Fish

In Sri Lanka, fish is as much a pantry food as a fresh one. Tinned mackerel, known simply as tin fish, is the base of weeknight curries, fish buns and fish cutlets. Dried and salted fish, karawala in Sinhala and karuvadu in Tamil, is fried crisp and eaten with rice or cooked into a spicy curry. Maldive fish, cured and sun-dried skipjack tuna, is shaved into flakes and used like a seasoning in sambols and curries across the island.

The category has three shelves. Tinned fish covers jack mackerel in brine, tomato sauce and spicy sauce, tuna, and ready-to-eat Sri Lankan styles such as ambulthiyal, the sour tuna curry made with goraka, and tempered sprats. Dried fish and prawns includes fried seer, sailfish, queen fish, herring and sprats, spicy fried katta and dried prawns. Maldive fish is sold as chips, ready to pound or add to the pan.

Choose tinned mackerel in brine if you are making your own curry or cutlets, and sauced versions for a quick sandwich or a fish bun filling. Fried dried fish is ready to eat, while dried prawns benefit from a short soak in warm water before cooking.

Dried fish has a strong smell, so keep it in a tightly sealed jar, away from tea, rice and flour. This shelf belongs to tins and ready meals. For Sri Lankan cooking, pair it with goraka, seeni sambol and fish masala.