Spice of Life

Location:
Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Cuisine

By Peter Anderson

SRI LANKAN CUISINE - THE SPICE OF LIFE

For a breakfast with a difference, how about nille juice, kiribath, kolakenda, hoppers, pittu and roti. We all know about the English and American breakfasts but for a variation try Sri Lankan. As rice is the staple diet of Sri Lanka, it is included in some of their preferred breakfast dishes such as hoppers, stringhoppers and pittu.

Hoppers are made from rice-meal, which is rice soaked then, pounded to a fine grain. Palm toddy is added to the batter and left overnight to ferment and rise. Coconut milk is combined and the batter is cooked in a small wok-like pan. The hopper is bowl-shaped with its centre a light fluffy texture and the edges crispy. They are lightly flavoured with a tang of the palm toddy and a hint of the sesame oil in which they are cooked. An egg, sunny-side up, is sometimes fried in the centre, thus an egg hopper, or they can be eaten with fiery hot sambals (grated coconut, ground chilies, shallots and dried fish) or with curries. For those whose stomach would prefer something less spicy they can be eaten with jam. Ensure that you get your hopper straight out of the pan, a good hopper is a hot (temperature) hopper. For the sweet-toothed try pani-appa. Treacle is added to the hopper batter and while being cooked the edges are folded into the centre. A word of warning, they can become quite addictive.

Stringhoppers are made from rice-meal batter pressed out of a mold into thin spaghetti shapes onto a wicker mat then steamed. They make a light breakfast served with curries and sambal. The stringhopper version of the pani-appa is the lavariya, treacle is placed on the stringhopper before it is folded and steamed. Stringhopper beriani is a variation that is similar to Indian beriani rice.

Pittu, is made from rice-meal, lightly fried and mixed with grated coconut then steamed in a bamboo mold. It is eaten with curry or chutney.

Kiribath, roughly translated is milk rice, and basically that is it. The rice is cooked in thick coconut milk and either lunumiris (chili relish) or panipol, (thick treacle and coconut sauce) which I found a little too sweet, is added. Sri Lankan porridge or kolakenda was much more to my liking. It is a dish of brown rice and coconut milk flavoured with the juice of an assortment of herbs and served hot with a brown palm candy. Some of the herbs used are; polpala (Aerva lanata), bathawartiya (Asparagus falcatus), gotukola (Hydrocotyle asiatica) and elabatu (Solanum xanthocarpum). I was informed that it is extremely nutritious and good for one’s health.

For yogurt lovers the buffalo curd is a must. Mixed with thick dark brown treacle made from the kithul palm this nectar of the gods makes an ideal breakfast for the health conscience and those on a diet. After a few servings of buffalo curd ordinary yogurt will never taste the same.

Sri Lanka’s cuisine will exhilarate your taste buds with its superlative array of curries, fervent sambals, savoury desserts and cooling fruits. Its cuisine is as varied as its countryside; string and egg hoppers, lamprais and wattalapam should all be tried but the pièce de résistance must be the Sri Lankan ‘rice and curry’.

A typical Sri Lankan rice and curry dish consists of the main curry such as chicken, beef, mutton or fish and sometimes two of these are served, but that’s only the beginning. Served with this will be seven or more ‘side’ dishes. Sri Lankan curries are reportedly fiery hot, while they are delectably spicy they were not ‘hot hot’ and are one of the finest curries to be tasted. Rice and curry served in hotels has been ‘spiced down’ to suit the European taste buds. So for those who want the spicier Sri Lankan rice and curry head off to one of the local restaurants.

Some of the preferred curried vegetable dishes are; cabbage and cashew nuts, pumpkin, potato, beetroot, and beans. They are served with chutney, lentils, papadoms and some sambals. The sambals can be quite hot but mixed with the rice and curry dishes they add spice to the dish.

For those who prefer something less spicy there are white curries, these are mild and subtle in flavour. Most rice and curry dishes are accompanied with a local delicacy called mallung. This dish is lightly cooked and consists of grated coconut, a variety of finely chopped leaves, chopped onions and limejuice.

Lamprais, of Dutch origin, is basmati rice cooked in stock or curry, accompanied with meatballs, wrapped in banana leaf and baked. As it comes complete with its own wrapper it makes an excellent take-away.

Awaken those dormant taste buds and enjoy Sri Lankan cuisine – you will not be disappointed!

Further Information

Other helpful information: Its easier to use local guides, very cheap and efficient

Must see/do at this place: Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Kandy