Milk, Spice and Curry Leaves: Hill Country Recipes from the Heart of Sri Lanka

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Ruwanmali Samarakoon-Amunugama's childhood memories of visits to her parents' homeland in Sri Lanka were filled with colourful trips to the market, lively, happy meals with her extended family, and long, scenic car rides from the capital of Colombo, past tea estates and farmers' stalls, into the hill country around Kandy. In Milk, Spice and Curry Leaves, Ruwan shares the rustic, tropical flavours of these Sri Lankan visits-sweet pineapple and mango, bitter gourd, toothsome cashews, spicy chili pepper, tart lime, and many more-in recipes designed with home cooks in mind. She introduces the three pillars of Sri Lankan cuisine- coconut milk, rice, and spice, and walks readers through the steps to make the two foundational Sri Lankan curry powders (roasted and unroasted). She also goes into detail on specialty products-like goraka, pandanus leaves, tamarind, and young jackfruit-always with attention to using easily available ingredients. With lush food photography and styling, hand-drawn illustrations, heirloom photos and ephemera, Milk, Spice and Curry Leaves is an invitation to a way of cooking and a family of traditions from the country known as "the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

Author Bio

While growing up, Ruwanmali learned about her grandmother's way of cooking, which was typical to her hometown of Kandy, Sri Lanka, from her mother, who exposed her to many ingredients and techniques. Her passion for cooking is inspired by her family's history in farming and gardening. Ruwan's maternal grandfather and uncles worked as agricultural and botanical curators on estates and parks in Sri Lanka's highlands (in Kandy and Nuwara Eliya) and her paternal grandfather owned many fruit, rice, and coconut estates throughout Kandy. Her knowledge of South Asian foods and ingredients has been enhanced by her travels to various parts of Asia and numerous trips to Sri Lanka. She shares her love of her heritage, food, and travel with her husband and daughter. 'As a child, I observed her cooking from a distance, but, as the years passed, I found myself increasingly by her side, absorbing everything I could. I dedicated a notebook solely to scribbling down recipes that had been passed down from my grandmother. Watching my mother use traditional techniques, I learned the secrets to a recipe's success; among them, how to use key ingredients-including pandan and curry leaves, cinnamon bark, turmeric root and coconut-in ways that make our food distinct.'