Lakpura® Kohila Ala is the rhizome of kohila (කොහිල), Lasia spinosa, a spiny, evergreen plant of the arum family that grows in wet ground along river banks, swamps and ditches. In Sri Lanka both its tender leaves and its rhizome are eaten, and ala, the rhizome, is a much-loved vegetable for curries and tempered dishes.
The rhizome grows as a creeping, spine-covered stem. It is cleaned and the spiny skin pared away before it reaches you, leaving firm, pale lengths with brown and faintly green patches on the surface, as in the photographs. Cut open, the flesh is dense, fibrous and cream-coloured.
Kohila has a neutral, earthy taste and a fibrous bite, and it takes on the flavour of whatever it is cooked with. In Sri Lankan kitchens it is sliced and cooked as a curry, often with coconut milk, spices and dried fish, or tempered and stir-fried. Elsewhere it goes into sautés and slow-cooked stews, and its firm texture makes it a common stand-in for meat in plant-based curries.
