Sri Lankan Food
Black Curry, Sambals, Uppuma, Rotis, String Hoppers and More
Sri Lanka is beautiful spice island known for its quality cinnamon and cloves and food that is often compared to Indian and Thai cuisine.
Sri Lanka is a predominately Buddhist country (the Sinhalese) with a strong Hindu influence courtesy of the Tamil populace. There are sizeable Muslim and Christian communities as well among the 20 million who call the island home. The cuisine borrows from other cultures: Moor, Dutch, Malay and Portuguese.
You may recall this place was once known as Ceylon and is noted for its coffee, tea and rubber plantations. This "Pearl of the Indian Ocean" gained independence from Britain in 1948.
As with previous introductions to other cuisines (Cambodian, Laotian, Taiwanese, Malaysian), here is a brief overview.
Fiery Curry Anchors a Typical Sri Lankan Meal
Fiery hot curry with rice and small side of vegetables, meat or fish are typical of a Sri Lankan meal.
Two types of curry are often used: one is plain curry and very similar to the Indian yellow curries you can get anywhere. The other is referred to as black or roasted curry powder and it's used for meats.
Signature dishes (which also use red curry and white curry) include crab and eggplant pahi as well as veggie plates with yellow curry utilizing plantains and pumpkin.
Another prevalent ingredient is coconut milk, of course. Often used in curries and sauces while sambals – coconut blended with lime, chili, onion and dried, salted fish - are frequent side dishes.
Uppuma (a favourite of Tamils) is a porridge made of semolina and and doused with fried onion, chili mustard and curry leaves.
Sri Lankans also enjoy rotis: wheat, rice or brown millet meal is blended with fresh grated coconut, a bit of oil and baked on a hot griddle in thin flat cakes. It's great with shallots, green chillies, curry leaves or just some sweet syrup.
Sri Lankans Love Sweets
While rice is popular to pair with curry, Sri Lankans are noted for their string hoppers – a tangle of thin, steamed rice noodles served with coconut and curry as well as pittu, cylinder rolls made of rice floor and grated coconut. It is often eaten with fresh coconut milk or curry. This is typically a breakfast food.
Let's not leave out the sweets! Most notable are the Hoppers: doughy, rice-flour crepes eaten with golden syrup or palm sugar. There's also Love Cake – a gorgeous cake of cashews and honey with nutmeg and cardamom – as well as Vattalappam, a rich egg custard made with palm sugar, coconut milk and cardamom.
As it is a tropical isle, there's plenty of fruit to ingest: passion fruit, mango and papaya are great to top off a meal.
Ayurvedic!
By the way, many people on the island are followers of the Ayurvedic way of life.
You'll find recipes are easy to follow and meant to cook up fast since it's such a hot, hot island, food tends to spoil quickly. Most dishes are cooked in liquids which is a fast method of ensuring that all ingredients are cooked thoroughly.
Next week, recipes for Sri Lankan Chicken Curry and Vattalappam.
