How to Cook a Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry (the Short Version)
Take a pan and add the ingredients into it: The chopped onions, chopped garlic cloves, thinly sliced green chilies, chopped beetroot cubes, some water, spices (turmeric and red chili powder), and cook with a closed lid on low heat (a low flame – less than half on a gas stove). When beets are tender (poke it with a fork!), then add coconut milk, salt & sugar and cook on a medium flame for a few (5-10) more minutes. See my recipe, and step by step instructions below to make an easy home-cooked beetroot curry.
5 Reasons to Try to this Easy Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry
1) Beets have immense health benefits!
2) Beets have low calories
3) Beets are delicious
4) Beets are cheap
5) And, guess who else likes beets?
Hint: BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!
Fun Facts About Beets!
- Beets are a SUPERFOOD. They have heart health benefits, are high in Vitamin C and have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties! Beets also have have lots of fiber and potassium.
- Beets get their color from a plant pigment named “betalains”
- Beet greens are packed with nutrients, and should always be used either be used in the beet curry, stir fried or added to a salad.
What Ingredients do you need to cook this delicious Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry Recipe?
To cook this easy Sri Lankan beetroot curry, you need the following ingredients (including curry spices)
- Beetroot – The Main Ingredient! Stop if you do not have beets! Try these other vegan curry recipe ideas with coconut milk 🙂
- Onions
- Garlic cloves
- Green Chillies
- Coconut milk
- Curry leaves (optional)
- Turmeric
- Red Chilli powder
- Salt & Sugar
How to Prepare Beetroot to make a Beetroot Curry
To prepare raw beetroot for cooking, wash and peel the beets. Then cut into bite-sized pieces. The smaller the beetroot cubes, the less time it takes to cook. If you also have beetroot greens (like the image below), then cut the top part off. To minimize food waste, you can chop the leaves and add into the beetroot curry while cooking. This will help to minimize food waste and increase the nutritional value of this Sri Lankan beetroot curry.
Tips and Tricks to Cook this Perfect Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry
- Raw beetroot takes a long time to cook. To reduce the cooking time, chop the beetroot into smaller pieces.
- I use coconut cream in this recipe, but you can use either coconut cream or coconut milk. Coconut cream can be used without diluting to get a thicker curry, or cooked with some water according to your preference. Coconut milk is usually diluted, so never add water to the curry if you use coconut milk
- The specialty of this beet curry is the balance of the beetroot flavors with the salt and sugar. Make sure you add equal amounts of each (and not too much!)
- Curry leaves are optional, and not used in this beet recipe. My curry leaf plant has very few leaves, so I am saving them for curries that absolutely need the curry leaf flavor (like my mild dhal curry).
- This is a healthy, no oil beetroot curry recipe. BUT, if you don’t mind a bit of oil, please sautee the chopped onions, garlic, green chilies and curry leaves in some oil (preferably coconut oil, but any healthy oil will work) before adding the chopped beetroot cubes and coconut milk. This will add lots of flavor to this beet curry and any sri lankan curry that you make.
- To make a dry beetroot curry (with less liquid), halve the amount of coconut cream and water listed in this recipe. If you still have too much liquid, cook with an open lid on medium-high heat for 10-20 minutes until the water evaporates.
Side dishes to Serve with this Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry Recipe
In Sri Lankan cuisine, beetroot curry is generally served on a bed of hot white or red rice. Since this beetroot curry is sweet, it pairs well with any spicy dish (even Chinese spicy, fried chicken). Other Sri Lankan side dishes you can serve with a beetroot curry are:
- DHAL CURRY – The most delicious vegan side dish to serve with ANY curry, rice, naan, or bread. You can either make a mild dhal (red lentil) curry or a spicy, creamy dhal curry with lots of coconut milk
- MALLUM/SAMBOLA – Any side dishes cooked with using shredded coconut will pair well with this vegan curry. Try these cabbage leaf mallum, gotu kola mallum or pol sambola dishes. These side dishes are also vegan and will pair well to create a healthy, delicious meal.
- MEAT/FISH CURRY – Sri Lankan beetroot curry is also served with meat dishes such as dry chicken curry, or a spicy tuna fish curry.
- TUNA FISH CUTLETS – Tuna fish cutlets are made by mixing canned tuna with mashed potatoes, rounding into ball shapes and deep frying until golden brown. This is my sri lankan tuna fish cutlets recipe.
Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Beets large
- 2 Garlic cloves chopped
- 1 Green chillie chopped
- 1/2 Red onion chopped
- 2 cups Water
- 1/2 cup Coconut cream Savoy
Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Chillie powder
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Sugar
Instructions
- Add sliced beets, onion, garlic, chillie, water, and all seasoning (except sugar) into a pan
- Cover pan and cook on low heat for 20 mins. Beets will become a lighter color and should be fully cooked now
- Add the coconut cream, sugar and mix well
- Cook on medium heat for 10 mins
Notes
- Cooking the beets in water first helps to shorten the cooking time
- If you do not have coconut cream, add one cup of coconut milk instead, and cook for 15-20 mins in Step 4
Steps to making this Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry (with pictures)
Ingredients needed to make a beetroot curry. Here we have two peeled beets, about half a red onion, two garlic cloves and one thai chili. Feel free to use any kind of chili here such a jalapenos (very mild) to serrano peppers (hotter)
Chop all the ingredients into fine pieces. Ideally, beets will be sliced much thinner in a sri lankan curry, but this is my easy-lazy way.
Heat a pan (NO OIL) and all the chopped ingredients, water and seasonings (except sugar) into the pan. Side note: To make this dish with oil, heat pan, add 1tsp of coconut oil, add the onions, garlic, chili first and then add beets. Then continue to follow the rest of steps to finishing the curry.
Cover pan and cook on low heat for about 20-30 minutes until the beets chang color / become translucent like below. This shows that beets are fully cooked now.
Once beets are cooked, add the coconut cream and sugar into the pan. If you do not have coconut cream, substitute with one cup of coconut milk.
While keeping lid open, cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes until the curry thickens a bit. Beet curry is ready to eat now!
