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Curry Up!
episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • cooking • 25m
G
episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • cooking • 25m
G
Chef remembers the first time he ate very well. He was about four years old and his dad fed him with his fingers.
“What I remember from that is his rough fingers, because he was an engineer. The slight smell of diesel, and the ball of [rice with] curry being put into my mouth.”
After spending four years in London with his h mother and Sri Lankan father, the Kuruvita family moved to their ancestral home in Colombo. There, the young Peter spent his formative years in a 300-year-old house, watching his grandmother and aunties cook from a special little bench made just for him.
Now, when he returns to , whether for holidays or , his auntie prepare his favourite childhood dishes, like or .
“Kiri hodi is like the bechamel of Sri Lankan food. When you're on learner plates, learning how to eat curry, that's the one, because it's a mild, delicious sauce. It's got a couple of green chilies sliced to add flavour but not heat. And my nickname was kiri hodi because that's what I always liked to eat,” he says, laughing.
String hoppers, coconut sambol and kiri hodi
Here, he shares his top tips for making the perfect curry.
Start with fresh, high-quality spices
“Walk into your cupboard and throw away all your spices, because I guarantee that I would say more than half the population’s spices are at least a year old. I always joke and say they're probably the same age as your children,” he advises with a chuckle.
He recommends buying small amounts of fresh spices and storing them in a cool, dark place.
The chef hosted My Sri Lanka with Peter Kuruvita on SBS Food
Once you find a trusted spice monger or brand, stick with it to ensure consistency in intensity and flavour. The same applies to salt and chillies. If you're short on time, a high-quality spice blend or curry paste without preservatives can be a good alternative.
Think beyond the usual favourites
Chicken, lamb, and lentil curries are popular in Australia, but Kuruvita urges home cooks to broaden their horizons. "You can curry anything!" he says.
Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of curries, from duck curry to cashew nut curry. For example, in Season 8 of , Kuruvita prepared a .
“It's a rich, red, coconut-based curry, which has a hint of sourness. It's absolutely delicious,” he promises. “Serve it with a roti or you serve it with rice”
You can curry anything!
Fun fact: Kuruvita and Liaw have known each other for 15 years. Did you know that in 2010, while Kuruvita was the executive chef at Flying Fish, he mentored Liaw during the penultimate episode of MasterChef Australia Season 2, where they teamed up to prepare a flavourful .
Amp up the flavour with variety
For Kuruvita, a proper curry meal isn’t just about one dish — it’s about variety.
In Sri Lankan cuisine, "you need a minimum of three curries and maybe a condiment like raita or a little sambol," he says. Adding something like a simple sambol can take the curry experience to the next level.
for instance, is an excellent accompaniment to Sri Lankan curries. “It’s like the Vegemite of Sri Lanka; it goes on everything,” says Kuruvita. “Some people put onions in it, some people fry it, some people put garlic, some people fry curry leaves.”
His other pro tip? He suggests doing all the preps for the curries together, like cutting the onions for each recipe at the same time, to speed up the process.
Ensure your accompaniments are just so
Curry and rice are well-known bedfellows across most cuisines.
And Kuruvita's top tip for ensuring the rice complements the curry perfectly? He only washes his rice once.
“Our rice is so highly polished and clean. We have so many different regulations that there's nothing left on the rice, especially white rice. So, the more you wash it, the more starch you're going to wash out of it, the more flavour you're going to wash out of it,” he says.
For added flavour and nutritional benefits, he loves using brown or red rice, which complement curries beautifully.
With these expert tips and a little creativity, you’re now ready to step up your curry game and bring the vibrant flavours of Sri Lanka – and beyond – to your kitchen.
CURRIES RECIPES BY PETER KURUVITA
Jaffna crab curry
