Native to Brazil, brought to India and Sri Lanka by the Portuguese in the 16th century, roasted and dusted with chili and salt cashews are a popular street and party snack food. Cadju, in Sinhala, deriving from its South American name acaju, is also featured unroasted and chopped reasonably fine in the two classic Sri Lankan cakes – the Love Cake and the Christmas Cake – adding to the granular consistency in both. The unroasted nuts are also sometimes ground fine and added to curries or meat or fish as thickeners and to give a slightly almond flavour, and the green nuts fresh from the shell make a popular vegetable curry on their own or added to other vegetables like cauliflower (you can substitute plain unroasted ones if you can’t get the fresh green nuts, but you’ll need to cook them longer).