Kos Mallung
Jackfruit Mallum (Kos Mallum)
Also known as Shredded Jackfruit with Coconut
Kos mallum, known in English as jackfruit mallum, is a dry Sri Lankan side of tender jackfruit, finely shredded, tossed with fresh grated coconut, onion, green chilli, turmeric, curry leaves and popped mustard seeds. It cooks just until fragrant, then gets a squeeze of lime. English menus might call it a young jackfruit sambol, or simply shredded jackfruit with coconut. Mallum comes from mallung in Sinhala, a 'mix-up', a quickly tossed vegetable. And unlike kos curry, there's no gravy at all: it's dry, bright and naturally vegan.
Dry, fragrant strands of shredded jackfruit and fresh coconut, finished with lime. It's the lime-bright vegetable side that balances a rich rice and curry plate.
- Total time
- 45 min
- 25 min prep · 20 min cook
- Serves
- 4 people
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice level
- Medium
- Country help
- USA · UK · AU · CA substitutes included
CeylonCooking
ceyloncooking.com/recipes/kos-mallum
Jackfruit Mallum (Kos Mallung)
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Nutrition
Estimated values, per serving.
About This Dish
Mallum is the kind of everyday dish that holds a Sri Lankan plate together. The Sinhala word mallung means a 'mix-up', and that's exactly what happens: finely chopped or shredded vegetable or leaves get mixed through fresh grated coconut, onion, chilli and a little turmeric, then tossed over heat until just dry. Gotukola mallung, made with pennywort, is the famous one, but the same idea works well with shredded jackfruit. That version is kos mallum. It's the green, light and fresh-tasting corner of the plate that stops a meal of rich curries from feeling heavy.
Kos mallum is proper humble cooking. Tender jackfruit gets boiled and shredded into soft, meaty strands, then mixed with fresh coconut and a quick temper of mustard seeds, onion, green chilli and curry leaves. There's no coconut milk and no sauce to simmer down. Mallum should be dry: the coconut looks loose and separate, lightly clinging to the jackfruit instead of swimming in anything. A last squeeze of lime lifts it and keeps it bright. Done right, it's savoury, a little nutty, gently hot and refreshingly tangy all at once.
It pays to know your jackfruit here, because the same fruit carries three names at three stages. Polos is the very young, green, starchy fruit used in the famous polos curry. Kos is the more mature jackfruit, still unripe and savoury but firmer and more fibrous, cooked as a vegetable. Varaka, or vela, is the fully ripe, golden, sweet fruit eaten fresh as a fruit. Mallum comes from tender, cooked savoury jackfruit, so it sits in the polos to early-kos range: young or just-mature fruit that boils down soft enough to shred. Crucially, it's never the sweet ripe kind.
Here's the thing: kos mallum is nothing like the jackfruit dishes most people meet first. Kos curry and polos curry are saucy, coconut-milk braises, deep and rich. Mallum is the opposite: dry, light, built around fresh coconut instead of coconut gravy, more sambol than curry. On a traditional spread, it's the fresh, lime-bright vegetable that cuts through everything else, the same job a gotukola mallung or a green bean stir-fry does.
Polos, Kos or Varaka, and What 'mallum' Means
Jackfruit has three Sinhala names, and the ripeness decides which one you use. Polos is the very young, green, starchy fruit, treated as a vegetable and used in polos curry. Kos is more mature, still unripe, firmer and more fibrous but still savoury, cooked as a vegetable. Varaka, also called vela, is the fully ripe, sweet golden fruit that gets eaten raw as a fruit. For mallum you want the tender savoury fruit: young polos or just-mature kos, boiled until soft enough to shred into meaty strands. Never use sweet ripe varaka, that one belongs in desserts.
Mallum, written mallung in Sinhala, just means 'mix-up'. A vegetable or leaf gets finely shredded and tossed through fresh coconut, onion, chilli and turmeric, then cooked briefly until dry and fragrant. It's a whole family of dishes: gotukola mallung, cabbage mallung, kale mallung and more. Kos mallum is the jackfruit version. Because the defining ingredient is fresh grated coconut and there's no gravy, mallum sits closer to a warm sambol than a curry. That's the single most useful thing to understand about it.
What It Should Taste Like
Soft meaty strands of jackfruit, coated in fresh coconut that's loose and sweet, savoury from onion and curry leaves, gently hot with green chilli, finished bright and tangy with lime. Dry, not saucy. The coconut stays separate and fluffy, never wet or clumped.
