Polos is one of my favourite vegetable curries. In Sri Lanka, the cooking of this dish is kind of a sacred art. The best jackfruit trees are well known and highly prized. When they yield their fruit it’s picked and prepared with a prodigious amount of care. It’s cooked low and slow over a wood fire in a clay pot that imparts an earthiness while the fire lends a beautiful smokiness. The curry is usually left for up to a week for the flavours to develop. We don’t have such luxuries here. My jackfruit comes out of a tin. But, it’s a little slice of paradise preserved in salt and vinegar. This recipe is for tinned jackfruit as it’s the only kind of jackfruit I’ve cooked!

This curry freezes beautifully so I’d suggest doubling or tripling the recipe and placing a few servings in the freezer.

Ingredients

• 1 can tinned jackfruit
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. roasted curry powder
• 1 tsp. chilli powder
• 1 tsp. paprika
• handful of curry leaves
• 1 tsp maldive fish flakes
• 1/2 tomato chopped
• 1 green chilli chopped
• 1/2 small red onion chopped
• 1 garlic clove sliced
• 2-3 cloves
• 1/2 stick of cinnamon
• 1 pandan leaf (rampe)
• 1tsp goraka paste (can substitute with tamirind if you don’t have)
• 100ml coconut milk

Preparation

Drain the tin of jackfruit and cut the pieces into uniform sizes. You want them all to cook at the same time.

Place the jackfruit into a pot ( I use my beautiful lankan claypots) and add the tumeric, chilli powder, roasted curry powder, paprika, curry leaves, maldive fish, tomato, green chilli, onion, garlic, cloves, cinnamon and pandan leaf. Mix it all together and add just enough water to cover.

Now place on the stove and simmer until most of the water has evaporated (about 20 minutes).

Note: At this point, you can freeze this curry and add the coconut milk later, once defrosted.

Once most of the water has disappeared add the coconut milk and goraka paste. Mine has heaps of salt added so I don’t add salt, add salt if your goraka isn’t salted. If you can’t find goraka, use tamarind paste instead.

Bring the curry back to boil and simmer for a few minutes until the gravy has thickened slightly.

Serve hot with rice or eat it with Pol Roti, like we did.