Breadfruit Curry (Sri Lankan Del Curry)

Breadfruit curry or Del curry (දෙල්) is a popular sri Lankan dish which most of the people love to taste. Usually breadfruit curry is served with plain rice. However it is also good with bread or roti types.

Although you can buy breadfruit easily in Sri Lanka, I am not that fortunate. Whenever I visit Sri Lanka, it is not the breadfruit season. Recently I could find breadfruit in Mustafa, Singapore. It is already cut and packed. But, if you visit Tekka wet market in Little India, you can buy this and enjoy the Sri Lankan delicacy!

Breadfruit recipes

There are different breadfruit recipes popular in Sri Lanka including this curry. Other than that people love to eat boiled breadfruit with katta sambola. Deep fried breadfruit coated with sugar caramel is another recipe to try with breadfruit. This is also called as breadfruit chips.

Del mallum or breadfruit cooked with scraped coconut is another popular Sri Lankan recipe to try with breadfruit.

I remember how my grandma preserves breadfruit during the harvesting time. Although I am not sure how she did that exactly, I know she sun dried breadfruit pieces. The final outcome is called as ‘Del atu kos’.During the off season, she used to cook ‘Del atu kos mallum’ and some other dishes using the preserved breadfruit.(Childhood memories)

What is breadfruit?

If you check Wikipedia, you will find a comprehensive detail about breadfruit. Simply, it is a starchy fruit that belongs to jackfruit family. With my experience and knowledge, it is consumed when cooked mature fruits.

Further it is a source full of carbohydrates in case if you want to know breadfruit nutrition and health benefits.

Other names for breadfruit

Breadfruit is available in different parts of the world. Therefore, it has different names. Below are some of the names I found.

In Sri Lanka, breadfruit is called as Del.

In Hawaii it is Ulu fruit.

Kadachakka is how Indians call it.(It is the Malayalam name for breadfruit)

Do you have any other name suggestions depending on your local dialect? Please share as a comment.

How to cook breadfruit?

In Sri Lanka, we always consume breadfruit after cooking. For any breadfruit recipe, you need to know how to cut breadfruit, clean and prepare for cooking.

So, how to cut breadfruit for cooking?

Here are the easy steps.

First, cut the breadfruit into halves.

Then remove the skin part of the breadfruit.

After that it is also necessary to remove the hard parts of the breadfruit which is inside it.

Then you can wash and cube breadfruit for any desired recipe.

Anyway I shared more details about breadfruit or Del before sharing the recipe. Below is how to cook breadfruit curry in Sri Lankan way. Call it as Sri Lankan Del curry!

Sri Lankan Breadfruit Curry Recipe (Del Curry / දෙල් )

Ingredients:

For the curry:

1 medium size Breadfruit (mature and raw breadfruit)

½ medium sized onion sliced

2-3 green chili sliced

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp raw curry powder

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

Piece of cinnamon

1 sprig curry leaves

1inch piece pandan leaf/(rampa) (optional)

Salt to taste

1 cup thick coconut milk

1 cup thin coconut milk

For Seasoning:

2 tbspn cooking oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

2-3 dried red chilis (crushed)

Sliced ½ onion.

Few curry leaves as necessary

Method:

Remove the skin of breadfruit.

Also remove the top hard parts of breadfruit after cutting the breadfruit in to halves.

Wash and cut breadfruit into bite size pieces.

In a cooking pot (a clay pot is better), add cubed bradfruit.

Add sliced green chili, sliced onion, turmeric powder, raw curry powder, fenugreek seeds, cinnamon, curry leaves and pandan leaf. Add salt too.

Add thin coconut milk and cook till breadfruit is well cooked.

When breadfruit is well cooked (boiled), add thick coconut milk to it.

Allow simmering while stirring the curry to avoid any clumps.

Adjust salt as per taste.

Seasoning:

At the same time prepare the seasoning in another pan.

Heat oil in a pan.

When it is hot, add mustard seeds.

When mustard seeds start spluttering, add sliced onion.

When onions are tender, add crushed red chili pieces and curry leaves.

Temper till the aroma emits and onion turns golden brown.

Final step:

Now breadfruit is well cooked and ready to receive the seasoning.

When the seasoning is ready as in above step, add this over the cooked breadfruit curry which was simmering.

Mix the curry well. Adjust for salt if necessary.

Finally,

A delicious breadfruit curry is ready to serve with plain rice.

This is how we cook breadfruit curry in Sri Lanka. If you look for Sri Lankan breadfruit curry (del curry), try this.

Similar recipes:

Manyokka curry

Kiri kos maluwa

As always don’t forget to let me know your experience on this recipe.

Sri Lankan Breadfruit Curry recipe: (Printable)

Below is the printable recipe for your easy use. 🙂

Breadfruit Curry (Sri Lankan Del Curry)

5 from 3 votes

Breadfruit curry or Del curry (දෙල්) is a popular sri Lankan dish which most of the people love to taste. Usually breadfruit curry is served with plain rice. However it is also good with bread or roti types.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Servings: 5 people

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Sri Lankan

Calories: 0.103

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 No Breadfruit mature and raw breadfruit
• 1/2 No medium sized onion sliced
• 3 No green chili sliced
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp raw curry powder
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 inch cinnamon piece
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 inch Rampe/pandan leaves
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup thick coconut milk
• 1 cup thin coconut milk

For Seasoning/tempering

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 3 no dried red chilis crushed
• 1/2 no Onion sliced
• 1 sprig curry leaves

Equipment

• Cooking pans and utencils

Method

 

Preparation

1. Remove the skin of breadfruit.

   Also remove the top hard parts of breadfruit after cutting the breadfruit in to halves.

   Wash and cut breadfruit into bite size pieces.

   In a cooking pot (a clay pot is better), add cubed bradfruit.

   Add sliced green chili, sliced onion, turmeric powder, raw curry powder, fenugreek seeds, cinnamon, curry leaves and pandan leaf. Add salt too.

   Add thin coconut milk and cook till breadfruit is well cooked.

   When breadfruit is well cooked(boiled), add thick coconut milk to it.

   Allow simmering while stirring the curry to avoid any clumps.

   Adjust salt as per taste.

Seasoning/tempering

1. At the same time prepare the seasoning in another pan.

   Heat oil in a pan.

   When it is hot, add mustard seeds.

   When mustard seeds start spluttering, add sliced onion.

   When onions are tender, add crushed red chili pieces and curry leaves.

   Temper till the aroma emits and onion turns golden brown.

Final step:

1. Now breadfruit is well cooked and ready to receive the seasoning.

   When the seasoning is ready as in above step, add this over the cooked breadfruit curry which was simmering.

   Mix the curry well. Adjust for salt if necessary.

   Finally,

   A delicious breadfruit curry is ready to serve with plain rice.

Notes

Use fresh coconut milk for better taste.