A guide to Sri Lankan food – here’s what to eat on your Sri Lanka tour
True discovery of a place arguably lies in the exploration of its cuisine – from home cooking to contemporary fine dining and the little snacks you can savour on street corners.
Sri Lanka has always been famous for its array of spices. Merchants from the Middle East to the Dutch and Portuguese who crossed oceans in search of spices just portray the importance of Sri Lankan spices in a global platform, both past and present. The entire political and economic history of the country too has developed around the spice trails.
Sri Lankan cuisine is distinct, influenced by the country’s history including colonisation by three nations, and varies regionally within this small island. Spices and coconut lay the foundation to the local cuisine creating a paradise for food lovers and culinary fanatics. The varied spices, vegetables, seafood and the different styles of cooking that are unique and special to each region make for a special culinary journey in Sri Lanka.
So is Sri Lankan food hot and spicy? What food can you expect to eat and enjoy during a tour of Sri Lanka? What are the must try dishes of Sri Lanka?
Let us take you through Sri Lanka’s experiences, with this guide on what to eat and what you must try during your Sri Lankan holiday. If you are a real foodie looking for the ultimate food tour of Sri Lanka – see our suggested itinerary Sri Lankan Food Trail here.
Traditional Sri Lankan Food – everyday eats
What are the top foods to try when travelling in Sri Lanka? Here are some of suggestions for the best things to eat in Sri Lanka.
Let’s start with traditional Sri Lankan food: the word traditional implies the kind of food the locals eat every day and those that you will find in most homes. They are also served in almost all hotels now including upmarket boutique properties.
#1 Sri Lankan Rice and Curry
Sri Lankan rice and curry is the stable diet in every Sri Lankan household, generally consumed for lunch by all, and you may find some having this for dinner as well, especially in the villages. There are a few things you must know about this staple diet.
Rice (red rice or white local rice) is generally accompanied by two or more cooked vegetable curries – one is usually mallun – a fresh green salad or cooked greens with grated coconut. Then there’s fish or chicken curry and a few accompaniments such as fried sprats (a type of fried small fish) or fried red chillies, pappadams, and in some instances with a local pickle fondly referred to as “ achcharu”- the rice puller. (Achcharu is a pickle with shallots, green chillies, raw thinly sliced papaya, thin strips of carrots etc, that’s fermented in vinegar and mustard.)
An array of breakfasts fit for a king
#2 ‘Kiri Bath’ – Milk Rice (Rice cooked in thick coconut milk) served with ‘lunu miris’ (red chillies grinded with onions, flakes of dried fish, salt and lime to taste) and fish in thick dark curried sauce.
#3 String Hoppers (Indi Appa) – Another traditional dish made out of rice flour and served with Kiri Hodi – cooked coconut milk in green chillies, curry leaves, pandan leaves and a mix of spices and coconut sambol (spiced freshly grated coconuts).
#4 Pol Roti – A flat bread made with wheat flour, flaked coconut and water. The original version is a mix of wheat flour and finger millet flour. This is a common and a delicious breakfast and a dinner option served with coconut sambol, fish or chicken curry.
#5 Hoppers (Aappa) – Our firm favourite, hoppers come in different variations. The plain hopper, the egg hopper, the honey hopper (pani aappa). Hoppers are served with local chili paste (lunu miris), plus either fish or chicken curry.
#Seafood Galore!
Being an island surrounded by water, fresh seafood is plentiful. However, delicacies like crabs, prawns are sold at higher prices. Sri Lanka exports a considerable amount of seafood, another reason for price hikes. Most of the Colombo upmarket restaurants have great choices of dishes in every form where global and fusion cuisine are adopted to bring out the flavours.
Some of our favourites are Sri Lankan crab curry, Sri Lankan style prawn curry in white thick coconut curry and Maalu Ambul Thiyal (tuna fish in thick black curry sauce cooked in clay pots for flavour and preservation).
#Sri Lankan Street food that you must try
#Wadai
Wadai comes in many varieties, however the base is always a type of lentil or legume. Two of the popular types are Prawn Wadai – ‘Isso Wadai’ and Lentil Wadai – ‘Parippu Wadai’. A street food not to be missed and widely found in any large city or small city. The embellished prawns in the Wadai (lentil cake) makes it appear like a piece of gem studded jewellery minus the glitter. For great wadai it’s all about the crunch.
#Koththu Roti
Quintessentially Sri Lankan is the Koththu Roti – a firm favourite of the locals and never to missed. The essence of Koththu Roti is really in the making of course. A thin pancake made out of wheat flour is shredded into pieces and mixed with vegetables, eggs and meat. A thick creamy curry sauce is poured into the mixture while the chopping continues. The excitement is in the process as the chef/ roti maker splashes and chops rhythmically on a metal board creating a lively loud rhythmic sound. The Koththu bursting in flavour is served steaming hot. If you are not really up to the spiced-up version go for the milder, cheesy version – ever so delicious.
