Skip to content
Open menu Close menu

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

penguin logo

Meera Sodha’s Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry with Green Bean Mallum

Meera Sodha

by Meera Sodha from EAST

Meera Sodha's easy vegan beetroot curry recipe is inspired by the flavours of Sri Lanka. Served with a green bean mallum, this recipe makes for a hearty dinner.

From the book

Meera Sodha

Introduction

The greatest souvenir you can take home from Sri Lanka is a love for ‘rice and curry’. Order this for lunch and you’ll get a smorgasbord of curries: leek, cashew, beetroot, jackfruit, pumpkin and even pineapple. Often, they are heavily spiced with cinnamon, fenugreek, chilli and pepper, then smothered in coconut milk to soften the blow. On the side, you can expect the most fantastic little meal-brighteners, from raw relishes (sambols) made with chilli, lime and coconut, to quickly cooked greens (mallum) and crisp poppadoms. It is one of life’s great feasts. This recipe is an introduction to the tradition.

note / Don’t let beetroot’s oozing pinkness bully you: just rub a piece of cut potato on to pink fingers, and most stains will disappear.

Read more Read less

Ingredients

For the curry:
3 tbsp rapeseed oil
6 fresh curry leaves
1 large red onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
green finger chillies, finely chopped
1½ tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp ground cumin
800g raw beetroot, peeled and cut into 0.5cm slices
1¼ tsp salt
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
1 tbsp lime juice (from 1 lime)
For the green beans:
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
300g green beans, topped, tailed and cut into 1.5cm pieces
1 clove of garlic, crushed
½ green finger chilli, very finely chopped
1 tbsp lime juice (from 1 lime)
¹⁄³ tsp salt
3½ tbsp desiccated coconut

Method

Start with the beetroot curry. On a medium flame, heat the oil in a wide frying pan for which you have a lid, then fry the curry leaves and leave them to crackle and pop for a minute. Stir in the onion, garlic and chillies, cook for around 6 minutes, until the onion turns translucent and soft, then add the tomato puree and cumin, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the beetroot, salt and 6 tablespoons of water, pop on the lid and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally; if the curry looks a bit dry, add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Take off the lid, stir in the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes, until the beetroot is tender and the sauce has reduced. Finally, stir in the lime juice and turn off the heat while you get on with the beans.

In another wide frying pan, heat the oil for the beans on a high flame. Once it’s hot, add the beans, stir to coat in the oil, then leave for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring once, until they blister and char. When the beans have got some blackened bits on them, but are still bright green in colour, stir in the garlic, chilli, lime juice and salt, and cook for a minute. Finally, add the desiccated coconut, stir-fry for a minute, then take off the heat.

Reviews

Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it went by leaving a comment below.

Please note: Moderation is enabled and may delay your comment being posted. There is no need to resubmit your comment. By posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use.

There are no comments yet

Be the first to leave a review

newsletter

Subscribe to The Happy Foodie email newsletter

Get our latest recipes, features, book news and ebook deals straight to your inbox every week

From the book: EAST

Close menu