Black chicken and green rice: Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s recipes for a Sri Lankan summer barbecue

Green coconut rice with a sharp tomato and onion relish is the perfect accompaniment to grilled spiced chicken with a fragrant dressing

In the 1990s, my cousin Sri Anna was a senior Sri Lankan policeman. Surprisingly for us, visiting from England, that meant he got a driver, a gun, a nice pad to live in and a team of sensational cooks to dish up various delicacies from wherever he was stationed. In the south, his favourite was black pork curry, and at my restaurant Rambutan we now make a marinade from similar spices for pineapple, beef and, my preference, chicken, before we grill it over coals. To lift it a little, the bird is finished with a quick fragrant oil of tempered spices and parsley (similar to the peppery island herb we call vallarai). You can eat it with or without the cool, green coconut rice and tomato sambol, which is my attempt to recreate a very tasty lunch I had at one of my favourite Colombo spots, Taste of Asia.