Name: Balaya Fish Curry
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Sri Lankan
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon Manike’s thuna paha (or store-bought roasted curry powder); 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) coconut milk*; 185 ml (6 fl oz/¾ cup) coconut cream*; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) tuna steaks; 80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ cup) boiled water; 4 pieces of goroka*; 1 sprig curry leaves, leaves picked; 1 thin green chilli*, halved lengthways; 1 red onion*, sliced; 8 cm (3¼ inch) piece rampe (pandanus) leaf*, cut in half; 1 teaspoon unroasted chilli powder*

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka

By Bree Hutchins

Published 2013

About

Watching a tough-looking inmate in a torn, dirty singlet hack at a huge balaya fish (skipjack tuna) with a machete wasn’t exactly appetising, but this is a delicious recipe and I’m glad I tried it. It has a slight tanginess from the goroka, a sour dried fruit, and a decent kick from the chilli.

Ingredients

4 pieces of goroka*
80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ c

Asia
Sri Lanka
Monaragala
Batticaloa
Fish course
Lunch
Pescatarian
Gluten-free
Spicy

Method

Soak the goroka in the boiled water for 30 minutes, then strain, reserving the soaking water. Remove the seeds from the goroka and discard them, then roughly chop. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the goroka into a paste, gradually adding a little of the reserved water. Wash the fish and cut into 3 cm (11/4

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