Flavoured Soya Meat

Flavoured soya meat is a Sri Lankan kitchen shortcut: dried soya pieces packed with a sachet of seasoning designed to recreate a familiar curry. Flavours follow the island's favourite dishes, from devilled chicken and Jaffna curry to cuttlefish, prawn, polos, the young jackfruit curry, and ambul thiyal, the sour fish curry of the south. The packs are small, light and quick, and sit alongside plain soya chunks in our soya collection.

Most packs follow the same method. Boil the soya pieces for a few minutes, drain and squeeze them, then fry them with sliced onion, green chilli, curry leaves and the seasoning until coated and slightly crisp at the edges. For a devilled finish, add capsicum, tomato sauce and a little chilli paste; for a curry, add thin coconut milk and simmer. It fills a lunch box, a roti or a plate of rice with parippu and pol sambol.

Seasonings differ between flavours, and some are made to taste like meat or fish, so check the ingredients on the pack if you keep a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. Keep unopened packs in a dry cupboard. To complete a Sri Lankan table, look at sambols and Sri Lankan curry mixes.