Diwali also known as Deepavali is the Hindu festival of lights. Diwali in Sri Lanka is a celebration marked by vibrant lights, festive gatherings, and, of course, delicious sweets prepared at home. Traditional sweets play a central role in the festivities, offering a taste of both cultural heritage and family traditions. Here are three popular Diwali treats that bring warmth and sweetness to the holiday season and if you are in Sri Lanka at this time do try these delicious sweets prepared for the Diwali festival:

1. Orange Kesari
   A Diwali favorite, Orange Kesari is loved for its bright color and soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture. Infused with a delicate blend of spices, this semolina-based sweet is topped with cashew nuts and raisins, adding an extra layer of richness to its already comforting flavor.
2. Rava Ladoo
   Known for its crumbly yet soft texture, Rava Ladoo is another beloved Diwali treat. These round, bite-sized sweets are enjoyed for their mildly sweet, aromatic flavor. Often shared with friends and family, Rava Ladoo brings a simple, nostalgic sweetness to Diwali celebrations.
3. Jalebi
   Bright, spiral-shaped Jalebi is a festive treat that stands out for its unique, tangy sweetness and irresistible crunch. It’s a crowd-pleaser that’s always a highlight of Diwali spreads, enjoyed by young and old alike.

These homemade treats add a touch of tradition to the Diwali festivities, celebrating the joy of family and the sweetness of togetherness in Sri Lanka.

The most common vegetables used in Sri Lankan pickle are carrots, green beans, shallots, garlic, and raw papaya. Some versions also include green chilies, bell peppers, and even fruits like mangoes. What sets it apart is the mix of vinegar, mustard oil, and sugar, which gives the pickle a sweet, spicy, and sour flavor profile.

Sri Lankan achcharu is usually made during festive occasions, such as Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and is a staple in many households year-round.

Source: ASTL team

In Sri Lanka, lies a hidden gem in the world of desserts – the enchanting combination of curd and treacle. This harmonious blend of creamy buffalo curd and rich, golden treacle creates a dessert that is not only delectable but also steeped in tradition.

The Origins:

Curd, or “Mee kiri” in Sinhala, holds an elevated place in Sri Lankan culinary heritage. Traditionally made from buffalo milk, this velvety dairy delight has been cherished for generations. Its preparation is an art form passed down through families, with each household adding its unique touch to the process.

Treacle, known as “Pani” in Sinhala, is extracted from the sap of the kithul palm, this natural sweetener imparts a distinct, caramel-like flavor to the dessert. Its rustic, earthy notes perfectly complement the creamy curd, creating a symphony of taste and texture.

Curd and treacle dessert is more than just a culinary delight; it’s a journey through the cultural tapestry of Sri Lanka. Whether enjoyed in a bustling market stall or savored in the tranquility of a rural homestead, curd and treacle dessert is a testament to the enduring spirit and creativity of Sri Lankan cuisine. Indulge in this exquisite treat and let your taste buds dance to the rhythm of this island’s culinary legacy.

Source: ASTL Team

Image credit: Respective owners

Kottu Roti, Sri Lanka

Plate up

Make sure you’re listening in Sri Lanka. Don’t worry about the sights, and don’t even concern yourself with aromas. Just listen. “Ting, ting, ting, ting” – that’s what you want to hear. The rat-a-tat-tat of metal on metal, the crash of cleavers hitting sizzling-hot grill plates. There’s kottu roti nearby. This dish is a Sri Lankan classic: stomach-filling, tastebud-tingling street food at its finest. Kottu roti is a little like fried rice, if you took out the rice and replaced it with finely chopped roti bread. Cooks stand before a flat grill plate and pile on onions, chillies, egg, a meat- or vegetable-based curry, and strips of roti, before grabbing a blade similar to a bench-scraper in each hand and going to town on the lot. Ting, ting, ting, ting: the dish is chopped and blended as it fries, before the entire melange is dumped on a plate and you’re in spicy, savoury heaven.

First serve

Though no-one is certain exactly where kottu roti came from, it’s mostly thought to have originated in the Tamil regions of Sri Lanka, particularly the towns of Batticaloa and Trincomalee. It was popularised in the 1970s as a cheap street-food snack, and a smart way to use day-old bread. The name, “kottu”, is a simplification of the Tamil word “koththu”, meaning “to chop”. And chop they do, as kottu roti’s popularity soon spread across the island.

