Tasha Marikkar served up a tasty black chicken curry with fried leeks and yellow rice on Saturday Kitchen.

The ingredients are: For the curry powder, 1 tbsp white rice, 2 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp whole peppercorns, 4 cloves, 4 green cardamom pods, 6 dried red chillies, 2 tbsp grated coconut and 8 curry leaves.

For the curry: 500g chicken thighs and drumsticks, 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp ground turmeric, 3 garlic cloves, chopped, 2.5cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped, 120ml full-fat coconut milk, 2 tsp tamarind paste, 2 tbsp coconut oil, ½ red onion, chopped, 7.5cm piece pandan leaf, torn into strips, ½ tsp fenugreek seeds, ½ tsp mustard seeds, 1 lemongrass stalk, chopped into 3 pieces, 1 fresh green chilli, chopped, 1 4cm piece cinnamon, 6 curry leaves, ¼ tsp red chilli powder and 240ml light coconut milk.

For the yellow rice: 400g short-grain rice (such as keeri samba or white raw rice), 1½ tsp ground turmeric, 325ml coconut milk, 5 cardamom pods, ground, 10 cloves, 15cm pandan leaf, torn into strips, 6–8 curry leaves and 1 cinnamon stick, broken into 3 large pieces.

For the leeks: 2 tbsp coconut oil or ghee, ½ red onion, chopped, 20g garlic paste, 20g ginger paste, 1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped, 250g leeks, cut into 1cm thick rounds, 1 tsp ground turmeric, ½ tsp mustard seeds, 1½ tsp dried red chilli flakes and ½ tsp salt.

See recipes by Tasha in the book titled: Jayaflava: A Celebration of Food, Flavour and Recipes from Sri Lanka available from Amazon now.