Sri Lankan potato curry is a mild, creamy dish of potatoes simmered in milk pressed from grated coconut, with turmeric, fenugreek, curry leaves and pandan. In Sinhala it is usually called ala hodi or ala kiri hodi (ala is potato and kiri hodi the coconut milk gravy), and in Tamil homes it is cooked as a potato kuzhambu. It belongs to the family of "white" curries, made with unroasted spices rather than the dark roasted curry powder used for meat and fish.
It is one of the most common breakfast and dinner curries on the island, eaten with string hoppers, hoppers, roti or bread, and it takes its place at lunch as the gentle dish beside a hotter fish or meat curry. As written below it is vegan and gluten-free, and it is ready in about 40 minutes.
How to make Sri Lankan potato curry
- Serves 4
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Cook: 30 minutes
- Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- 500 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 3 cm chunks
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 green chillies, slit lengthways
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 5 cm piece pandan (rampe) leaf
- 2.5 cm piece Ceylon cinnamon stick
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp unroasted Sri Lankan curry powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 250 ml thin coconut milk, or water
- 250 ml thick coconut milk
- 1 tsp lime juice (optional)
Method
- Prepare the potatoes. Peel the potatoes, cut them into even 3 cm chunks and rinse them in cold water so that they cook at the same rate.
- Combine. Put the potatoes in a heavy-based pan with the onion, garlic, green chillies, curry leaves, pandan, cinnamon, fenugreek, turmeric, curry powder and salt. Pour in the thin coconut milk and stir well.
- Simmer. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then cover and simmer on a low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until a knife slides easily into the potatoes. Add a splash of water if the pan starts to dry.
- Add the thick milk. Lower the heat as far as it will go and pour in the thick coconut milk. Stir gently for about 5 minutes as it comes up to a bare simmer. Do not let it boil hard, or the milk may split.
- Finish. Take the pan off the heat and keep stirring gently for a minute as it settles. Stir in the lime juice, if using, and taste for salt.
- Rest. Leave the curry for 5 minutes before serving; the gravy thickens as the potatoes absorb it.
Why add fenugreek and pandan?
Sri Lankan cooks add a pinch of fenugreek seeds to most curries that carry a lot of coconut milk. The seeds soften in the gravy, thicken it slightly and give a faintly bitter note that stops the coconut from tasting flat. A short piece of rampe (pandan) and a sprig of curry leaves add the grassy, savoury fragrance that marks the dish as Sri Lankan. Too much fenugreek turns the curry bitter, so keep to about half a teaspoon.
Which potatoes work best?
Waxy or all-purpose potatoes hold their shape through the simmer and in the thick milk. Floury potatoes will partly break down, which some families like because it makes the gravy thicker. Cut the pieces evenly and stir gently once the thick milk is in.
What do you serve it with?
For breakfast or dinner, serve it with string hoppers or hoppers and a coconut sambol. At lunch it goes with rice, a dhal curry, a spicier curry such as chicken curry and a spoonful of lunu dehi, the salted lime pickle. It is an everyday dish rather than a ceremonial one, unlike the kiribath that opens the New Year, cooked at the auspicious time given in the Sinhala Avurudu Nakath.
Variations
- Tempered. Some cooks first fry mustard seeds, onion and curry leaves in a little coconut oil, then add the potatoes and coconut milk. This gives a nuttier, slightly sharper curry.
- Boiled first. Boil the potatoes in their skins until just tender, peel and cube them, then simmer them in the spiced coconut milk for 10 to 15 minutes. This suits floury potatoes, which would otherwise break up.
- With a souring note. A small piece of goraka or a squeeze of lime at the end balances the richness of the milk.
- With eggs or peas. Halved hard-boiled eggs or a handful of green peas added with the thick milk make it more substantial.
- Milder for children. Leave out the green chillies; the other spices still carry plenty of flavour.
How do you store and reheat it?
Cool the curry, cover it and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. The gravy thickens as it stands, so reheat it gently on a low heat with a splash of water or coconut milk, stirring carefully so the potatoes stay whole. Coconut milk curries with potato do not freeze well, as the potatoes turn grainy.
Related reading
3 pages on closely related subjects.
