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

Born and raised in Canada, Rumanwali Samarakoon-Amunugama made annual visits with her family to Sri Lanka, where her parents had grown up. Arriving in the bustling capital of Colombo, they would begin an ascent into the country’s lush central highlands where her maternal grandmother presided over a busy kitchen with an open hearth.

In Milk, Spice & Curry Leaves, Samarakoon-Amunugama evokes the daily food of the region, where tropical produce is abundant and rice and tea are extensively cultivated. Her recipes are detailed and full of clues for cooks who do not have previous experience cooking Sri Lankan cuisine. In addition, an extensive and helpful introduction to Sri Lankan cooking philosophy explains not only basic ingredients but the ways in which cooks typically compose a meal.

Vegetable dishes are most common, but there are some poultry, meat and seafood recipes as well. Among the offerings are kaha bath, a fancy yellow rice dish flavored with cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon and served on special occasions; annasi maluwa, a pineapple curry enriched with coconut milk; and kalu uru mas, also known as black pork curry, of which there are as many versions as there are families. All very evocative of a distinctive place.

Color photographs throughout. Hardcover.