By popular demand…

I’m back! But unfortunately it’s not me that’s in popular demand, it’s the recipes from a cooking class I took in Sri Lanka.

This post will focus on the food, but as a quick life update: it’s maybe an understatement to say this year hasn’t played out how we all thought it would? I’m still here in Detroit looking for jobs and generally enjoying the Michigan summer. Hoping to get to NYC…sometime? In the meantime, I’m working on my golf game, fishing, writing, and doing some volunteer work. Check out humankindnow.org and consider donating!

Starting at 1 o’clock and working our way clockwise: chicken curry, sweet potato curry, long bean curry, gobi manchurian (not from Sri Lanka so not in this post), butternut squash curry, and coconut roti

Warning you now: this is not Intro to Cooking 101 material. You’re gonna be cranking out four curries and a roti over a two hour period with complex flavor profiles. I assure you this is all well worth the effort.

Having now made this twice on my own, I’m presenting these instructions in the order I think logically makes the most sense. But it’s not the order in which I learned to make them in the class, so…try it out and let me know your feedback.

I hate it when recipe websites give you the person’s entire life story before hitting you with the damn instructions so here we go.

Ok I lied, a few more notes before we get into it:

1. Pandan leaves add a unique flavor, but I’ve had trouble finding them in the US — they are optional.
2. I had to venture over to the Indian grocery store for curry leaves, tamarind paste, long beans, fenugreek, and cardamom.
3. You can serve this with rice but the coconut roti should be enough.
4. Some of the curries mention optionally adding coconut cream at the end: this helps cut down the spice level and makes the curry more thick. I do / do not do this depending on diner spice tolerance levels.

Four Sri Lankan Curries + Coconut Roti

Serves five people. Prep time a bit over two hours.

Ingredients

• Curry powder
• Mustard seed (or powder)
• Red chili flakes
• Turmeric powder
• Chili powder
• Fenugreek
• Cardamom (seeds and pods)
• Salt
• Pandan leaves (optional)
• Curry leaves (~10/curry * 4 curries = 40 leaves)
• Garlic 16 cloves (assuming 0.5 tsp = 1 clove)
• Tamarind paste
• Coconut oil
• Cinnamon sticks
• Wheat flour 250g
• Coconut cream 1.5 cup
• Coconut milk 4.25 cup
• Grated coconut 2 cup
• Pumpkin 700g (cubed; can sub butternut squash)
• Red onion 2 (one sliced, one diced)
• Green chilis 4 (Indian green chili pepper — much smaller than serrano)
• Red hothouse tomato ½ (diced)
• Long beans 400g (cut into 1 inch pieces; can sub green beans or okra)
• Sweet potato 600g (cut into medallions then into ¼ slices; can sub potato)
• Chicken 400g (cubed)

Instructions

Chicken curry

1. Mix the following in a large bowl: ½ sliced red onion, 3 tsp garlic, 10 curry leaves, 1 pandan leaf (optional), 1 green chili, 2 cardamom seeds (not pods), 1 inch cinnamon, 1 tsp tamarind paste, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp turmeric, 2 cups coconut milk
2. Bring 3 tbsp coconut oil to smokiness in a large pot on medium heat
3. Add 3 tsp curry power and 1 tsp chili powder to pot and roast until dark brown
4. Add contents of bowl from step one and 400g chicken to pot
5. Cook on medium heat (~20 minutes)
6. (Optional) Add ½ cup coconut cream and simmer for a few minutes then serve

Pumpkin curry

1. Bring 4 tsp coconut oil to smokiness in large pot on medium heat
2. Add 1 tsp mustard seed, 10 curry leaves, 1 pandan leaf (optional), 1 inch cinnamon, 1.5 tsp garlic, 1.5 tsp curry powder, ½ sliced red onion, 1 tsp red chili flakes, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt and stir for two minutes
3. Add 1.5 cups coconut milk and 700g pumpkin to pot
4. Cook on low-medium heat until soft (~15 minutes)
5. (Optional) Add ½ cup coconut cream and simmer for a few minutes then serve

Sweet potato curry

1. Add ½ sliced red onion, 2 tsp garlic, 1 pandan leaf (optional), 10 curry leaves, 2 cardamom pods, 2 green chilis (optional) to pot and stir for two minutes
2. Add 600g sweet potato, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp curry powder, 1.5 cups coconut milk to pot
3. Cook on low-medium heat until soft (~12 minutes)

Long bean curry

1. Bring 5 tbsp coconut oil to smokiness in large pot on medium heat
2. Add 1 tsp fenugreek, 0.5 diced red onion, 1.5 tsp garlic, 10 curry leaves, 1 pandan leaf (optional) to oil and stir for two minutes
3. Add 1 cardamom pod and ½ diced tomato and stir for one minute
4. Add 400g long beans, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp chili powder, 1 tsp curry
5. Cook on low-medium heat (~12 minutes)
6. (Optional) Add ½ cup coconut cream and simmer for a few minutes then serve

Coconut roti

1. Mix the following in a large bowl: 250g wheat flour, 2 cups grated coconut, 1 tbsp salt
2. Slowly add warm water to the bowl, kneading like pizza dough until it clumps into a ball
3. Let dough sit for three minutes
4. Add oil to a cutting board and to the dough, kneading the dough on the board and flattening into a circle with ~¼ inch thickness
5. Add dough to a large non-stick pan and flip the whole thing every 4–5 minutes (~20 minutes)