Sri Lankan Cuisine: A Delicious Culinary Adventure

Sri Lankan cuisine is a feast for the senses.

Are you a food enthusiast looking to discover a new and exciting cuisine? With its unique blend of flavors and spices, Sri Lankan food offers a culinary experience like no other.

Sri Lanka is a tropical island country in the Indian Ocean, facing India across the sea. India influences the Sri Lankan food culture, but also Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Netherlands, Sri Lankan food is a delightful fusion of different culinary traditions. However, Sri Lankan cuisine has a unique charm.

Sri Lankan eating habits

The Sri Lankan way of eating is, for example, when eating curry rice, they grab the sauce or soup with their hands and pour it onto the rice.
However, tourists can also use a fork or spoon. Usually, they place two bowls of water in front of each person before eating: clean water for clean hands and cold boiled water for drinking.

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Sri Lanka Nutritional Features

Sri Lankan food has a strong taste and many spicy aromas. Most people in Sri Lanka eat rice, coconut meat, corn, and cassava as their main diet. They prefer coconut milk and paprika, which are essential in almost all dishes.

Specialties and ingredients

Spices are of great importance to Sri Lankan cuisine and made Sri Lanka famous and gave it a foothold on the trade route. Spices, particularly the unique Ceylon cinnamon, attracted many colonials from Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Ceylon cinnamon and another very famous spice, cardamom, Sri Lankians often use in curries, vegetables, and rice with different flavors and then serve with black pepper, coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, turmeric root, and black mustard seeds.

Sri Lanka is fertile and rich in spices.

From Colombo to Kandy, the mountains and plains are full of tea and spice gardens. The landscape of these spice gardens is beautiful. If you travel to Sri Lanka as a tourist, you will enjoy it, and the locals will welcome you and show you around.
Sri Lanka is a country close to the sea, and Sri Lankan chefs freshly process seafood. In the southern coastal cities, the capital, Colombo, or restaurants near the sea, they enjoy seafood and not only see the beauty of the Indian Ocean.

Black tea:

Formerly known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka is now the third-largest tea producer in the world. Locals are fond of drinking tea. They usually drink black tea without adding milk because they feel it will damage its flavor.

Bay leaves are an essential ingredient in delicacies in Sri Lanka. They are the basic ingredients for delicious dishes, including lemon leaves with a rich citrus scent, aromatic pandan leaves, jungle bay leaves, and curry leaves. After frying or chopping, this dark green leaf exudes a unique and rich aroma that stimulates the appetite. Curry leaves also promote digestion and blood circulation. Also, Curry leaves have long been part of traditional medicine to treat high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Curry and Rice

Rice: Generally, steamed rice is a staple food. Cooked with spices, onions, and soup to make rice or steamed with coconut milk, bay leaves, spices, and turmeric roots to make yellow rice. Sri Lankan cuisine has various tastes and types of rice and curry dishes.

Curry refers not to a specific plant or sauce but to the sum of different spices. With different combinations, ingredients, and ratios, it becomes a new taste.

Curry and rice were originally a specialty of India but gradually spread to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans add unique spices to their traditional curry and rice, making it spicier. A bowl of rice, a bowl of curry, a bowl of soup, a few small stir-fries, or a very spicy cold dish is usually a Sri Lankan curry and rice set. Locals eat curry that is generally very spicy, but we can also make dishes milder.

Sri Lankan cooking is all about balance.

The use of spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves adds depth and complexity to dishes, while coconut milk provides a creamy texture. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different spice blends and ingredients to create your Sri Lankan dishes.

Here are recipes that help to start your cooking adventure:

Vegan green bean curry with coconut milk

 A classic Sri Lankan vegan curry that is healthy and creamy with coconut milk, served with rice.

Parippu By Love And Other Spices

A Sri Lankan dal (dhal) curry is easy and quick to make. This is a unique dal flavored with coconut milk, curry leaves, and spices. It’s vegan, gluten-free, and high in protein.

Kadala Curry By PeckishMe

Kadala curry is another chunky and fragrant Sri Lankan dish offering a creamy, soft, and flavorsome experience. It is made from chickpeas (kadala), cooked in coconut milk with a medley of stir-fried aromatic vegetables, tomatoes, herbs, and spices.

Pol Sambol By Island Smile

Pol sambal is a coconut relish made from freshly grated coconuts, chilies, and shallots. It is one of the most popular Sri Lankan dishes and the most popular sambal. It is a very versatile dish as it can be served on bread, with rice, curry dishes, and roti.

Haath Maaluwa | Hath Maluwa | SriLankan Vegan Curry

Haath Maaluwa is a Sri Lankan Curry with a medley of veggies, and the USP is using the local produce Cashews as part of the curry. It has all 6 tastes – sweet, bitter, astringent, Spicy, tangy, and umami, and is usually made for the Srilankan New Year feast.

Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry

This Beetroot Curry is a comforting dish that pairs well with steamed rice and other side dishes.

How to Make Onion Achcharu at Home? | Spicy Onion Pickle Sri Lankan | Easy & Quick Recipe

Here is how to make the best onion achcharu in Sri Lankan style. This spicy onion pickle is one of the popular dishes in Sri Lanka. It is an easy vegan side dish; you can store and use it for more than a month. When you have all the ingredients, give it a try; you will like it for sure. 

Sri Lankan VEGAN Red Lentil Curry – Cooking With Ceylon Lover

You will find the Ingredients list at the end of the video. This is one of the most popular & versatile dishes in Sri Lankan cuisine! It is delicious, creamy, full of flavor, and, best of all, VEGAN! Sri Lankans eat it with rice, toast, or on its own as a Soup!

Sesame Rolls

Homemade sesame rolls are one of the beloved Sri Lankan food recipes.

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Eggless Watalappan (Sri Lankan Coconut Custard)

Watalappan is the most delicious and ubiquitous creamy coconut custard from Sri Lanka, sweetened with natural kithul jaggery and spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg, but in an eggless version.

Recipe Sweet Sri Lankan Coconut Pancakes

If you’re not into coconut, then frankly, this dish is not for you. If you are drawn to the tropical aromas and sweet, nutty flavours of the humble coconut, and you also like crepes and sweet, chewy things … this is a must-try.

See also > SRI LANKAN SNACKS & DESSERTS

Sri Lankan Coconut Cake / Bibikkan / Vegan sweet

Traditional Sri Lankan Coconut Cake, or Bibikkan, is a classic sweet typically made for New Year’s celebrations. This vegan sweet is easy to make at Home.

 

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