the name also goes to this mango dish, perhaps because it is cooked with the same bold spices and was once a stand-in for fish on fasting days. Half-ripe mangoes are cut into chunks with their skin on, then simmered with dark roasted curry powder, chilli, cinnamon and a sharp paste of ground mustard seed and vinegar, sweetened with sugar and finished with coconut milk. The result is hot, sweet and tangy at once, and it is a favourite on wedding and almsgiving spreads, eaten in small amounts with yellow or white rice. Fully ripe mangoes are the wrong choice, because they collapse into jam; pick fruit that is just turning yellow and still firm to the touch. Chef's tip: keep the skin on the mango pieces, as it holds them together during cooking and adds a pleasant, slightly chewy texture.

40 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ambarella curry

Ambarella trees, heavy with green, plum-sized fruit, shade countless gardens around Galle, and when the crop comes in, cooks turn the sour, crunchy fruit into this sweet-sour curry for Sunday lunch and family gatherings. The fruits are scored and cooked whole with roasted curry powder, garlic, cinnamon and cloves, then sweetened with sugar and finished in coconut milk, until the flesh softens and drinks in the dark, glossy gravy. Its tangy, fruity flavour cuts through richer dishes, and it is served in small portions with rice alongside a dhal and a meat or fish curry. Each fruit hides a spiky, fibrous stone, so warn guests to nibble around it. Leaving the skins whole and unscored is where many go wrong, because the spices never get in; make several deep cuts in each fruit. Frozen ambarella is sold in Sri Lankan shops; firm green mango is the nearest stand-in. Chef's tip: let the curry rest for an hour before serving, as the fruit keeps soaking up flavour.

50 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kesel muwa curry

Every banana plant in a Sri Lankan back garden eventually pushes out a heavy, purple, spear-shaped flower, and rather than waste it, home cooks across the western province slice it into this savoury, slightly meaty curry. Once the tough outer bracts come off, the pale heart is shredded and cooked with roasted curry powder, mustard seed and chilli, then finished with coconut milk until it is tender with a faint, pleasant astringency, a bit like artichoke. It is a weekday dish, served with red rice, parippu and a pol sambol. The flower browns and turns bitter within minutes of being cut, which is where most first attempts go wrong, so have a bowl of salted turmeric water waiting and drop the slices in as you go. Chef's tip: if you can only find tinned banana blossom in brine, rinse it well, chop it and skip the soaking; it needs only half the cooking time.

50 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Lamprais (home version)

Lamprais came to Sri Lanka with the Dutch Burgher community, and Colombo's Burgher families still make it for Sunday lunch, christenings and Christmas. Each banana-leaf parcel holds rice cooked in rich stock, a mixed meat curry, little fried meatballs called frikkadels, a hard-boiled egg, aubergine moju and seeni sambol, all baked together until the leaf perfumes everything. The traditional version uses three meats including pork; this home version keeps it to chicken and beef so it is manageable in one day, and the steps still take time. Chef's tip: make the curry and frikkadels the day before; on lamprais day you only cook the rice and wrap.

210 minSri LankanRice & Grains
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with roasted sri lankan curry powder