Sri Lankan food · Traveller guide
12 Traditional Sri Lankan Foods Every Traveller Should Try
From rice and curry to hoppers, pol roti, sambol and watalappan, here are 12 traditional Sri Lankan foods to try on your trip.
Sri Lankan food is a journey in itself. Coconut, rice, spices, fresh vegetables and seafood come together in dishes that change from region to region, and even from kitchen to kitchen. Here are twelve to look for.
1. Rice and curry
The everyday classic. A mound of rice surrounded by several dishes, often dhal, a vegetable curry, a leafy mallung, sambol and a fish or meat curry. Every bite can be different.
2. Dhal curry
Red lentils simmered with spices and often finished with coconut milk. Creamy, comforting and a perfect partner for rice, bread or string hoppers.
3. Hoppers
Bowl-shaped pancakes made from a fermented batter of rice flour and coconut milk, with crisp lacy edges and a soft centre. An egg hopper is a favourite for breakfast.
4. String hoppers
Fine rice-flour noodles pressed into little nests and steamed. Mild on their own, they soak up dhal and sambol beautifully.
5. Pol roti
A flatbread made with grated coconut, with a lovely texture and gentle sweetness. Try it with pol sambol.
6. Pittu
Rice flour and grated coconut steamed in a cylinder. Crumbly, wholesome and often eaten with coconut milk or curry.
7. Pol sambol
Grated coconut, chilli, onion and lime pounded together. Fresh, tangy and fiery, it lifts almost any meal.
8. Kottu roti
Chopped roti stir-fried on a hot griddle with vegetables, egg and optional meat. You will hear it before you see it, thanks to the rhythmic clatter of blades.
9. Kiribath
Milk rice cooked in coconut milk and cut into diamonds. It is the dish of celebrations and new beginnings in Sri Lankan homes.
10. Lamprais
Rice and accompaniments wrapped in a banana leaf and baked, associated with the Burgher community. The leaf gives it a wonderful aroma.
11. Short eats
Cutlets, patties and fish buns, sold in bakeries and shops everywhere. Ideal snacks for a day out.
12. Watalappan
A silky coconut-milk custard made with eggs, jaggery and spices, with a deep caramel flavour.
Tasting is only the start
Spice levels vary, so feel complimentary to ask for milder dishes. And if you want to understand how these flavours are built, cook them yourself.
At Ceylon Cooking Class in Hikkaduwa, you prepare a traditional Sri Lankan meal by hand in a private garden-kitchen class, then sit down and eat it. It costs $15 per person, includes complimentary hotel pickup within 15 km, and ends with complimentary curd and kithul treacle.