Ingredients
This recipe makes 4 servings. Change the number and every amount below updates with it. Substitutes for hard-to-find items are in the sidebar.
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Jackfruit
- Tender young (savoury) jackfruitpolos or just-mature kos, not the sweet ripe kind500 g fresh, or 2 tins drained
- Ground turmericfor boiling½ tsp
- Saltfor boiling1 tsp
Mallum
- Freshly grated coconutor frozen, thawed1 cup
- Onionfinely chopped1 small
- Green chilliesfinely chopped2
- Curry leaves1 sprig
- Mustard seeds½ tsp
- Ground turmeric½ tsp
- Chilli flakes or powderoptional½ tsp
- Limejuice, to finish½
- Maldive fish flakesoptional, omit for vegan1 tsp
- Oil1 tbsp
- Saltto taste
Method
Follow these 7 steps. Each one explains not just what to do, but why it matters.
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- 01
Prep and Handle the Jackfruit
If you're using fresh jackfruit, rub a little oil on your hands and your knife, then peel it and cut the firm flesh into chunks. If you've got tinned savoury jackfruit, just drain and rinse it.
Fresh young jackfruit leaks a sticky milky sap, almost like glue, the moment you cut into it. Oil your hands, the knife and the cutting board, that's the old kitchen trick that stops it gripping everything it touches and makes the whole job far less of a battle. You only need the firm pale savoury flesh, so trim away any tough core and the stringy bits around it. Tinned green (young) jackfruit skips all of that, which is why it's the easy route.
Tip: Keep a piece of kitchen paper handy to wipe the sticky sap off the knife as you go, and oil your hands again whenever they start to feel tacky.
- 02
Boil Until Tender
Put the jackfruit chunks in a pot, cover with water, add the turmeric and salt, and boil for 20-25 minutes until soft enough to shred easily with a fork. Drain well.
Mallum needs jackfruit that's properly tender, not firm and meaty like you'd leave it for a curry. Boiling with turmeric seasons the flesh, gives it a warm golden colour and takes away any raw grassy edge. It's ready when a fork pushes through with no resistance and the strands start to separate on their own. Drain it thoroughly and let it steam dry for a minute. Any extra water left clinging will make the finished mallum wet instead of fluffy. Tinned jackfruit is already soft, so it only needs a short 5-10 minute boil to warm through and soften fully.
Tip: Don't under-boil. If the jackfruit still feels firm it'll shred into hard stringy bits, not soft meaty strands. Give it more time.
- 03
Shred the Jackfruit
Tip the drained jackfruit onto a board and shred it with a fork, or pulse it briefly into soft even strands.
This shredding is what gives mallum its signature texture: loose, meaty strands rather than chunks. Pressing the boiled flesh with a fork breaks it along its natural grain into thin pieces that catch the coconut and the temper. Keep the strands fairly even so they mix uniformly and every forkful tastes the same. A few quick pulses in a food processor works too, but stop early. You want shredded, not a paste.
Tip: Pull the strands apart while the jackfruit is still warm. It shreds far more easily than once it has cooled and tightened up.
- 04
Temper the Aromatics
Heat the oil over medium-high heat and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the onion, green chilli and curry leaves, and fry for a minute or two until the onion softens.
This quick temper is the flavour base of the dish. The mustard seeds need properly hot oil to pop and turn nutty, the curry leaves crackle and release their aroma, and the onion softens and sweetens. It only takes a minute or two, and it's the step that makes a plain bowl of jackfruit and coconut taste distinctly Sri Lankan. Keep the heat up so the aromatics fry and perfume the oil rather than stewing in it.
Tip: Let the mustard seeds finish popping before you add the onion, and stand back. They like to jump out of the pan.
- 05
Add the Jackfruit and Spices
Stir in the shredded jackfruit, turmeric, chilli flakes, Maldive fish if using, and a little salt. Toss over the heat for 2-3 minutes so everything mingles and any remaining moisture cooks off.
Now the dish comes together as a mallum, a 'mix-up'. Tossing the jackfruit through the tempered aromatics over heat coats every strand in flavour and, just as importantly, drives off any lingering water so the finished dish stays dry. You'll see the strands turn a deeper golden as the turmeric coats them and hear the moisture sizzle away. This is the moment to taste and adjust the salt and heat.
Tip: Keep it moving so nothing catches or browns. You're warming and drying, not frying it crisp.
