Srini's Ceylon Madura

What to Look for in a Sri Lankan Grocer

A Sri Lankan grocer is where the handful of genuinely hard-to-substitute ingredients live. Most of a Sri Lankan pantry can be built from a big supermarket, but goraka, Maldive fish and proper roasted curry powder are the ones worth a trip.

Check the freezer as well as the shelves. Grated coconut, curry leaves and pandan are usually frozen rather than fresh, and frozen is a much better substitute for fresh than dried is.

The Things to Put in the Basket

• Roasted curry powder

  Dark, toasted and nothing like the yellow curry powder sold in supermarkets. This one ingredient is most of what makes a curry taste Sri Lankan.

• Goraka

  Dried Malabar tamarind, sour and smoky, and the backbone of fish curry. Hard to find anywhere else and it keeps for years.

• Maldive fish

  Dried, cured tuna, shaved or in chips. A small amount does the seasoning work of a stock cube in sambols and curries.

• Curry leaves

  Buy far more than you need and freeze the rest in a bag. They keep their smell for months and the dried ones are a poor stand-in.

• Pandan

  Sold frozen as long green blades. One knotted leaf goes into rice and curries as a background aroma.

• Red rice

  Nutty, chewy wholegrain rice. It takes longer to cook than white and holds up to a plate of curries better.

Worth Knowing Before You Go

• Ask at the counter. Small grocers keep the fast-moving Sri Lankan stock behind or beside the till rather than on the shelves.
• Spices are cheaper and fresher in the large packets these shops sell than in supermarket jars, and they turn over fast enough to be worth buying in quantity.
• Many of these shops also sell short eats and curries at the counter at the weekend, even when they are not listed as a restaurant.
• Bring cash. Plenty of small independents still have a card minimum.

This section describes Sri Lankan grocery stores in general. It is not a description of Srini's Ceylon Madura, which we have not visited.