Order there

Jump off the plane in Colombo and head straight to a kottu roti vendor. This is typically street food, and best eaten that way – try the popular market on Galle Face Green.

One more thing

Controversy! There are some in the city of Madurai – on the Indian subcontinent, in the state of Tamil Nadu – who believe “kottu parotta” was actually invented there. The dish uses chopped parotta bread, though there’s no evidence it came before kottu roti.

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/you-will-hear-this-spicy-heavenly-dish-before-you-taste-it-20230608-p5df5f.html

Here are the traditional Sri Lankan breakfast dishes that you must try:

1. Kiribath (Milk rice)

This is a type of rice pudding made with coconut milk, resulting in a creamy and sweet dish that is typically served with a variety of accompaniments. Kiribath is often served with a sweet accompaniment such as banana, jaggery, or treacle. It can also be served with savoury accompaniments, such as spicy sambols or curries. It is a versatile dish that can be adapted to suit different tastes and preferences.

2. String Hoppers

It’s the winner of all traditional Sri Lankan breakfasts. They are made from a mixture of rice flour and hot water, which is formed into thin noodles and then steamed to create a soft and delicate texture. String hoppers are often served with a variety of accompaniments, such as a spicy coconut sambol (the best), or a curry made with chicken, fish, or a sweet milk gravy.

3. Sri Lankan Pancakes

While most Sri Lankan breakfasts tend to be heavy or on a high spice route, this breakfast item is for anyone who craves sweet foods. This is a type of Sri Lankan pancake, a beloved breakfast. It is made with wheat flour and coconut milk. These pancakes are soft and sweet from the outside and stuffed with sweet brown paste. The paste includes coconut, palm sugar, and honey/treacle. This classic Sri Lankan breakfast is further topped with grated coconut, jaggery, and spices to enhance its flavour.

4. Hoppers

One of the most popular Sri Lankan breakfast dishes is hoppers, also known as Appa, which are thin, bowl-shaped pancakes made from a fermented rice flour batter. They can be served plain or with a variety of fillings, such as an egg cracked into the centre, They can be eaten plain or with a variety of accompaniments, such as a spicy onion and chilli sambol, a curry made with chicken, fish, or vegetables, or sweet coconut milk and jaggery syrup.

5. Coconut Roti

Coconut Roti or Pol Roti is an everyday breakfast in Sri Lanka. It is a type of thick flatbread that you can enjoy in different ways. It can be eaten plain or with a variety of accompaniments, such as a spicy onion and chilli sambol, a curry made with chicken, fish, or vegetables, or a sweet coconut and jaggery mixture. You can enjoy this traditional Sri Lankan breakfast any way you like, and that versatility is the reason for its popularity.

Source: https://curlytales.com/while-in-sri-lanka-give-these-traditional-sri-lankan-breakfast-dishes-a-try/

Gracing the Sinhala-Tamil New Year season (April 13–14), Konda Kevum is a Sri Lankan delicacy one should not miss.

This sweet treat is a deep-fried pastry that is made from rice flour, treacle (a type of syrup made from palm sugar), cardamom seeds and coconut milk. Konda kevum has a crispy outer shell and a soft, sweet center.

Konda kevum is usually served with other traditional Sri Lankan sweets during the New Year celebration, such as kokis and athirasa. It is a popular snack throughout the year as well and can be found in many Sri Lankan sweet shops.

Image credit to respective owners

If the average Sri Lankan sambol were to be a person, it would be diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder. Adjectives like spicy, sweet, sour and searing hot—employed singularly, sometimes all at once—are bandied about by those who’ve been fortunate enough to have tasted it. In its various forms—dip, marinade, relish and more commonly as condiment—sambol is the inevitable accompaniment to any veritable Sri Lankan meal.

Said to have been derived from the other Dutch colony of Indonesia’s sambal chilly paste, sambol acquired the ‘o’ when the Dutch introduced it to Sri Lanka. “Once here, it soon was co-opted by the natives, who added locally abundant ingredients like chillies, grated coconut, lime juice and vegetables like nelum ala (lotus stem) and dambala (winged bean),” says K Ravichandran, chef de partie at the Ceylon Tea Trails resort in Hatton. “The idea is to mix the ingredients vigorously together in a traditional, wooden grinding device called a mirisgala to create a spicy side dish that is eaten uncooked,” he adds.

