Mustard potatoes

Use your favourite potatoes, sweet potatoes or yams for this dish.

3–4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 3 cm (1½ in) pieces

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fenugreek

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 green chilli, chopped

1 cup chopped or canned tomatoes

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

½ cup coconut milk

Tempering spices

2 tablespoons oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 onion, chopped

1 dried red chilli

10 cm (4 in) piece of rampe (pandanus leaf)

1 small cinnamon stick

5–10 curry leaves (or 1 bay leaf)

Put potatoes, water, salt, fenugreek, garlic, green chilli, tomatoes, turmeric, coriander and cumin in a deep pan and bring to boil over medium heat. Cook until potatoes are firm but soft – about 15 minutes.

In another large pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds. Cook until they pop up – about 30 seconds. Then add other tempering ingredients and heat through until golden brown. Add potato mixture to pan. Stir thoroughly and cook for a further minute until hot right through.

Add coconut milk and bring to boil. Remove from heat and serve with bread, Roti, and rice or Stringhoppers.

Serves 4.

Salted chillies

These chillies add a lot of flavour to vegetarian dishes. Most Sri Lankan kitchens have a jar of salted chillies always at hand, ready to be broken and stirred into curries.

10–15 dried red chillies

500 ml (17 fl oz) water

¼ cup salt

Dissolve the salt in the water and then soak the chillies, for as little as an hour or up to a few days.