Food History

Obviously I have a thing about large islands. It might be because I live on one. Today’s country is not only a large island, it’s as sporting-mad as Australia, which makes it entirely appropriate for a brief visit during the Olympics. If only there were cricket at the Olympics, Sri Lanka would be impossible to miss.

These recipes are family food brought to Australia by Sri Lankans. I don’t know if they have been adjusted for life in the new country. I do know that they’re different from their Indian near-equivalent. The curries are less complex and the underlying flavours of the vegetables are more pronounced.

These are very much home cooking. The quantities are all to taste and my friend adjusted them for the number of people and tastebuds automatically.

The method is likewise based on experience and not on recipe books. The meat curry recipe is typical of the ones I collected from a very particular group of good cooks. . From experience you are supposed to know what spices are fried first and which ones are added at the end. You’re also supposed to realise that the meat is implied.

I’ve developed my own practises in this regard, changing the way I was taught to cook Sri Lankan recipes to suit the way I cook and the way I eat. I can’t emphasise enough that we all do this, usually instinctively. That every recipe we receive from historical sources is changed before we so much as put a forkful in our mouth.

How would I interpret the meat curry below? I would fry the garlic and ginger (in a little oil then add the mustard, then add the tomato paste and soy sauce. If I use chilli I might add it straight after the ginger, or if paprika, add it right at the end. All the other ingredients go in together, then I would braise cubes of meat in it and then let it all cook, slowly. That’s my method, though, not THE method. We’re so used to formal cookbooks that we forget that most food in history has been cooked by combining ingredients in a comfortable and familiar way, not from following recipes.

Kadju Curry

Soak cashew nuts for 4-5 hours. Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onion, garlic, raw curry powder, turmeric, lime and salt to taste. Cover and let it marinate. Add soy or other milk to make the curry moist (not wet).

Sri Lankan Beef Curry Powder

1 part cumin: 2 parts fennel: 4 parts coriander

Roast spices until toasted and fragrant. Grind.

Sri Lankan Meat Curry

Tomato paste
Garlic
Ginger
Soy sauce
Paprika or chili powder
Powdered mustard
Beef curry powder (see above)
Vinegar
Curry powder