Must try food if you are going to Sri Lanka. — Part 1
Top Sri Lankan Cuisine
Sri Lanka is getting popular as a touristic destination because of its beautiful sea beaches, mountains, old age ruins of the ancient kingdoms in this small island in the Indian Ocean. Travelers used to call it the Pearl of the Indian Ocean because of its shape as well as the amazing things it has to offer. (Of course I could be biased but you could see so many vlogs on youtube by foreigners confirming the fact) It was also called as Ceylon, Ceylan, Heladiv, Lakdiva, Taprobane (by Greeks and Portuguese, Serendib and etc. It is still popular as Ceylon. (Check your tea carton it could be Ceylon Tea! ;) )
Other than having touristic locations it also has this amazing cuisine you ought to try. Food which could awaken all your taste buds in your tongue. Special fact about Sri Lankan food is that it explores all sorts of flavours — spiciness(hotness), sourness, sweetness and even bitterness — not even kidding there. I am bound to write this article just because I feel the food doesn’t gain the popularity it deserves! (Also because I truly miss it lol)
1. Kiribath (Milk Rice)
Kiribath is like one of the main dishes in Sri Lanka. It is a traditional food served in main events or celebrations. It is a dish available as breakfast. So, do not miss it. There is a variety of versions to Kiribath but the main and the most common version is the plain milk rice. Its ingredients are Rice, Coconut milk and salt. You could have it with Lunumiris, Kattasambol, Sinisambol or Ambul-thiyal for non vegetarians. (Note that Lunu miris, Kattasambol, Sinisambol also may have dried pieces of fish in it. So you could request for a vegan versions if available)
2. Rice wrapped on banana leaves
You should have this! You could have it with white rice or red rice, with usual curries. I feel like the most traditional way is to opt for the red rice version. But if you could, try both (because why not! & you get to see the difference of red and white rice) . It tastes so good — trust me. Some people call this village food for which I disagree!! What do you even mean by that? This is the real stuff. Sri Lanka has had an agricultural economy from the past and we have had rice and these amazing curries coming from that era. By the way, the taste of the curries can vary from one region to another.
3. Manioc /Tapioca with sambol (Manyokka in Sinhala terms)
You can have Manioc with either coconut sambol, lunumiris or if you dare — with kochchi sambol which is more spicier but in my personal option the tastiest of all the combinations.
4. Hoppers (Appa in Sinhala terms)
Appa is another famous food in Sri Lanka. It’s either served as breakfast or dinner. There are varieties of hoppers : the plain hoppers, egg hoppers (Biththara appa)— egg as an add-on to the plain like in the image shown below, and Pani appa. Pani appa where the direct traslation is honey-hoppers, as the name suggests treacle is added to the mixture and it is sweet in taste unlike the other types of appa/hoppers.
5. Koththu
Thanks to Sri Lankan cultural diversity we have food like Kotthu! One of the famous and most loved food by all communities in Sri Lanka. It’s probably the most famous street food over there.
6. Various Types of Porridge
Sri Lanka loves its porridge. We have a variety of porridges ranging from rice porridge to herbal porridges. You take the herbal porridges (like the one shown below) with a piece of Jaggery (hakuru) and it’s a perfect fit adding a bit of sweetness to the somewhat slightly bitter-ish porridge.
