When I was told that Sri Lankan deviled shrimp—one of the recipes I’d come to this island nation to learn—is a relative of Chinese sweet-and-sour pork, I feared my trip might be for naught. I knew from travel in Hong Kong that when not executed well, even in Asia sweet-and-sour pork tastes no better than the enamel-eroding fluorescent take-out we get at home.

And my first taste of a deviled dish—Sri Lankans devil all manner of foods, including chicken, peppers and potatoes—proved my point. I’d been assured that the cook at a certain beach resort prepared an amazing deviled chicken. So I hiked a hot beach to see it made. When he grabbed a Costco-sized jug of ketchup, my fears felt confirmed.

In fact, Sri Lankan deviled shrimp (and chicken and potatoes and so on) truly is derived from a distant Chinese dish. But as I’d soon learn, there are many ways to prepare it, some hewing closer to the origin story than others.

And yes, “beach resort” should have been a clue. Sometimes you have to trust the reporting process even if it doesn’t pay.
Luckily, mother-daughter home cooks K.S. Luxmi and Shasikala Samuel were happy to show me a better, ketchup-free way of preparing the dish. And the difference was wondrous.

They started by tossing shelled shrimp with turmeric and salt, then letting them marinate a bit. Meanwhile, Luxmi prepared the sauce in a skillet. In fact, everything was prepared in that one skillet. Red onions, green chilies, a few tomatoes, all of it cooked in coconut oil until breaking down and saucy.

I could smell the heat of the chilies, but she wasn’t done. Grated fresh ginger and garlic added punchy, peppery notes. Soy sauce and sugar added the sweet-and-savory that likely got it compared to sweet-and-sour. Then shrimp and a full ¼ cup of chili flakes. Truly living up to the deviled name (though the chili flakes in Sri Lanka pack less punch than our own).

The result was so simple and so delicious­­—and so much better than the batch I’d had on the beach. The flavors were robust and spicy, but not incendiary. And the tomatoes and sugar added sweet tanginess to balance it.

All of which is to say that sometimes a trek through the sand is worth it to end up where you belong.

JM Hirsch

J.M. Hirsch is a James Beard Award-winning food and travel writer and editorial director of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street. He is the former national food editor for The Associated Press and has written six books, including “Freezer Door Cocktails: 75 Cocktails That Are Ready When You Are.”