Del Curry

Sri Lankan breadfruit curry: cubes of del simmered in coconut milk with roasted curry powder, curry leaves, rampe, and Ceylon cinnamon until the gravy is thick and the fruit soft but whole

Origin: Colombo & Sri Lanka

From the journey of Breadfruit.

Del is the Sinhala name for breadfruit, and del curry, the fruit cut in cubes and simmered in coconut milk with roasted curry powder, curry leaves, rampe (pandan), and a piece of Ceylon cinnamon, is one of the standard curries of the Sri Lankan rice table. Like the jackfruit, to which it is always compared, breadfruit is cooked in Sri Lanka as a vegetable and not eaten as a fruit, and in season boiled del with pol sambol is a breakfast in its own right. How breadfruit reached Ceylon is not recorded. It is usually credited to the Dutch, who held the island's coasts from the 1650s until 1796 and moved plants between their Asian possessions, and it was certainly established by the late 1770s. The Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg, who served the Dutch East India Company in Ceylon in 1777 and 1778, reported it there, and in 1780 the Royal Society in London heard that breadfruit was being cultivated in botanical gardens in Ceylon and India. The date has a sharp edge. Hugh Boyd, who had gone as British envoy to the King of Kandy in 1782, argued in papers published after his death, in 1800, that breadfruit had grown in Ceylon 'from time out of memory', that Thunberg had proved as much, and that the government seemed not to know it when it sent Bligh to Tahiti for the tree. Elizabeth DeLoughrey, who drew attention to the passage, notes that no attempt was made to draw on these nearer sources.

Ingredients

Breadfruit

  • 1 breadfruit, mature and firm (about 1 kg), peeled, cored, and cut into 3 cm cubes
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp salt

Curry

  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 0.5 tsp black mustard seeds
  • 0.25 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 red onion, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 2 cm ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 green chillies, slit
  • 1 sprig of curry leaves
  • 5 cm piece of rampe (pandan leaf)
  • 5 cm piece of Ceylon cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp roasted Sri Lankan curry powder
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 250 ml thin coconut milk
  • 150 ml thick coconut milk

Method

  1. Boil the breadfruit cubes in water with the turmeric and salt for 6 to 8 minutes, until just tender on the outside but still firm in the centre. Drain.
  2. Heat the coconut oil and fry the mustard and fenugreek seeds until the mustard pops.
  3. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, curry leaves, rampe, and cinnamon and fry until the onion is soft and golden.
  4. Stir in the roasted curry powder and chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds.
  5. Add the breadfruit and the thin coconut milk, season with salt, and simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes, until the breadfruit is tender.
  6. Pour in the thick coconut milk, bring just to the simmer, and take off the heat.
  7. Serve with rice, dhal, and pol sambol.

Notes

Jackfruit (polos) is cooked in much the same way; the atlas has its own curry. A breadfruit that has begun to soften and sweeten is better boiled and eaten with pol sambol than curried.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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