Sri Lankan Foods & Tropical Fruits

Sri Lankan
Foods & Tropical Fruits

Sri Lanka has extensive number of indigenous dishes, fruits and spices. Over the last century’s Lankan cuisine is complimented with Indian, Chinese, Malay, Arabian and European tastes. Today even with the presence American taste in Colombo represented by McDonald’s Pizza and Kentucky Fried Chicken, the average Sri Lankan still continues to eat traditional food at home. Rice and curry still comprises the main meal in almost every Sri Lankan household.

Rice and Curry

Boiled rice with curried vegetable, fish and or meat laced with Sri Lankan spices is typical Sri Lankan main meal, a gourmet’s delight. It is served for Lunch and dinner and some do have it breakfast too. Curries are usually made hot but can be mellowed to suit   the pallet. Rice and curry is served for lunch and dinner. Boiled or steamed rice with a variety of curries, salads, sambols, papadam and chutney from the meal. Spices are added to make the dishes more delectable. The unaccustomed may sometimes fined the curries too hot but, this is easily controlled by reducing the quantities of spices used, specially chilli and pepper, to suit the different tastes. Everything is brought to the table at once and there are no separate courses as in a western style meal. It is perfectly correct to take a little of everything and taste it against the neutral rice. On special occasins yellow rice is cooked in coconut milk and delicately flavored with spices. Turmeric is added to give the rice a bright yellow. It is served garnished with cashews raisins, and hard boiled eggs.

Kiribath

Kiribath means ‘Milk Rice’ and is a traditional dish for festival or special occasins.

Hoppers

Hoppers (egg and plain) are made of a batter containing coconut milk and palm toddy left over night ferment. It is then fried in a bowl shaped metal pan which forms its shape. Simply breaking an egg in to the center of the plain hopper makes an egg hopper.

String Hopper

String hoppers are vermicelli made of rice flour and steamed over a low fire.

Pittu

Pittu is prepared with rice flour and shredded coconut and steamed inside a bamboo. It is eaten with hot sambol and pol hodi (coconut Gravy)

The passion fruit

Passion fruit takes its name from the flower symbolic of Christ’s passion. Passion fruit are round, slightly oval fruit 5 to 8 cm in length that grow on long, trailing vines. They are purple or yellow in color and have a smooth, thin skin that wrinkles as the fruit loses moisture a normal process which doesn’t affect their flavor. Their juicy flesh is orange and contains several soft edible seeds. Passion fruit have a bittersweet flavor and pungent aroma.

The cashew apple

Cashew apple is the yellowish orange part. It is known everywhere as the nut and the fruit sold eating is swollen stem. It has a very thin skin green when unripe and turning to yellow, pink or more rarely, bright scarlet when ripe. The ripe fruit is sweet crisp and juicy with a faint rose perfume.

 Banana

In Sri lanka, where the world Plantain is often used interchangeably with banana, this fruit is a general favorite, served to complete any meal. Bananas come in many sizes, and can be green, yellow or even red in color. Some of the most popular varieties are: embul – yellow when ripe, small kolikuttu – yellow when ipe: sweet and starchy  anamalu – long bright green when ripe: slightly floury seeni kesel – small yellow when ripe: very sweet rsth kehel – thick red when ripe very fleshy.