What are the Dishes of Sri Lankan Cuisine That You Can't Miss 

Sri Lanka is an island known for its tea, stunning beaches and amazing flora and fauna despite its tiny stature. Its diverse cuisine enriches the experience. With seafood from the Indian Ocean, its ubiquitous coconuts and fresh vegetables, along with local spices, add flavour and aroma to an array of dishes that one must not miss trying.

Fish Ambul Thiyal (Sour Fish Curry)

This is a tasty dish of fish made using a firm fish cut into medium-sized flat cubes. The distinct spice mix used for this preparation makes the fish dark in colour and helps preserve it for a long period with no refrigeration required. The blend of spices consists of pepper, turmeric, chilli powder, garlic, ginger, curry and pandan leaves, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, cumin and garcinia (goraka). This spice blend is ideally ground into a paste, and each piece of fish is liberally coated with it and laid in a clay pot. Once done, adequate water is added and slow-cooked until all the moisture is absorbed into the fish, making each piece a tantalizing delight to your taste buds. This popular dish is on the menu of many Kalutara restaurants.

Lamprais

An endowment from the Dutch colonial era of Sri Lanka, Lamprais is a popular all-in-one meal. Rice is cooked to fluffy perfection in meat or vegetable stock and served on a banana leaf. (A portion adequate for one person. Cooked meat (chicken or beef), brinjal fry, and fried onion are served on to the rice. Thereafter, the banana leaf-wrapped parcel of rice is baked. This flavour-oozing aromatic packet of lamprais is relished with delight by locals and visitors. This dish is well enjoyed on special occasions, and every morsel is devoured.

AntanO, Lamprais (Sri Lankan cuisine), CC BY-SA 4.0

Dhal (Lentil) Curry

Dhal curry is one of the most sought-after dishes enjoyed with rice, bread or roti; hence it is a frequent dish at breakfast, lunch and dinner at homes and restaurants in Sri Lanka. Red lentils are boiled with local spices including turmeric, chilli powder, onion, garlic, curry and pandan leaves. Once it is boiled, coconut milk is added to bring it to a creamy texture, to which tempered dry chilli, mustard and chopped garlic are stirred in, making it a heavenly dish full of flavour.

Hoppers

This light and crispy wonder is a hot favourite for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even a snack when feeling peckish. Made with fermented rice flour and coconut milk, hoppers are thin pancakes made in small metal woks, hence emerging as crisp upturned bowls with the outer edge crisp with a soft centre. These are usually eaten with fish ambul thiyal, or a meat curry and lunu miris (a spicy onion relish made with ground shallots, mixed with chillie flakes and seasoned with pepper, salt and a dash of lime). A sweeter version of hoppers is also done with grated jaggery with a dash of coconut milk drizzled onto the soft centre.

A hearty variation to this is an egg hopper with an egg broken on the soft centre when the hopper is halfway done. You can enjoy these at the breakfast buffet of properties like Anantara Kalutara Resort.

Kottu Roti

This is a popular street food in Sri Lanka, which can also be enjoyed on the go. It can be a main meal, comfort food or even a snack and the amazing thing is you can have many variations to make it to suit your palate. Chopped flatbread makes the base to which shredded meat (chicken or beef, and even seafood) is added with crunchy veggies such as grated carrots, spring onions, tomatoes and spices to add flavour along with seasoning. It is mixed as you wait on a hot griddle, making it a warm and delicious meal. Popular variations include adding cheese, egg and sauces of choice to make it have a bolder flavour.