Recipe: Drizzle O Tama Carey’s Lankan Chilli Crunch on Everything

If you’re as heartbroken as we (along with much of Sydney) are about the closing of Lankan Filling Station, have no fear. O Tama Carey’s second cookbook, Lankan Filling, picks up where the chef’s debut Lanka Food left off, with recipes for many of the Sri Lankan-inspired dishes that put her soulful restaurant on the culinary map.

Yes, there are recipes for dal and hot butter jaffles, prawn vadai and a chocolate and kithul fudge sundae. But this spicy little condiment is a prime example of the restaurant’s playful approach – and why everyone loved it.

“The idea … was dreamed up by a clever chef called Pasi when he was writing a biryani menu for a series we did,” writes Carey. “He said he wanted something like a Chinese chilli crunch to top his biryani. We talked ingredients and flavours, and both decided it sounded delicious. I told him we would make it, but also that we would steal the idea”.

Now, you can steal it to make big batches for gifts and to drizzle on everything – from eggs to roast vegetables, or as a topper for fried rice and noodle dishes.

O Tama Carey’s Lankan chilli crunch

Makes 750g
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

600ml grapeseed oil
5 pappadums
100g garlic, finely sliced on a mandolin
20g picked curry leaves
100g long red chillies, sliced into thin rounds
55g finely chopped ginger
25g chilli flakes
25g chilli powder
10g sweet paprika
20g tamarind concentrate or paste
Salt flakes, to season

Method

Heat oil to 155°C. Fry pappadums one by one, turning until crisp but still pale. Transfer to paper towel.

Ensure oil remains at 155°C. Add garlic and fry, stirring, for 3.5–4 minutes until pale gold. Strain into a heatproof bowl. Spread garlic on paper towel. Return oil to saucepan and reheat.

Carefully lower curry leaves into the hot oil. Fry until oil stops spitting and leaves are bright green and crisp, about 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel.

Fry chillies in the oil for 5–6 minutes until softened and starting to darken. Strain and place with other fried ingredients. Set oil aside briefly.

In a separate heatproof bowl, mix ginger, chilli flakes, chilli powder and paprika.

Reheat oil to 160°C. Slowly ladle hot oil over the ginger mixture, stirring as you go. The mixture will sizzle. Continue until ginger is cooked.

Let cool for 30 minutes. Stir in fried garlic, curry leaves and chillies.

Coarsely crush pappadums with a mortar and pestle. Add to the mix along with tamarind. Stir well to combine. Season with salt to taste.

Store in the fridge. Use wherever you want a spicy kick.

This is an edited extract of Lankan Filling by O Tama Carey, published by Hardie Grant Books. RRP $55.

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