Healthy: Cucumber Curry Recipe (Sri Lanka)

Cucumber is not something I would think to build a curry around; but I had a cucumber curry at a small Indian buffet in Oregon that I enjoyed. The fresh cucumber taste is a nice change of pace to the usual heavier onion or tomato base for Indian and related curries. There is a range of not well known curries from India and its neighbors that include fruit and other lighter vegetables. These include dried fruit curries and watermelon curries. But today we'll stick to the cucumber curry.

Admittedly, this is not the most visually stunning curry. The ingredients are all white and green and after cooking develops a yellowish color. It's vegetarian and all the vegetables turn soft, giving the curry a lumpy appearance. It reminds me of a tomatillo salsa with it's weird green-yellow color. I know this isn't selling this curry as a good choice but the taste is worth it. Some bright relishes could easily make this look nicer on a plate.

This particular recipe is fairly simple and doesn't require too many difficult-to-source ingredients. I'm sure there are more complicated recipes available for cucumber curry out there. You could also play around with adding other ingredients. I'm sure as I cook this I will explore additions and make those notes to this post. The basis for this recipe comes from this site which includes other Sri Lankan recipes.

Some quick notes about serving and recipe adjustments. Like all curries, this cucumber curry fares well with rice or various flatbreads like naan. This curry is somewhat spicy but easily adjusted. The correct chile pepper for this curry is the Indian green pepper. Here I've substituted a serrano because I can't easily find the Indian green peppers all the time. Some sources suggest substituting Thai chiles but I think serrano is a closer choice. You can add more or less to adjust for desired heat. The pepper adds some flavor, so I wouldn't completely eliminate it, but you can make this dish fairly heat-free if that's your thing. Some optional additions could include diced tomato, cilantro or curry leaves and cumin seeds. There's a lot of room to play.

Cucumber Curry Recipe

Servings: 6

Calories: Unknown

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Equipment:

• Knife and cutting board
• Large saucepan, dutch oven, wok 
• Small skillet or saucepan
• Spice grinder or mortar and pestle
• Food processor or blender (can use mortar and pestle instead)
• Stove top
• Kitchen utensils
• Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

• 3 garden cucumbers or 9 small Indian cucumbers
• 1 cup fresh milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 white onion
• 1 serrano pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/10 tsp dried tumeric
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick 
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp uncooked white rice

Directions:

1. Peel the cucumbers and slice lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick strips. Slice the onion and pepper.
2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the fenugreek seeds and cinnamon stick. Toast the spices, stirring to keep from burning. Remove when the seeds begin popping. Set fenugreek seeds and cinnamon stick aside.
3. Repeat same process with mustard seeds. Keep separate from the other spices. 
4. Grind the fenugreek seeds and cinnamon stick in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
5. Heat saucepan over medium heat. Add the cucumbers, onion, pepper, water, tumeric, fenugreek seeds and cinnamon to the saucepan. Stir occasionally.
6. While this is cooking, mix the mustard seeds, garlic and white rice in a food processor, blender, or mortar and pestle into a paste. If it is too dry, add a tsp of milk and continue mixing. Add more milk if necessary.
7. Once the cucumber is boiling add the milk and salt. Return to boil. Add the paste made in the last step and stir to blend. Again return to boil. Reduce heat to maintain simmer and cook for additional time until the vegetables are all soft. Serve.