Firm fish cubes coated in a black paste of spices and goraka, dry-cooked until the sauce caramelizes and coats each piece. Tangy, intense, almost without liquid — made to last.

Why this dish? A specialty of the southern Sri Lankan coast, ambul thiyal was the technique of preserving fish before refrigeration, thanks to the acidic goraka (Malabar tamarind) that protects the flesh. On an island encircled by the Indian Ocean that Chandrika Kumaratunga wanted to pacify and unite, this dish tells of coastal resourcefulness and the country's maritime wealth.

You see this fish black as coal? Do not trust its looks — that is how our southern fishermen kept it under the heat, long before iceboxes. The goraka, that dried sour fruit, does all the work: it preserves and it flavors. We cook it dry, almost without water, until the spices stick to the flesh like a second skin — and it improves the next day, I assure you.

How it was made : Traditionally cooked in an earthenware pot ("chatty") that withstands slow dry cooking, ambul thiyal could be kept nearly a week at room temperature thanks to the hydroxycitric acid in goraka, which slows spoilage — a domestic chemistry mastered long before refrigerators.

The contemporary twist : Served cold, flaked on a slice of grilled coconut bread, as a Sri Lankan tapa for aperitifs.

Chandrika Kumaratunga · Charactorium