Rice and curry recipe

Not one dish but a plate: rice in the middle with a dark roasted-spice chicken curry, a creamy dhal and a raw chilli-coconut sambol set around it.

1 hour and 30 minutesmedium12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 400 g samba rice
• 3 tbsp roasted curry powder
• 700 g chicken
• 200 g red lentils
• 100 g grated coconut
• 600 ml coconut milk
• 1 bunch curry leaves
• 1 pandan leaf
• 2 onions
• 6 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 lime

How to make Rice and curry

1. Rinse 400 g of samba or red kekulu rice and boil it in salted water until just tender. Basmati is Indian and gives the wrong loose grain for this plate.
2. For the chicken curry, rub 700 g of chicken with 2 tbsp of roasted (dark) Sri Lankan curry powder, 2 tbsp of chili powder, salt, 1 chopped onion and 3 crushed garlic cloves, and leave 30 minutes.
3. Cook the chicken in a covered pot with a sprig of curry leaves and a piece of pandan for 10 minutes in its own juices, then add 600 ml of coconut milk and simmer 25 minutes uncovered until the sauce darkens and clings.
4. For the dhal, wash 200 g of red lentils and boil them with a piece of pandan, a few curry leaves and 1 tsp of roasted curry powder in 300 ml of water until they collapse.
5. Make the tempering: fry 1 sliced onion, 3 sliced garlic cloves and a sprig of curry leaves in oil until brown, then pour the whole panful into the dhal with 600 ml of coconut milk and simmer 5 minutes.
6. For the pol sambol, pound 100 g of grated coconut with 2 tbsp of chili powder, salt and the juice of half a lime until the coconut turns red and damp. It stays raw.
7. Taste each pot on its own: the curry dark and hot, the dhal mild and creamy, the sambol sharp and salty.
8. Serve the rice in the centre of the plate with the chicken curry, the dhal and the pol sambol in separate heaps around it, never stirred together in the pot.

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