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Cuisine

Sri Lankan

Rice and curry of many small dishes, coconut in every form, roasted curry powders, Maldive fish and goraka, sambols and mallungs, and hoppers, string hoppers and kottu.

Flavour character: Intense and aromatic: dark roasted curry powder, curry leaves, pandan (rampe), lemongrass and cinnamon; sour goraka; savoury Maldive fish; chilli heat balanced by thick and thin coconut milk.

16 recipesBrowse recipes
A serving of Kottu

History

Sri Lanka is the native home of true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), the spice that drew Arab, Portuguese (from 1505), Dutch (from 1658) and British traders. Each left traces: Portuguese sweets and the love cake, Dutch-Burgher lamprais and breudher, and British tea estates in the hills. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil, Muslim (Moor), Malay and Burgher communities each cook differently; watalappan is associated with the Muslim and Malay communities.

Well documented

Geography and influences

A tropical island with a wet south-west, dry north and east, a central highland of tea estates, and long coasts rich in fish; rice paddies and coconut groves are everywhere.

  • Sinhalese and Tamil traditions
  • South Indian (especially Tamil and Kerala) cooking
  • Arab and Moor traders
  • Malay community
  • Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial rule

Regional variations

Sinhalese south and west
Ambul thiyal (sour dry fish curry from the south), black pork curry, kiribath.
Jaffna Tamil (north)
Jaffna curry powder, crab curry (kool), odiyal (palmyra) dishes, closer to Tamil Nadu.
Muslim and Malay
Buriyani, watalappan, Malay pickle (achcharu).
Burgher
Lamprais, breudher, frikkadels and Dutch-Portuguese sweets.
Hill country
Tea estates with Indian Tamil plantation communities and their roti and curry.

Festive and seasonal food

  • Sinhala and Tamil New Year (13–14 April): kiribath, kavum, kokis, aasmi, aluwa, mung kavum
  • Christmas: Sri Lankan Christmas cake rich with preserves, love cake, breudher
  • Eid: watalappan and buriyani
  • Thai Pongal (Tamil): sweet pongal
  • Vesak: free food stalls (dansal) offering rice, curry and drinks

Signature dishes

Not on the site yet: String hoppers, Pittu, Jaffna crab curry, Kukul mas curry, Fish cutlets, Isso wade (prawn vadai), Kavum and kokis, Love cake, Breudher, Wattakka (pumpkin) curry, Polos (young jackfruit) curry

Sri Lankan recipes

4 more