Joanna James
Sri Lankan food is unique and quite unlike anything you have tasted! It's delectable and different. Try some of these tasty dishes while visiting the sunny climes of this country.
A plate of rice and curry is a lunchtime staple in the island, where freshly cooked rice is eaten with a bunch of curries. Most Sri Lankan curries have lots of spices, coconut milk and seasonings. For rice and curry, you will be served a selection of 4 to 5 curries. Popular dishes are dhal curry, baby jak fruit, pumpkin, soya meat curry, snake gourd, eggplant, and green beans, among others. A green salad called gotukola (Asian Pennywort) or mukunuwenna is also eaten. You can also get a protein of your choice like fish curry, chicken curry or a Sri Lankan-styled omelette. Many Tangalle restaurants offered by the likes of Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort will always have a fantastic spread when it comes to rice and curries.
Chopped bits of roti, called godamba, get combined with vegetables, eggs, meat, and gravy then chopped with metal scrapers. Egg and vegetable, cheese and chicken varieties are the most popular! Soak your hot kottu with curry gravy alongside an EGB (Elephant House Ginger Beer) – a favourite street-side Sri Lankan feast.
Hoppers are made from a batter of rice flour, coconut milk with addition of baking soda or yeast to give it a rise and ferment the batter. These are typically enjoyed at dinner or breakfast. Other types of hoppers include egg hoppers, treacle hoppers, and milk hoppers. Hoppers are best eaten with side dishes like spicy onion sambol, spicy caramelised fried onions and a curry like chicken or potato.
Lamprais is an innovation of the island's Dutch community! It's essentially a lump of rice neatly parcelled in a banana leaf. The rice is cooked in chicken broth and includes a curry made from three kinds of meat, frikadelles, shrimp paste, ash plantain fry, and spicy pickled eggplant. Once the rice is assembled in the banana leaf, it is oven-baked to enhance its flavours.
Watalappam is a sweet custardy dessert prepared from coconut milk, eggs, palm jaggery, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom. The dessert initially became popular with Sri Lankan Malay communities, but now enjoyed by all nationalities alike. It is popular during festive occasions like Ramadan.
Some of the favourite Sinhalese sweetmeats are konde kavum (oil cakes), mung kavum (mung bean cakes) kokis, kalu/kiri dodol, a fudge-like sweet treat made from jaggery treacle, rice flour and coconut milk.
It is a steamed rice flour preparation similar to noodles and eaten at breakfast or dinner. White rice or red rice flour with water is made into a soft dough and pushed via a mould to form a disk of noodle that are steamed. It is had with curries like potato, fish, chicken, dhal, or jakfruit curry. String hoppers are always accompanied with pol sambol, or seeni sambol.
Pol sambol is every Sri Lankan's favourite condiment! It is a simple concoction of freshly grated coconut, red chillies, Maldive fish, shallots, green chiles, pepper, salt and lime, but packed with flavour. The mixture is pounded to improve and integrate all the flavours. You can pair it with rice, string hoppers, pol roti, hoppers, or a slice of bread!
A true believer that the pen is a mighty weapon, ventures into reaching the minds of every reader with the earnest hope of leaving an indelible stream of thought.
A travel writer who has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
