Must try Sri Lankan dishes – To amaze your taste buds

Kiribath is a very traditional type of dish. It is often cooked as a symbol of good luck and will adorn the breakfast table on special occasions and local festivals. Kiribath is glutenous rice cooked in rich coconut milk. The rice is boiled until mushy in coconut milk and then dished out to form a cake. It is cut into diamond shapes and left to cool. The portions are thus served and eaten with curry, an onion salsa called lunu miris or even with a sprinkling of sugar! The cuisine will be a huge part of your island explorations. Each province boasts a unique flavour for traditional dishes. While spending a fabulous holiday in the popular southern belt, for instance, at a property such as Sri Sharavi Beach Villas & Spa, you can explore and enjoy the variety of local street food at Mirissa restaurants. Plus, you can indulge in area attractions of surfing and whale watching.

Roast paan (paan meaning bread) are miniature loaves as flat as a slice of bread, baked to a lovely crispy consistency. One will never forget the fragrance and flavour of a fresh roast paan, warm to the touch and perfect when soaked in curry with a dollop of pol sambol! More on pol sambol below.

Pol is coconut! And a staple ingredient in many a dish! Coconut oil, water, milk and shavings are widely used in dishes while the shells and rest of the coconut are turned into various by-products. Getting back to pol sambol, it is a kind of spicy salsa made with scraped coconut kernel. The shavings are combined with lime, chilli, salt, Maldive fish and shallots to create a gorgeous deep orange dish that tastes heavenly with bread, string hoppers or rice. A pol sambol sandwich with butter is a must-try!

Manioc is the most popular of all boiled yams, although sweet potato and breadfruit are hot contenders. Manioc is boiled with salt and turmeric and then cooled. It is eaten with lunu miris (onion salsa) or pol sambol with lots of green chillies. Manioc is even cooked similar to a potato curry and eaten with rice. Delicious!

This lovely savoury dish is great as a healthy breakfast or even a side dish. Chickpeas are boiled until tender and drained. It is then stir-fried in hot oil with dry chilli flakes, mustard seeds, green chillies and sometimes bits of coconut.

Your resort in Mirissa will most definitely serve this delicious addition at breakfast. A Sri Lankan omelette is made with beaten eggs to which salt, pepper, green chillies, cheese and other spices are added for a lovely silky-smooth flavour that's perfect with bread.