Sri Lankan Jackfruit Curry (Polos Curry)

This Sri Lankan Jackfruit Curry is packed with so much flavor, you won’t even realize it’s meatless! This curry is perfect for vegetarians, vegans, and gluten free diets, or anyone who loves a kick ass curry for that matter!

Jackfruit is a unique fruit because of its meaty texture. In recent years it’s become VERY popular in western diets not only because of its nutritional content, but also because it’s an incredible faux meat substitute for dishes like BBQ pulled pork.

In Sri Lanka (and many other Asian countries), jackfruit is a big part of the diet. The fruit is known for its amazing versatility. It’s edible at every stage of its life, and there are different sinhalese names for each stage of the fruit.

The whole fruit is called “kos” (කොස්).

Unripe jackfruit (young jackfruit or green jackfruit) is treated as a vegetable. This is called “polos” (පොලොස්).

Ripe, sweet jackfruit is delicious and eaten raw as a fruit. This is called “varaka” (වරකා).

Ingredients needed

Young jackfruit – You can use canned or fresh young jackfruit for this curry recipe. These have very small seeds (or none at all), and very little fruit. It’s mostly the petals. Here I’m using my favorite brand of canned jackfruit.

Coconut milk – A good brand of full fat coconut milk. It’s what makes this curry creamy. You can go with light coconut milk or powdered coconut milk too, but I prefer regular coconut milk.

Sri Lankan curry powder – I use my own curry powder recipe for this. You can use store-bought Sri Lankan curry powder, or Madras curry powder for a fairly similar option. Honestly I’ve NEVER bought curry powder though, because to be perfectly frank, my homemade curry powder blows any store-bought curry powder out of the water. The homemade version simply tastes heaps better. My curry powder recipe is also quite flexible, so go ahead and check it out and make some for yourself too. Do avoid using garam masala for this recipe.

Tamarind – This is an essential ingredient that adds a lovely fruity sourness to the curry. You can use fresh of course, but you can also buy tamarind paste and/or concentrate from most Asian stores too. So, I have provided amounts for both the paste and the concentrate in the recipe.

Spices

Curry leaves – Curry leaves add a special flavor. You don’t have to add fresh leaves. You can use dried leaves instead. If you can’t find either, just leave them out, or use a bay leaf instead. Do NOT use BASIL, LIME ZEST OR LEMON BALM in their place. These add a different flavor altogether and taste weird not just in this jack fruit curry, but any curry.