Coconut Milk

Gina: Multilayered coconut cakes are the prom queens of Southern desserts—and we love them—but, like prom queens, those cakes take time to prepare. This buttery Bundt cake, made with coconut milk, coconut flakes, and fresh chopped pineapple swirled right into the batter, is easier to make and just as satisfying. A pineapple glaze adds a tart punch to the mix.

This dish is so good that if you ever share it with friends they’ll each be calling you the next week for home delivery. Ask for a generous tip.

This is such a soothing rice dish—slightly sweet and salty, with just a hint of black pepper. (Do not eat the peppercorns. Push them to the side of your plate. They are just for flavoring.) As the dish is South Indian, I have made it with jasmine rice, which is closer in texture to the shorter-grained rices commonly found in that region. I love to serve this with northern lamb and chicken curries, thus breaking tradition and combining north and south in an exciting new way.

Even though this is called a white curry, it is slightly yellowish in color from the small amount of turmeric in it. In Sri Lanka, it is made with ridge gourd, which looks like a ridged, long, slightly curving cucumber, pointy at the ends. It is sold in Indian, Southeast Asian, and Chinese markets. If you can find it, peel it with a peeler, concentrating mostly on the high ridges, and then cut it crosswise into 3/4-inch segments. It cooks in about 3 minutes. I have used zucchini instead because it is just as good and we can all get it easily. Serve with rice and perhaps Stir-Fried Chettinad Chicken.

A southern potato curry from the Chennai region. In Chennai, this would be served with rice, and in the north, with a flatbread. Dal and vegetables should be added to the meal.

This is a pot roast. It is a specialty of Sri Lanka’s Burgher community, which owes its origins to a happy mixture of European colonialists, mostly Dutch but some Portuguese and English as well, with the local population. Burgher cuisine is a glorious by-product of this union. Here, a simple pot roast has been made wonderfully Sri Lankan with the addition of roasted coriander, cumin, and fennel seeds—the main ingredients in Sri Lankan curry powders—and, of course, coconut milk. Some people add a little simple lime pickle, or tamarind water or vinegar, to give it a tart edge. I have used red wine vinegar. A few simple steps are required here: The spices need to be roasted and ground. Then, after the meat is browned, everything goes into a pot and is braised slowly in the oven. The meat is sliced, and some of its own sauce is ladled over the top. It may then be served with rice, noodles (Sri Lanka has exquisite rice noodles, so Thin Rice Noodles would work), or mashed potatoes, if you prefer.

Pronounced “eshtew” by the locals, this aromatic, soul-satisfying stew is a much-loved dish, often eaten by the Syrian Christians of the southwestern state of Kerala at Easter. It has all the spices that grow in the backyards of Kerala homes—cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and peppercorns. It also has the Kerala staple, coconut milk. While it is generally served with the rice pancakes known as appams (“appam and stew” being somewhat akin to “meatloaf and mashed potatoes” or “rice and beans” or “ham and eggs”), plain jasmine rice is just as good.

Here is a most delicious curry from western India that may also be made with chicken. It requires a lot of cilantro. Buy a big bunch, or two if they are skimpy, aiming at about 6 1/2–7 ounces. Once you have trimmed the cilantro by cutting off the lower, non-leafy stems, and washed and chopped it, you should end up with about 3 1/2 ounces or about 2 packed cups. The recipe may easily be doubled. This curry may be eaten with a rice dish or Indian flatbreads. Mushroom and Pea Curry could be served on the side.

Here is a creamy, coconut-enriched chicken curry that takes me back to the balmy southwest breezes of Kerala’s palm-lined coast. Serve with Plain Jasmine Rice and a green vegetable.

Here is a dish much beloved by my husband and children. Medium-sized clams may be substituted for the mussels. You may serve this as a first course, as the main course, or as a light lunch with a salad. Indians eat this curry with rice, but you may serve the mussels by themselves in individual bowls.

Goa, on India’s west coast, is tropical, by the sea, and a haven for tourists from Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom, and, indeed, the entire affluent world, which cannot get enough of its easy ways, its sun and sand. Some of the best food in Goa is not in its expensive resorts but in thatched shacks right on the sea. The fish is always fresh, and usually nothing can beat the fiery shrimp (called prawns here) curry, served with a mound of short-grained local rice. Serve with Plain Jasmine Rice and a green or salad of your choice.

Some version of this fish curry is eaten all along India’s long coastline. I like to make it with fillets (with skin) of Spanish mackerel, but any mackerel or kingfish, indeed, any fish that does not flake too easily, will do. This cooks quickly and easily. This dish is perfect with rice. Add a green vegetable and a salad as well.

In Sri Lanka, an island nation, fish is a staple. It is used in salads, as stuffing for savory pastries, as a flavoring in relishes, as a snack food with drinks, and, of course, in hundreds of curries. This particular curry was served to me for breakfast on a sunny patio at Castlereigh, a tea planter’s home turned boutique hotel, along with fresh rice noodles and good, hot tea. On that cool morning in the mountains nothing could have tasted finer. Almost any fish may be used here, as long as it is firm and holds its shape—swordfish, salmon, pompano, sole, haddock, kingfish, and mackerel. I have used swordfish. Serve with Plain Jasmine Rice and Gujarati-Style Okra.