FOOD & DRINK
DELICIOUS FOODS AND BEVERAGES OF SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan cuisine is very unique and exotic. The culinary delicacies of Sri Lanka is very aromatic and healthy. Most of the time the recipes have some influence from the colonists and Indian and Arab traders from back in time.
The best thing about Sri Lankan food is that the same dish is made in different ways, especially when it comes to different regions in the country, people make a lot of variations to the way a particular dish is made but at the end of the day it always turns out to be mouth-watering.
MAIN DISHES
RICE AND CURRY
The cuisine mainly consists of (steamed) rice and curry. Curry usually takes various forms and thereby brings versatility to dishes. Curries can not only be made using meat or fish but with vegetables and fruits where the dish becomes a delicacy.
Spices and coconut milk are always generally used to make the Sri Lankan cuisine. Sri Lankan food is generally considered to be more spicier than Indian food because of various types of chilli used. As a matter of fact Sri Lankan cuisine is considered to be among the hottest and spiciest cuisine in the world. However, tourist hotels prepare most Sri Lankan foods to favour the foreign palate since most people aren’t used to very spicy food.
MILK RICE
Another famous rice dish is Milk Rice, which is generally made during special occasions such as auspicious days, birthdays, weddings, etc. It is eaten with an accompaniment of a chilli paste and sometimes dried up fish curry.
STREET FOODS
HOPPERS
Hoppers are also very popular. A batter of rice flour and coconut milk is cooked in a small wok into a bowl shape. The base is thicker and is like a crumpet, while the thin ‘walls’ are crispy. Hoppers are often served with a sambal and what wikipedia tells us is lunu miris. These are insanely good. An egg hopper is a regular hopper with a googie cooked into the bottom.
STRING HOPPERS (INDIAPPA)
String hoppers are made by pressing a rice batter flour into little bundles of noodles then steamed. These are great for breakfast dunked in some curry.String hoppers are also served with a sweet’n’salty dry coconut sambal. They can be made from white or red rice.
KOTTU ROTI
Kottu roti is roti (flat bread) finely (and loudly) chopped and wok fried with veggies and or meat. A lardy stodge filler that is that is pretty tasty on it’s own but superb when soaking up some curried sauce.
TROPICAL FRUIT
Tropical fruit is in abundance. Street vendors sell it sliced with a (usually optional) salty spicy sambal. We had probably the best papaya in the whole world nearly every time it was served.
SWEET MEATS AND DESERTS
Sweet meat always graces the dining table during any auspicious day. Usually on the Sri Lankan and Tamil New Years Day sweet meats are seen in abundance. The most common sweet meat is Oil Cakes or kavum which is made by mixing flour with treacle and fried in deep hot oil. Kokis has a much more crispier texture to it and is more famous among small children. One of the famous dessert is Wattalapan originated from the Malays. Buffalo curd along with treacle is also eaten as a dessert.
