Sri Lanka, being an Asian country, inherits a food culture that differs from the cuisine of Western world. Travelers who come to Sri Lanka from those lands find Sri Lankan cuisine to be relatively spicy but mouthwatering. And, the main beverage item that is famous all over the world is Ceylon tea. When you travel around Sri Lanka, having Sri Lankan food for your meals would add to your experience another indelible memory. Once you return back to your countries, you will crave for some unique tastes that you find in Sri Lankan food. Since ancient times Sri Lanka has been famous for spices. Even today, Ceylon spices are used abundantly all over the world. Cinnamon, pepper, cardamon, ginger and turmeric are some of the famous spices in Sri Lanka. The food made using an abundance of these spices are usually spicy but delicious. Moreover, there are sweet delicacies like Kevili also. There is another significant feature that Vishmi Travels would like to remind our travelers. That reminder is that Sri Lanka is a multicultural country. There are Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burger, Male, dravidians and few other minority communities. If you visit Sri Lanka, you can taste food of all these ethnicities. There are a variety of Sri Lankan dishes that are famous among tourists who travel around Sri Lanka.
Traditional cooking
If the travelers desire to see pastoral and traditional cooking, there are places for that also. They do not use either electric cooking utensils or gas urns. They use clay hearth or a hearth made of stones. There is a mainstream belief that food cooked in these traditional urns are healthier and tastier.
Rice and curry
This is the main dish prevalent among Sri Lankans. Rice is the main food item that Sri Lankans inevitably have for their meals. Some have them for all three main meals. Sri Lankans add to this not just one curry but two, three or sometimes more than that. One of them is essentially a gravy. Curries are made out of vegetables grown in the fertile lands of Ceylon, fish, meat and yams. The dishes thus made are uncountable. The variety of Sri Lankan food is extensive. All these curries are made delicious by using the spices of Sri Lanka. If you come to Sri Lanka for the first time the taste would be alien to you. But you are going to definitely fall in love with spicy Katta Sambol made in Sri Lankan cuisines. And, this suits any weather condition.
Maize and Kurakkan
These two items are essential parts of Sri Lankan food culture. Maize can be boiled and eaten. Apart from that, the flour made out of this delicious grain is used to make roti, wandu, and many other dishes. It serves as an alternative to wheat flour. Kurakkan is also a healthy grain. Kurakkan thalapa, kurakkan roti, kurakkan halapa and kurakkan kada are several food items that are made with Kurakkan.
Manioc
Sri Lanka has fertile lands. The staple livelihood is farming. Manioc is a type of yams. This is mainly eaten as boiled manioc with grated coconut and katta sambol. The taste is heavenly. Apart from that. Manioc yams can be converted to flour and make roti also. Further, small manioc slices can be fried in deep oil and served with a little bit of sprinkled salt and red chilly powder. Apart from manioc, there are numerous types of yams. Sweet potatoes, Kukulala, Katuala and Rajala are a few of them.
Ingredients added to Sri Lankan food
Apart from the spices listed above, curry leaves, garlic, pandana, turmeric, goraka, sadikka, sera and vinegar are some other ingredients added to the Sri Lankan food items.
Coconut Roti, Katta sambol and a Cup of hot tea
Get this meal just once and you will get addicted to this. This combination best suits cold weather. If you travel around up country and hill country try this combination. Katta sambol is made out of dried red chillies, Maldive fish and lemon juice. You can sip authentic Ceylon tea if you travel around wet zone areas in Sri Lanka.
Hoppers and String Hoppers
Both of these food items are made with rice flour. Hoppers are usually served with either Katta sambol or fish curry or meat curry. String hoppers are served with coconut gravy (Kiri hodi), meat curry, pol mallum, pol sambol or dhal curry.
Malu Embul Thiyal
This is a variety of food made with fish. Local people have an addiction to Malu Embul Thiyal when they eat it with White rice and Pol sambol. Malu Embul Thiyal is an ideal dish to go with hoppers also.
Kevili Culture
Keum, Kokis, Aluwa, Asmi, Pani walalu, Mun Kerali and Dodol are the major kevili items among Sri Lankans. These food items are sweet and connected with cultural festivals. Sinhalese people make them for their Sinhala and Tamil New Year Celebration. Tamil people make Laddu, Pani poori, Pani walalu, Ulundu vadai, Payasam and many other sweet and spicy dishes. The most delicious dishes from Muslim community of Sri Lanka are Wattalappan and Biriyani.
Dravidian Food
Dravidian people enhance the cultural identity of Sri Lanka. Even though in ancient times they lived in caves, now they live in properly built houses. But they have not abandoned their food culture. Their main meals are Kurakkan thalapa with a curry made out of hunted meat. Hunting is a major livelihood of dravidian people in Sri Lanka. The collecting of honey and preserving the dried meat using honey is still a practice of these people since ancient times. If you love freshly hunted meat, these are the ideal people you should go to. There is a lot that you can learn about their culture too.
Beverages
The staple beverage is tea. There is no dearth of authentic Ceylon tea in the country. Coffee too is a crop cultivated in Sri Lanka and there are cafes where you can go and enjoy a cup of coffee. However, among locals the most preferred drink is tea. Apart from these two major drinks, there are numerous tea types made out of numerous medicinal plants. For example, Erasmusu, Ranawara, Beli fruit tea, Katarolu tea, Polpala tea and ginger tea can be provided. This list is not exhaustive. Further, travelers can drink drinks made out of coconut water. King coconut is abundant along the roads of Sri Lanka and these drinks are very healthy.
Sri Lankan cuisine is a unique experience for travelers who come to visit Sri Lanka. From the point Pedro to point Dondra the abundance of Ceylon food items will definitely drive you crazy. It is true that you have plenty of luxury hotels to have Western styled food. Yet, Vishmi Travels invites all the wanderers there to taste the authentic Sri Lankan food to have a unique expedition across Sri Lanka.
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