#Chinese Rolls
Sri Lankans love their snacks – generally referred to as short-eats – and Chinese rolls are among the favourites. Well there is nothing really Chinese about it, perhaps the idea may have originated from spring rolls. The Chinese roll is a stuffed pancake (generally the stuffing is a mix of canned tuna and mashed potatoes stir fired in a mix of spices and curry leaves). The pancake is rolled up with the stiffing and the corners sealed, covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried. We love to eat this with a splash of tomato sauce.
You will find that local homes take pride in serving Chinese rolls for evening tea along with other short eats.
#‘Patis’ – Pattie
Yet another favourite short-eat and very unique to Sri Lanka. Pastry generally filled with tuna fish and mashed potato mix though there is a vegetarian version or a meat option, especially beef and mutton variations. The patis is either deep fried or baked to perfection and served hot as it comes out on the frying pan.
#Fish buns
A Sri Lankan fish bun is a pastry baked with stuffed tuna and potato curry mix. Any local bakery across the country will have a range of fish buns in varied shapes and sizes. In larger cities you are likely to come across more healthy variations, i.e. made of wholemeal flour. These are great for a snack on the go, especially if you are looking for a light lunch coupled with some fruits.
#Coco’ bun or ‘Kimbula’ bun
Kids love this quick snack. It is the Sri Lankan version of a Vienna roll. Soft inside and crispy outside with a good sprinkling of sugar crystals that tend to melt away in the heat of the afternoon, making it caramelly and gooey. Once again it is available in local bakeries and great as a filling snack on the go.
# Laveriya
A truly Sri Lankan delicacy made the old-fashioned traditional way. You may not find this everywhere and if you do get a chance to taste, you will not regret having a few of them for sure. Simply put it is a wrap made out of rice flour and stuffed with a delicious mix of coconut and honey. However, the making of Laveriya is much more complex than our description! If you are travelling into rural Sri Lanka, make sure to look for this delicacy or perhaps even ask your hotel if they can prepare this for you to taste. We promise you won’t regret it!
# Halapa
One of our firm favourites and healthier than some of the other options too. Once again you may not find this everywhere as it is a traditional Sri Lankan food that was part of breakfast or afternoon tea. Made out of millet flour and stuffed with a combination of coconut and honey and then wrapped in a locally found leaf and steamed to perfection.
These Sri Lankan street foods can be found quite easily in local bakeries and local restaurants. Bakeries are easy to find and quite common in Sri Lanka, especially the bigger cities. They are great as snacks on the go or to give you energy and fill up between meals. In our experience, these snacks are generally prepared on the morning they are sold at the bigger bakeries. And for most street vendors you can see them being prepared. For more information about eating in Sri Lanka and health tips – visit our Sri Lanka FAQs page.
# Sweets
The Sri Lankans sweets (referred to as sweet meats) have been heavily influenced by many other cuisines including South Indian, Dutch and Indonesian etc. A large variety of these sweets are made in homes during Sinhala/Tamil New Year (annually in mid-April) where plates of these are shared with neighbours and served to visitors. Most of these are made out of rice flour, kitul treacle and ground mung beans.
What is really interesting is that from region to region the variety and the techniques use to make them are significantly different. Sadly, the old traditions are dying as most urban folk prefer to buy them than make due to the cumbersome process in production. The good news is that they are available year around in large retail food outlets. Our favourites sweets of Sri Lanka to try include:
Undu/ Pani Wallallu – a honey soaked ring-shaped sweet.
Dodol – jelly like sweet made out of honey, coconut and cashew nuts.
Kavum – oil cakes of varied forms.
Kokkis – fried chip like in texture, not sweet.
One of the things we recommend to do in Kandy is to visit and sample the sweets made locally there. You can read more about the best things to see and do in Kandy in Sri Lanka in our recent travel blog here.
You may also like to visit our Hotels We Love page to find out what are the best hotels in Sri Lanka. And our Sri Lanka travel blog covers topics from wildlife to beach stays to eating in Sri Lanka.
For foodies our other blogs – A guide to eating in Sri Lanka and Here’s why you should add a Sri Lankan cooking class to your itinerary – may whet your appetite for a tour of Sri Lanka.
Additionally, those that are keen to explore the street snacks of Sri Lanka, ask us to include our insiders city tour – our Colombo Street Food Walking Tour – in your customised Sri Lanka itinerary.
