Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka

Recipe adapted from Rambutan by Cynthia Shanmugalingam (£26, Bloomsbury), Photographs © Alex Lau, 2022.

have always wanted to visit Sri Lanka. Friends have raved about the friendliness of its people, the beauty of the countryside, the majesty of its ancient monuments and, most of all, its cuisine – fiery curries heady with the perfume of curry leaves. I was so enamoured I. Born in Coventry, Cynthia is the youngest child of Sri Lankan immigrant parents who fled the 1980s civil war before moving back to their homeland. And, it was during her visits to the country that Cynthia created her own food experiences and developed the recipes handed down by her grandmother, which now grace (named after the hairy fruit). Sri Lankan cuisine combines the Javanese, Malay, Indian, Arab, Portuguese, African, Dutch and British influences that came into the island with Tamil, Sinhalese and indigenous cooking, using ingredients native to the island (like cinnamon, curry leaves and cassava). It’s the fresh, fragrant curry leaves especially that make Sri Lankan dishes so distinctive. Buy them at specialist shops or online, strip the leaves from the branches and freeze them. They last for ages and can be added straight to the pan. I’ve made several dishes from , including burnt hispi cabbage (below), hoppers, sambols and curries – everything from roast aubergine to succulent pork. I hope that I can one day take my family to enjoy Sri Lankan cuisine in its natural setting.