The Indian subcontinent · Volume 25, The Roasted Spice, the Palmyrah Coast and the Coral Atoll
Polos curry (young jackfruit)
Sinhala, wet zone
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 40 minutes
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Sinhala, wet zone. Young, unripe jackfruit cooked down until it takes on a texture and flavour deliberately reminiscent of meat, the standard vegetarian dish for Buddhist fasting days.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 40 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 kg young green jackfruit, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 tbsp roasted curry powder
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 1 onion, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- A sprig curry leaves
- 1 pandan leaf
- 1 tsp turmeric
- To taste salt
Method
- Boil the jackfruit chunks in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes, until just tender, then drain.
- Fry the onion, garlic and curry leaves in a little oil until softened.
- Stir in the curry powder and turmeric, cook briefly, then add the jackfruit, coconut milk and pandan leaf.
- Simmer uncovered for around 20 minutes, until the jackfruit has taken on the sauce and started to break down at the edges into shreds, and the sauce has thickened.
What a modern chef changes
A texture pushed further toward its meat-like model, by pulling rather than chopping.
Rung 1
Method
- Once the jackfruit is boiled tender, pull it apart into rough shreds by hand rather than leaving it in chunks, closer to the pulled texture the dish is imitating.
- Roast the curry powder fresh that morning, per Rung 1, since this simple dish has nowhere for a stale spice mix to hide.
- Finish with a spoon of coconut oil stirred through at the very end off the heat, for a glossier, richer final sheen.