Sri Lankan Curry with Beetroot Sambol

Annabel Crabb’s Sri Lankan butternut and cashew curry with beetroot sambol

Annabel Crabb is one of Australia’s best-loved TV and media personalities, this recipe is from her latest book – Special Guest: Recipes for the happily imperfect host – with her preschool friend Wendy Sharpe.

serves 6
1 butternut pumpkin (squash), peeled and cut into wedges
vegetable oil, for roasting and frying
10 curry leaves
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
8 cloves
8 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 tsp ground turmeric
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
20g ginger, finely chopped
1 green chilli, some seeds removed, thinly sliced
1 x 400g tin of coconut milk
Tiny dash of tamarind paste
Squeeze of lime juice – optional
170g unsalted raw cashews
4–5 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Steamed rice, to serve

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Butternut and cashew curry – Annabel Crabb’s take on Sri Lankan street food. Photograph: Murdoch Books

The Curry

1. Lightly coat the pumpkin wedges with oil, sprinkle with salt and roast for about 25 minutes. (This step can be done a day in advance and the pumpkin kept refrigerated.)

2. Heat a glug of oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium heat and add the curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds. When they start popping, add the cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, onions and turmeric. Keep stirring – and turn down the heat if the spices are in danger of burning and becoming bitter.

3. Next add the garlic, ginger and chilli, again keeping it on the move to avoid burning and sticking.

4. Now stir in the coconut milk and tamarind paste and simmer for a couple of minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with lime juice and salt if needed, keeping in mind that Sri Lankan curries typically celebrate the woody flavours of clove and fennel rather than the zing of citrus.

5. Next add the pumpkin and cashews and gently heat through. (Roasting the pumpkin and adding it to the curry at the last minute helps it to hold its shape, rather than dissolving into a puddle of glorious orange.)

Beetroot sambol

30g desiccated coconut
3 small cooked beetroot, cut into matchsticks
1 lime
1 handful of kale, well washed and any tough stalks removed
½ tsp fish sauce – optional

1. About half an hour before you want to serve, make the sambol.
2. Soak the desiccated coconut in water for about 10 minutes, then drain off the excess liquid.
3. Add the beetroot and the finely grated zest of the lime, plus the juice of half the lime, a pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper.
4. Cover the Kale with boiling water and leave for a few minutes until just wilted. Drain, rinse under cold running water, then tear up and add to the beetroot and coconut.
5. Just before serving, stir the fish sauce into the sambol, if using.

When you are ready to eat, scatter the coriander over the curry and serve with the sambol and plenty of steamed rice.

Even easier: Given how many good pre-made curry pastes and spice mixes there are, instead buy yourself a high-end Sri Lankan curry paste, perked up with a few cardamom pods, maybe some extra garlic and ginger – and some curry leaves, if you have a stash in the freezer – then sink your energies into making a really cracking sambol.

Make it vegan: Opt out of the fish sauce in the sambol.