Fried sweet plantain curry

Ingredients

• 2 ripe, almost completely black plantains, peeled and sliced
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced lengthways
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
• 10 fresh curry leaves
• 2 green chillies, slit lengthways
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
• 100ml coconut milk
• ½ tsp Sri Lankan curry powder
• ½ tsp ground turmeric

Method

Start off by shallow-frying the plantain. Get ready by setting aside a large baking sheet with a wire rack on top to place the fried slices when they’re done. Heat 1 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat.

When hot, lower in the plantain slices and fry until golden brown, then flip them over and fry on the other side. This should take around 30 seconds on each side. Allow them to dry on the rack so they stay nice and crispy.

To make the curry, fry the onion in the same pan you cooked the plantain using the remaining oil, over a medium-high heat. When it starts to brown, add the garlic, and about 30 seconds later add the curry leaves, chillies, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, salt and the lemongrass. Stir-fry for about 1 min until fragrant, then add the coconut milk, curry powder and turmeric. Cook over a high heat for 3-5 mins so that the coconut milk has had time to thicken slightly.

To plate up, mix two-thirds of the fried plantain into the curry, and dish out the whole curry into a bowl. Finish by arranging the remaining fried plantains on top so they remain crispy.

Image: Alex Lau

Recipe from Rambutan by Cynthia Shanmugalingam (Bloomsbury)