Seafood Recipes

Malu Curry

Sri Lankan Fish Curry

This is malu curry, and malu simply means fish. Firm white fish simmered in a roasted-spice and coconut gravy, soured with goraka (Malabar tamarind) rather than lime, so the tang comes out dark and deep, not bright and fruity. Pick a firm fish and the chunks stay meaty and hold together in a gravy that clings to every last piece.

Isso Curry

Sri Lankan Prawn Curry

Isso curry, as Sri Lankans call it, is plump prawns simmered in a quick coconut gravy that leans on roasted curry powder and curry leaves. Prawns cook in minutes, you see, so the whole trick is to build the base properly first and only then slip the prawns in at the very end, so they stay sweet and soft instead of turning to rubber. It is rich without being heavy, and it is on the table in about twenty minutes.

Maalu Ambul Thiyal

Ambul Thiyal

Ambul thiyal, Sri Lanka's celebrated sour fish curry, is firm cubes of fish slow-cooked in a thick, dark paste of goraka (dried garcinia), black pepper and spices until almost dry. It's tangy, intensely peppery and glossy black, and it comes from the southern coast, where the sour goraka was originally used to preserve the catch so it would keep for days without a fridge. Also called maalu ambul thiyal, it is one of the island's great seafood dishes.

Maalu Devil

Sri Lankan Devilled Fish

Sri Lankan devilled fish is chunks of fried fish tossed through a glossy, fiery sauce of onions, capsicum, green chilli and tomato, sharpened with soy and a hit of chilli. It is part of the island's much-loved 'devilled' family, sweet, sour, hot and savoury all at once, the sort of bold, saucy plate that disappears fast over rice. Some people call it fish devil, and honestly it is Sri Lankan-Chinese cooking at its best.

Karawala Hodi

Sri Lankan Dry Fish Curry

Sri Lankan dry fish curry, karawala hodi, is salted sun-dried fish simmered in a fiery coconut and tamarind gravy spiced with chilli, curry powder and goraka. It's deeply savoury and properly pungent. A little goes a long way over rice. Also called salted fish curry, it's a much-loved pantry curry that turns store-cupboard dried fish into something powerfully moreish.

Jaffna Isso Curry

Jaffna Prawn Curry

Jaffna prawn curry, or Jaffna isso curry, is plump prawns simmered in a dark, fiery gravy built on heavily roasted Jaffna curry powder and tamarind. This is the Northern Tamil style: deeper, hotter and far more roasted than a standard Sri Lankan prawn curry, with a tangy red gravy that clings to the shellfish. You'll see it called Jaffna shrimp curry or just isso curry. It's intense and unapologetically spiced, balanced by the natural sweetness of the prawns and the sour lift of tamarind.

Kakuluwo Curry

Sri Lankan Crab Curry

Sri Lankan crab curry, known as kakuluwo curry, is whole mud crab cooked in a rich, dark and properly fiery coconut gravy built on dark-roasted Jaffna curry powder and soured with goraka or tamarind. It's the legendary Jaffna crab curry, the one people drive across the island for. Messy, intense, and meant to be eaten with your hands, cracking the shells and sucking every last drop of gravy from the claws. Use whole crab so the shells flavour the gravy, and serve it with string hoppers, rice or bread to mop up the sauce.

Hot Butter Cuttlefish

Hot butter cuttlefish, also known as hot butter squid, is the Sri Lankan-Chinese starter everyone loves. Cuttlefish rings are lightly battered in cornflour, fried crisp, then tossed in sizzling butter with dried and fresh chilli, garlic, spring onion and curry leaves. Buttery, crunchy, hot and savoury all at once. It's the dish people fight over at celebrations, ordered the moment they sit down. Get the batter light and the butter hot, and you've got a starter that beats any restaurant version.

Halmasso Baduma

Halmasso baduma goes by a few names: dried sprats stir-fry, sprat tempered. It's tiny whole dried fish, rinsed, fried until crisp, then tempered with onion, garlic, green and red chilli, curry leaves and a squeeze of lime. Salty, spicy, crunchy. It's meant to be eaten in small amounts with rice and curry. Baduma means tempered or stir-fried, and this is one of those dry fish dishes you just keep reaching for.

Karawala Baduma

Karawala baduma is dried fish cut into pieces, fried until the edges turn crisp, then tempered with onion, garlic, chilli, curry leaves and a squeeze of lime or a little tamarind. It's salty, smoky and fiery, and it carries no gravy at all, so you eat it in small amounts beside rice and curry. Baduma means tempered or stir-fried, and this is the dry, punchy cousin of the saucy dry fish curry. The whole point is taking a humble pantry staple and making it seriously moreish.

Isso Baduma

Isso baduma is a dry Sri Lankan prawn stir-fry. Plump prawns go into a pan over high heat with onion, garlic, ginger, green and red chilli, curry leaves and spices, get tossed fast until they are just cooked, and end up glossed in a sticky, fiery, dry-fried masala. Isso means prawn and baduma means tempered or stir-fried, and that is exactly what this is: no coconut gravy, no sauce to spoon, just spicy fried prawns clinging to a fragrant, near-dry tangle of aromatics. You'll also see it searched as Sri Lankan prawn stir-fry or spicy fried prawns, and it is fast, bold and built for eating hot over rice.