- 06
Fold in the Coconut
Turn the heat down, add the freshly grated coconut and fold it gently through the jackfruit just until it's warmed and evenly mixed.
Fresh coconut is the heart of any mallum, and it wants a light touch. Folding it in over low heat lets it warm through and soak up the flavours without going oily, dry or toasted. You want loose, separate coconut that clings lightly to the jackfruit strands, not a dense, clumped mass. A minute is plenty. Keep it on the heat too long and the coconut dries out and loses its sweet, fresh character, which is the whole point of the dish.
Tip: Take it off the heat the moment the coconut is warmed through. The mallum should look fluffy and dry, with the coconut still bright, not greasy or browned.
- 07
Finish with Lime and Serve
Take the pan off the heat, squeeze over the lime juice, fold once, taste for salt and lime, and serve.
The lime goes in right at the end, off the heat, so its fresh, tangy lift survives. That squeeze is what turns a pleasant bowl of jackfruit and coconut into a proper mallum, the brightness that balances the sweet coconut and savoury temper and makes it taste alive. Add it gradually and taste as you go, because how much you need depends on the lime and on the rest of your meal. Serve kos mallum warm or at room temperature alongside rice and curry.
Tip: Add the lime little by little and taste. You want it bright and lifted, not sour. You can always add more, but you cannot take it back.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Sweet ripe jackfruit, or the tinned syrup kind, is dessert jackfruit. Mallum wants the savoury young or just-mature fruit.
- Under-boiling the jackfruit. It shreds into hard, stringy bits instead of soft, meaty strands.
- Leaving the boiled jackfruit wet, or adding coconut milk, is how you get a soggy mallum, not a dry, fluffy one.
- Overcooking the coconut dries it out and you lose the fresh, sweet character that defines a mallum.
- Forgetting the lime. Without that final tang, the dish tastes flat.
Serving Ideas
- The fresh, light vegetable on a rice and curry plate, balancing the richer, saucier dishes.
- Alongside red rice, a dhal and a sambol for a wholesome, mostly-plant meal.
- With a coconut gravy jackfruit curry for a 'two ways with jackfruit' spread, one dry, one saucy.
Building a whole plate around it? Start from our vegetarian rice and curry menu, which sets out what to cook alongside it and in what order.
Storage and Make-Ahead
Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated in a sealed container, though it's freshest on the day. Reheat gently in a hot pan rather than the microwave to keep it dry, and refresh with a small squeeze of lime before serving. It doesn't freeze well. The coconut and shredded texture suffer.
Two Ways to Cook It
Use tinned green (young) jackfruit, drained and rinsed, so there is no sap to handle. Boil it briefly to soften, shred with a fork, then toss through a quick temper of mustard seeds, onion, chilli and curry leaves, fold in frozen grated coconut and finish with lime.
Use fresh young jackfruit, handled with oiled hands and boiled until tender. Shred it by hand, temper with fresh curry leaves and a little Maldive fish, fold in freshly scraped coconut, and finish with lime juice for a bright, dry, fragrant kos mallung.
Lighter and Healthier Version
Mallum is already one of the lighter dishes on a Sri Lankan plate. It's a dry, vegetable-forward side cooked in barely any oil, with no coconut-milk gravy. A few small choices keep it that way while preserving its fresh, satisfying character.
Naturally Light and Dry
No coconut milk, no simmered-down sauce. Kos mallum is far lighter than a jackfruit curry. The tablespoon of oil for the temper is all the fat the dish itself adds.
High in Fibre
Young jackfruit is low in fat and high in fibre, and fresh coconut adds more, so a bowl of mallum is genuinely filling and gentle on the calories.
Lighten the Coconut
Fresh coconut is the soul of the dish, but you can use a little less, or use fresh or frozen instead of dry desiccated coconut, to keep it leaner without losing the texture.
Vegan and Gluten-Free
Left without the optional Maldive fish, mallum is entirely plant-based and gluten-free. Just jackfruit, coconut, aromatics, spices and lime.
Frequently Asked Questions
I'll say it plainly. Kos mallum is a dry Sri Lankan side dish. Tender shredded jackfruit gets tossed with freshly grated coconut, onion, green chilli, turmeric, curry leaves and popped mustard seeds, cooked briefly, then finished with lime. There is no gravy. It sits closer to a warm sambol than a curry, light and naturally vegan. You'll also see it written kos mallung.
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