Cashew nut curry

Name: Cashew nut curry
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Sri Lanka
Ingredients: 300 ml (10½ fl oz) coconut milk; 3 small green chillies, finely chopped; 1 sprig fresh curry leaves, leaves picked; 250 g (9 oz) raw cashew nuts; 1 teaspoon chilli powder; 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, dry roasted and ground; 1 tablespoon Maldive fish flakes, ground; 2 cm (¾ in) piece cinnamon stick; 3 cm (1¼ in) piece pandanus leaf; a pinch of roasted curry powder; ½ teaspoon dill seeds; 50 g (1¾ oz) ghee; 2 onions, finely chopped; ½ teaspoon ground turmeric

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Serendip

By Peter Kuruvita

Published 2009

About

The cashew nut is amazing. It comes from one of very few plants where the seed grows outside the fruit. When ripe the cashew apple is an exotic-flavoured delicate little bell. Connected to the bottom of this red or yellow bell is the cashew nut, wrapped in a skin and protected by caustic oil that can burn your fingers.

The cleaning process is time-consuming and potentially painful because of the caustic oil. Luckily, we can buy raw cashews and save our fingers.