2016 Jul 22
By Ridmi Upeksha
When you hear the word authentic Sri Lankan food what is the first reaction that you had? It sure has to be a smile on your face with a memory of the best local food that you had with an immediate craving for more. It sure has to be!
Sri Lankan food has its unique spread of main and side dishes. It revolves around Rice and Curry to be exact. Rice is the staple food in Sri Lanka but it has its other popular spread of choices that are based on flour such as hoppers, string hoppers, flat bread, and bread loaves accompanied by various curries, salads, chutneys and local sambols. Sri Lankan cuisine’s assorted vivid element combinations and different flavours are tasteful and to die for. Moreover, how most of the dishes that are cooked involves coconut and fish displays how local people have made use of island’s most available resources into delicious dishes. To make it unique and different from rest of the cuisines around the world, Sri Lankan cuisine has used variety of spices in its curries. Among the most popular and used spices include cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom, cloves, fenugreek seeds, brown mustard seeds, cinnamon and then there are other popular ingredients such as garlic, ginger, turmeric, and fresh curry leaves along with pandanleaves. Another famous technique that’s used in most houses when making a curry is the ‘TEMPARADUVA’. It can be named as the heart of any Sri Lankan dish. It includes onions, garlic, curry and pandanleaves, dry and fresh red chilies, brown mustard seeds, and a few cinnamon stick pieces. The amplified aromatic smell from the ingredients creates an appetizing fragrance that no one can resist. This method can be defined as one of a kind cooking tricks in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan cuisine is not for timid eaters. It has powerful tastes in its food that will wake you up from a dull mood and take you on an adventurous taste ride. Various tastes like ‘MAALU AMBULTHIYAL’ (Sour fish curry), SEENI SAMBOL (Caramelized onion), LUNU DEHI (Lime pickle) and treacle sweetened desserts will take you to a world full of tastes, one that you would never want to leave. Authentic Sri Lankan food is hard to find, because there are so many degraded version around the country in most the places, but once you find the real deal you would want to learn how to cook them for yourself.
Recommended list of curry and other food items to try if you are a first timer to taste Sri Lankan food.
- Fish Ambulthiyal
- Pol Sambol
- Sri Lankan Dhal curry
- Polos Maluwa
- Wombat Moju
- KeselmuwaMaluwa
- Cobra Chillies
- Pol Roti/ Hoppers with LunuMiris
- Curd and Treacle
- Savboro
- Deep fried Cashew
- King Coconut
- Ceylon Milk Tea
Not only these dishes are delicious they are also a very healthy. If you observe items on a typical Sri Lankan lunch, it contains almost all the nutritional items that is there in a healthy diet. A meat curry or fish curry, home grown vegetable curry or two with a mallum is sure is a balanced diet if made according to original authentic recipes and proportionate portions. Sri Lankan food is not hard to cook, if learnt properly it can be cooked at home within an hour or two – a lovely Sri Lankan meal to serve your whole family.
Another trend that Sri Lankans got adapted and recreated for themselves are ‘Short Eat and Street food’. Though these items are derived and created with different flavours and cooking methods from everywhere, it does have a unique local touch to it. Samosas, boiled chickpeas with cut coconut pieces, manioc, dhal vadey, achcharu(Pickled fruits) and one of the most famous item that’s on the street food menu is Kottu. Kottu, basically is made out of rotti and finely cut vegetables. There are so many different combinations, sometimes you even could customize one for your own liking. Even though these are junk food, if you have the heart to explore all kinds of food in Sri Lanka above mentioned items are a few you could try.
Sri Lankan food is definitely a must explore and must learn cooking technique, and it’s worth persevering. The numerous delicious recipes that are available for non- vegetarians are a range that you can’t say no to so does the vegetarian options that’s there. Easy to learn and a taste you can’t say no is a taste to eat for life.