Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka

Shortlisted for the Jane Grigson Trust Award for New Food and Drink Writers

Since Cynthia Shanmugalingam was a young girl, she has worked to piece together a sense of Sri Lanka, her ancestral homeland that she experienced through the wondrous flavors of her immigrant parents’ kitchen in England. In Rambutan, these ingredients, methods, and tastes—combining Javanese, Malay, Indian, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch and British influences—come together to create an irresistible portrait of modern Sri Lankan cuisine.

In more than 80 recipes, Shanmugalingam takes her favorite parts of the island nation’s culinary tradition and adapts them to be accessible and fun for every kitchen: with sticky chicken buriani and spicy stuffed roti, slow-cooked lamb red curry and sambol egg and cheese sandwiches—and with desserts of mango fluff pie and milk toffee and drinks of lemongrass lime soda and boozy tea cocktails, Rambutan is designed to deliver as much edible Sri Lankan joy as possible. Combining luscious recipe photography and stunning candids from the island, this exuberant guide is perfect for home cooks looking to explore the exciting Sri Lankan tradition in Southeast Asian cuisine.

About the Author

Cynthia Shanmugalingam is a British-Sri Lankan cook who grew up in Coventry in the UK, visiting Sri Linka every childhood holiday. She has run pop-ups and street food stalls since 2014 and is the founder of a social enterprise street food truck, Kitchenette Karts, which helps ex-offenders get a start in the food industry. In 2019 she started doing Sri Lankan Rambutan pop-ups, which she plans to develop into a restaurant. She has been featured on BBC news and WePresent alongside a spectrum of print media. Instagram: @Cynthia.Uma / @Rambutan_Ldn