Destination: Sri Lanka

Village Food Culture in Kotte + Sri Lankan Curry recipe!

On a trip to Colombo in 2018, I had the chance to go outside the city to visit a local market and learn to cook some fantastic Sri Lankan dishes. The vibrant colors and beautiful stacks of produce were even more exciting as our guide, Nim, answered questions about the new (to us) things we saw. Here are some of those stories:

This mountain of fresh curry leaves will form the base of a stunning diversity of Sri Lankan dishes. By adjusting the spice mixes and cooking techniques, creamy coconut-based curries can be breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Sri Lanka has no large-scale commercial farming systems; small-scale production creates great variety in size, color, taste, and supply at the village market.

The best jackfruit is tender, with a dark yellow color. Offering us a closer look, this vendor points a few stalls down, and says that today, her neighbor’s supply is more ideal.

Gotu Kola is a succulent green used to make a variety of salads—known as “the fountain of life” herb in some cultures, it carries a host of medicinal properties prized in Ayurvedic healing.

After shopping for everything we needed, we headed back to Nim's house to make a huge feast. We learned how to layer our flavors from the very beginning: gently roasting all the dried spices before taking them to the mortar and pestle to be combined with ginger root, turmeric, and other fresh herbs.

Cooking Sri Lankan coconut dhal in traditional clay pots. Years of seasoning built into the clay surface adds a rich depth of flavor, and its anti-bacterial properties help maintain freshness in this open-air, tropical kitchen.

My favorite dish we made was a Sri Lankan fish curry, which could easily be made vegetarian or substituted with chicken or turkey. We still make this at home now, and I'd love to share the recipe with you- if you make it, I'd love to know!

Sri Lankan Fish Curry (serves 2)

- 3 tsp Coconut oil

- 1 onion, sliced

- Pandan leaves (optional)

- Curry leaves (dried or fresh are ideal, but if you can't find that, add an extra 1 tsp ground curry powder)

- 3 cloves garlic, crushed

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp ground cloves

- 1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

- 200 g fish of your choice (a white fish like sea bass is traditionally used), cleaned and cut into large bites

- 2 tsp Curry powder

- 2 tsp Chilli Powder

- 1/2 tsp ground pepper

- 1 large tomato, sliced

- 3 whole green chillies (or less, depending on your spice tolerance!)

- Coconut milk

- Coconut cream

1. Heat coconut oil in a pot, and once it's hot add onion, pandan leaf, curry leaves, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, chopped ginger and simmer on low heat for 1 minute to bring out flavors.

2. Add fish to the spice mix and oil; cover the pot and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes.

3. Add curry powder, chilli powder, and ground pepper

4. Pour in coconut milk until the fish pieces are covered, and stir

5. Cover and cook 4 minutes on medium heat, then uncover the pot and continue cooking until the sauce has thickened.

6. Reduce heat to low and add coconut cream. Stir well, then add tomato and whole chillies.

7. Cook on low heat until it simmers, then add salt to taste

Serve with steamed rice, naan, or papadams... or a combination of all three!