Stuffed Cuttlefish/ calamari curry - Dello purawala

I remember eating a stuffed calamari curry as a child. My aunt used to stuff the calamari with cooked mung bean, cover the calamari with its own head and secure with a small piece of coconut ekel and simmer the calamari in a thick coconut curry sauce.

When I spoke about this curry many years later when my aunt was living with us in New Zealand, she made the curry once more. That was the last time I had it as my aunt passed away a few months later.

Recently I found some small calamari with heads on at the Sea Mart fish market and I remembered that cherished dish but I had no idea how it was made. I only remembered that my aunt used roasted mung dhall to stuff the calamari.

So I experimented and made a decent curry. Here is the recipe.

 Unfortunately, I don't have photos. Although I photographed the dish in a hurry, I didn't have a memory card in the camera so there are no photos.

Ingredients.

500 gms small or medium cuttle fish, cleaned with heads intact

stuffing:
200 gms roasted mung beans, either halved or crushed roughly (I purchased cleaned and roasted beans which is available in Asian shops)
1 onion, chopped
3 sliced green chillies
a handful of curry leaves
a piece of pandan leaf (rampe)
1 tsp unroasted Sri Lankan curry powder
half a tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
half a cup thick coconut milk
half a cup thin coconut milk
salt to taste (about half a tsp)
2 tbsps. oil

Curry:
1 onion chopped
3 green chillies chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp unroasted SL curry powder
1 tsp chilli powder
 a piece of rampe (Pandan leaf) 4 cms long
a piece of cinnamon 4 cms long
half a cup thin coconut milk
half a cup thick coconut milk
1 tomato, peeled and chopped
salt to taste
curry leaves
2 tbsps. oil

Wash and drain the mung beans. Heat the oil in a small pan and when hot fry the curry leaves. Add the onion and green chillie and saute until soft but not browned. Add the turmeric, pandan leaf, curry powder and chilli powder and fry for a minute or so. Add the drained mung and stir well for another couple of minutes. Add thin coconut milk and cook covered until the milk is absorbed. Then add the salt and thick coconut milk and cook till dry. It should not be overcooked. Cool for 10 mts.

Use this mixture to stuff the cuttle fish. Use the heads as a topper to cover and secure with a toothpick or two so that the mixture doesn't seep out. Keep aside.

Meanwhile make a curry but sautéing the onions, curry leaves, rampe and green chilli in oil. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir. Add the cinnamon, curry powder, turmeric, chilli powder. Then add the thin coconut milk and the tomato and cook until done. Add the thick coconut milk and salt. When simmering and thick, carefully place the stuffed cuttlefish in the curry and cook on a medium heat for about 10  mts. Don't overcook as cuttlefish will be rubbery if overcooked.

I found that the cuttlefish generated quite a bit of liquid but I didn't want to overcook them. So I removed the stuffed cuttlefish into a serving dish and boiled down the curry until it was quite thick and then spooned it over the curry.

Serve with rice and a few other curries. I served it with a green mallun, pol sambal and devilled potato with rice.