6 Foods to Try Out in Sri Lanka – Tantalizing Treats for the Taste Buds

An outstanding choice with which to start your sampling of Sri Lankan cuisine would be the ever-popular egg hoppers. This much-loved food may be described as a bowl-shaped savoury pancake featuring a soft middle and a crispy outer section. Hoppers would be made from a batter containing fermented rice flour, coconut water, coconut milk and a dusting of sugar. As you might have guessed, the special feature of an egg hopper would be the egg that is cracked into it as it is being cooked.

It wouldn't be surprising that Sri Lanka, a tropical island nation would be renowned for its delightful fresh seafood. One of the local highlights would be crab, a crustacean abundantly found in the waters bordering the nation. Often found in the local lagoons too, Sri Lankan crabs would be renowned for their sweet tender meat. During your visit to the country, you would have the opportunity to feast on crabs of varied sizes, including the giant 2 kg varieties. There would also be numerous recipes for preparing this crustacean such as chilli crab, curried crab and pepper crab.

The various curries would be an important aspect of Sri Lankan food and unquestionably one of the most popular would be the ubiquitous dhal curry. This curry would be a vital element in many local meals and would be commonly prepared in restaurants as well as homes. The main ingredient in this curry would be red lentils, which would be cooked along with onions, green chillies, coconut milk and a selection of spices like cumin, cinnamon, pandan leaves and fenugreek.

A very popular street food in Sri Lanka would be the tasty kottu roti which many locals enjoy whilst out and about. 'Kottu' would basically consist of shredded pieces of the local godamba roti that are stir-fried along with several vegetables, egg, meats or fish and a selection of spices. It would be made by a chef wielding a pair of sizable metal cleavers which would be used to chop the kottu in a rhythmic beatto consider staying at where you could enjoy such local foods would be the properties of Reveal the Collection.

The distinctive gotu kola (pennywort) sambol would be a rather different kind of dish that you could experience during your stay in Sri Lanka. This sambol happens to be a zesty condiment made with the leaves of the pennywort plant. To prepare this dish, the leaves would be chopped and ground along with onions, chillies, coconut, and other ingredients to form a flavourful spicy paste. It is usually enjoyed with rice and other curries for a delightful, flavour-filled combination.

Sri Lankan cuisine would also include a selection of delicious desserts and one of these would be the exquisite watalappan. Often prepared on special occasions especially by Muslim communities, watalappan would have a texture like that of egg custard; it includes ingredients like coconut milk, nutmeg, cardamom and kithul jaggery, a sweet made from palm sap. Often, it would be sprinkled with chopped cashews to add an extra element that lends to its taste.