Exotic Dishes to try When You are in Sri Lanka – Tantalize Your Taste Buds

The word 'devilled' aptly describes just how your tongue feels when eating this popular dish. It is utterly spicy and so delicious that you simply cannot stop eating the fish. The dish is best accompanied by a savoury rice or roti. Devilled sweet and sour fish consist of good chunks of deep fried fish that is stir fried together with capsicums, tomato, onions, chilli and other local spices as well as tomato sauce, to form a thick gravy that is molten and full of taste.

Emphasis is placed on spicy here, with a red chicken curry being a favourite accompaniment to rice, parata roti or even bread. The chicken is stir fried with shallots, ginger, chilli, garlic, curry leaves, cloves, mustard seeds and other spices before being gently simmered in a thick coconut cream to form a delicious gravy that can be mopped up with crispy hoppers or any of the above mentioned accompaniments. Remember the redder the curry the higher the spicy factor – so watch out.

Head over to any one of the restaurants in Bentota and devilled cuttle fish will be on the menu. This is squid that is cleaned and stir fried with lots of leeks, onions, tomato, chilli and sauce. It is a spicy accompaniment to hoppers, fried rice or parata roti. Bentota is a vibrant resort home to Fine Dining by Saman Villas and lots of charming seafood restaurants that offer a variety of local dishes.

Hoppers locally known as appa; are great accompaniments to any spicy curry or onion sambol. Hoppers are made with a pancake like batter that uses coconut milk. The mixture is poured into a small wok and swirled around to coat the edges. Once cooked, a hopper will have a light and crispy rim with a soft centre. Delicious with a simple potato curry or even a plain onion sambol called lunumiris hoppers are favoured at breakfast and dinner. An upgrade on the hopper is the egg hopper where an egg is cracked open to the soft centre of the hopper and slightly poached before being dusted with salt and pepper.

Kottu Roti is a made out of a stretchy oily roti Sri Lankan Godamba Roti that is cut up on a hot griddle with vegetables, onions, egg and a meat of your choice. The best part of eating a kottu is watching the whole process of the dish being made. Watch as a skilled cook places the sheets of roti on a hot griddle and with the aid of two very sharp metal cleaver style utensils he proceeds to chop with both hands. Kottu is quite addictive and a flavoursome meal to enjoy. You can try cheese kottu in Bentota as a popular Sri Lankan alternative to the cheese burgher.