In the ‘up country’, as Sri Lankans refer to hill stations such as Hatton, one can find a few Tamil cuisine-influenced sambols like ash plantain and pumpkin sambols that were brought in by the tea pickers of Tamil origin. Here, other heat-inducing sambols like the hot pepper and kochchi (green chilly) are also popular, especially during winters.

From the trifecta of the most popular pol (coconut) sambol, the fiery hot lunumiris (literally: salt and red chilly) and the mild and sweet, caramelised onion-based seeni (like cheeni or sugar) to a few other regional iterations, there is no dearth of varieties. Interestingly, each has its own ‘parent’ dish.

“For example, seeni sambol and lunumiris are popular accompaniments for hoppers or kiri bath (milk rice) while the leaf-based sambols like gotukola (pennywort), asamodagam (wild celery)—popular in Jaffna up north—are often eaten with rice,” says Amila Shirantha, executive chef at Wild Coast Tented Lodge that’s located in the Yala National Park.

Well-known for melding local flavours with an international sensibility, Gunendra Pushpasiri, executive sous chef at Cape Weligama, gives the sambol a contemporary makeover with his seven-course tasting menu. “While I have reduced a traditionally prepared seeni to a puree and served it piped atop a goat curry and heirloom suwandel rice, I felt that the heat of the lunumiris would be the perfect foil to the delicate flavours of my lobster dumpling in a saffron-seafood broth,” he says.Now, that’s haute cuisine with a ‘hot’ twist.

source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/food/2023/mar/19/sampling-sambol-in-sri-lanka-2556680.html

Image credit to respective owners

THE DISH

Lamprais, Sri Lanka

PLATE UP

Welcome to one of the world’s greatest boxed lunches. A Sri Lankan lamprais has everything you need to set you up for the rest of the day – or, the rest of a few days. It’s a large mound of rice (cooked in rich stock), plus a few meat or vegetable curries, a spiced meatball (sometimes replaced with a fish cutlet), a boiled egg, some eggplant sambol and coconut belacan, all wrapped in a banana leaf.

Source: What is lamprais? Sri Lanka created one of the world’s greatest box lunches (traveller.com.au)

Many spices, some of them native, are grown in tropical Sri Lanka due to its different microclimates and soil types, which has led to a successful spice trade throughout history. Spices improve the flavor, color, and aroma of food. Many of them also have numerous health advantages. When used in the appropriate combination, spices can transform even the most basic dish into a flavorful and aromatic culinary experience.

As Sri Lanka is a multi-cultural country, you cannot expect anything less when it comes to Sri Lankan food. Our country is filled with its regional flavors while the cuisine is known for a rich combination of rice specialties, spices, herbs, seafood, seasonal vegetables and fruits and of course, legumes.

Culture plays an essential role in the food scene in Sri Lanka while many Sinhalese food items are derived from the chena cultivation. There will be a variety of traditional Sri Lankan foods available, including milk rice, sweetmeats, and spicy curries as accompaniments, for everything from the most revered and momentous Sinhala & Hindu New Year to numerous day-to-day occasions and festivals.

Many of these dishes are centered around the main staple rice, rice flour and coconut while seafood also plays quite an important part in Sri Lankan. Most Sri Lankans prefer vegetable curries while the main go-to meal in any part of the island is the good old “ Rice and Curry”. The curries have immense flavour and colours which are derived from a list of Sri Lankan Hot Spices.

Since Sri Lankan food is regionally diverse, you can expect the same dish prepared in various methods and with different flavors. For an example, the dishes from the South of Sri Lanka have a distinctive quality and is mainly blended with seafood. “Ambulthiyal” is a unique spicy fish preparation that uses a thick gamboge (goraka) paste while the preparation in the South is different from the other parts of the island.

If you’re the kind of traveler who follows your taste buds, Sri Lanka will give you the perfect blend of authentic Sri Lankan culinary experiences with mouth-watering local cuisine!

Source: ASTL team