Best Dishes to try in Sri Lanka - An unforgettable gastronomic experience

A street food staple and local favourite, you're going to keep wanting more of this delicious dish once you've had it! The rhythmic sound of kottu being made, with two metal cleavers, can be heard from most street food spots, and has become a sound a lot of locals love to hear! Kottu roti is made of neatly sliced flatbread or roti, mixed with a curry of your liking and vegetables, on an iron skillet. This dish requires no accompaniments as it is amazing on its own, but you can get your kottu roti customised with an egg or varying spice levels.

No trip to Sri Lanka is complete without tasting egg hoppers, which is eaten either at breakfast or dinner. Another famous street food dish, egg hoppers are made with fermented rice flour, coconut milk, and a bit of salt and sugar. This bowl-shaped food then has a whole egg added to the centre along with salt and pepper, which makes it an egg hopper! Egg hoppers can be eaten plain, but they are best eaten with a side of lunu miris (spicy onion sambal).

Sri Lankan rice and curry is one dish that no one ever gets enough of when on the island! Perfectly cooked and flavourful rice, with curries such as dhal, a protein cooked with gravy, coconut milk-based vegetable curries and a green accompanies the rice. You'll notice that rice and curry is available almost anywhere on the island, as this is the dish that is eaten for lunch and sometimes also dinner. If you enjoy Sri Lankan rice and curry, you must take up a cooking class to learn the traditional manner of making these fabulous dishes. Restaurants in Kandy, in properties such as Amaya Hills, are also known to serve mouth-watering rice and curry dishes.

Rice dishes are in infinite numbers in Sri Lanka! Another popular rice dish is Lamprais, which is said to have been introduced by the Dutch when they colonised the island. This dish requires a lot of work and includes seeni sambol (onion sambol), frikkadels, a meat of choice together with aromatic rice cooked in broth, wrapped perfectly in a banana leaf, which is then slow cooked further in an oven. The uniqueness of this dish is the fact that it is cooked twice.

A much-loved dessert, Watalappan is a dessert made with palm sugar, coconut milk and eggs. The dish also has an addition of aromatic spices that elevate it a little more and includes ones such as nutmeg and cardamom for that perfect balance. The bubbles of air within the dish keep it light, and not dense, which is a highlight. Popular during Muslim festivities such as Eid, Watalappan is a must-try!