Joanna James
Sri Lanka is saturated with amazing local dishes, and has a highly developed and diverse food culture, incorporating influences from many different countries.
The hallmark of Sri Lankan cuisine is the rice & curry, available from humble eateries to the best restaurants in Sri Lanka with the likes of The Blue Water Hotel and Spa. Upon first glance, one is bound to witness a plate laden with colourful components. No two places on the island will have the same rice & curry, but each will follow the same formula or either red/white rice, roughly two vegetable items, lentils (or dhal) being a constant, some sort of meat, and crunchy poppadum.
Rice is the most consumed commodity in Sri Lanka so there are quite a few dishes that incorporate it in some way. Milk Rice is a unique super-sticky dish that can even be considered a rice pudding. It's prepared by cooking rice in coconut milk and can come in various forms such as the super-healthy mung-kiribath, with green-gram incorporated into it, or imbul-kiribath, a sweet version contained coconut and jaggery (a local honey-like delicacy).
By far the paramount of Sri Lankan fast food. kotthu is made with the use of shredded paratha that is stir-fried with vegetables, eggs, one's selection of meat, and in some places, cheese. The notable incarnation of the kotthu is the chicken/cheese kotthu which has roast-chicken and cheese-wedges incorporated into the dish. There is a new variant of this dish known as the 'Dolphin', which consists of freshly made Paratha cut into squares instead of strips. Ordering a Dolphin gives the customer the option of choosing exactly what they want in the dish, ranging from the proportion of Paratha to the number of eggs and meat.
Despite being usually served in most eateries at dusk, hoppers are considered a breakfast dish at most hotels. The hopper is the Sri Lankan take on the pancake, with a crispy crepe-like outer-layer and a soft-centre. The famous egg-hopper incorporates a fried-egg into the centre of the hopper. Hoppers are usually served with a side-dish consisting of chopped onions made into spicy sambal.
A unique dish that was conceptualised by colonial Europeans, particularly the Dutch, from whom the name is derived from. The dish consists of boiled-eggs, Dutch-meatballs, various meats (with soya being an option for vegetarians) and sambal. These components are placed on a bed of rice which is then packaged and wrapped in a banana leaf, and after having been infused with several spices and herbs, is baked in an oven under low-heat for up to several hours.
Sri Lanka's most popular local dessert, wattallapan bears a strong resemblance to caramel pudding. It consists of a rich steamed egg-custard made with kithul-jaggery, coconut milk and spices such as cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon. Wattalappan is particularly popular with the Sri Lankan Muslim community and is a staple in their celebrations.
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