5 Must-Try Delicacies in Kalutara, Sri Lanka - Savour the mouth-watering flavours of the teardrop island

Kottu, the fan-favourite Sri Lankan classic, is a must-have for all travellers to the tiny island country. The signature dish is one of Sri Lanka’s authentic meals and can only be found here in the teardrop — all the more reason to treat yourself to a plate of steaming hot kottu on your getaway. The primary ingredient of the dish, the chopped flatbread, or rather “roti”, as it is known locally, which also gives the dish its local moniker, “kottu roti”, is mixed with carrots, scallions, leeks, or other vegetables, and a meat curry of choice, such as chicken, fish or beef. Once mixed, all the ingredients are stir-fried in a wok together, giving you the mouth-watering goodness that is Kottu.

Nothing says a classic Sri Lankan meal like a plate of rice and curry. The generous rice and curry-based dish is a staple in the South Asian nation, so much so that never a day goes by without a Sri Lankan having rice and curry for at least one meal. The local-favourite dish, while of a complex composition, is also simple at the same time — rice with curry, quite a few curries, actually, with a meal generally having 4 to 5 curries, including a few vegetables and usually one meat curry of choice.

Sri Lanka has a wide variety of rice dishes, and milk rice is one of the most popular and delicious options. The traditional rice dish can be found being served at cafes, restaurants and even hotels near Wadduwa Sri Lanka the likes of The Blue Water Hotel and Spa.

If you think that Sri Lanka’s usual rice and curry is complex, wait until you indulge yourself in a dish of Lamprais. The very filling and delightfully complemented rice dish is introduced to Sri Lankan cuisine by the island country’s minority Dutch Burgher population but is a delicacy relished by all Sri Lankans. Lamprais, lump rice, lampraise or lumprais usually consists of short-grained white rice, a couple of meat curries (usually chicken, beef or pork), eggplant pickle, onion relish, shrimp paste, meatballs, ash plantain and the characteristic fried boiled eggs — it certainly is one for the foodies out there.

A traditional Sri Lankan dessert to round up your traditional Sri Lankan meal, curd and treacle is a popular breakfast choice in the island country favoured by locals and tourists alike. The speciality of the local classic is that it is curd made from fermented buffalo milk rather than usual cow milk.