Sri Lankan Breakfast

Sri Lankan Breakfast

The tropical Sri Lankan breakfast is as great as the American or English one and offers a much more balanced diet with its accent on fresh local produce including fruit and unusual juices. Breakfast is not usually eaten as soon after getting out of bed as in Europe, and consequently it is quite a substantial feast.

Sri Lankan cuisine of the endowed with characteristics of the culinary legacy left by the Portuguese, Dutch, British and South Indian settlers and voyagers. The result is a breakfast that is hearty as well as spicy.

Herbal porridge (kenda) prepared out of herbal leaves is an invigorating breakfast entrée. Steeped with medicinal herbal leaves such as gotukola (Centella Asiatica) wel penela (cardiospermum Halicacabum) and hathawariya (asparagus falcatus), it is claimed to be an elixir of life.

(Herbal porridge (kola kenda) – A thick broth of rice, coconut milk and herbal leaves.  All ingredients are boiled together until the broth is formed. Typically this porridge is consumed with a piece of jaggery)

Milk Rice (Kiribath), the queen of Sri Lankan breakfast dishes, is saved at celebrations epitomizing festivity and joy. The rice is boiled in rich coconut milk and cut in to elegant diamond shaped pieces. Milk rice is traditional on the first day of each month in many homes. Sharp spice relishes made of onions and Maldives fish (katta sambol) hot and sweet caramelized onions (seeni sambol) and traditional fish curry add contrast to the creaminess of the milk rice.

(Milk rice (kiribath) – fresh coconut milk and either white rice or red unpolished rice boiled to a glutinous consistency. A banana leaf is used to flatten this mixture into a one and a half inch thick cake. It is then cut into diamond shaped pieces. Usually it is consumed with a hot, ground chilli relish (lunumiris) and a slightly sour but hot and spicy tuna fish curry (ambul thiyal).  This curry’s sour quality is derived from gamboge, an ingredient traditionally added as a preservative.)

A delight is imbul kiribath a sweeter version of milk rice. It consists of a mixture (pani pol) made out of grated coconut drenched in palm treacle sandwiched between white milk rice. It is customary to serve this dish at paddy harvesting and rice reaping festivals, when it is taken to the fields wrapped in lotus leaves and encased in woven boxes made of rush leaves.

Hoppers (Appa) are a perennial favourite. Saucer-shaped with spongy middle and crisp outer crust, hoppers are eaten by shredding them and mixing the pieces with minute portions of fiery relishes such as katta sambol and seeni sambol. Egg hoppers (Biththara appa), Honey hoppers (Pani appa) and Milk hoppers (Kiri appa) are appetizing variations.

(Hoppers-(appa) – Resembling a thick pancake mixture, hoppers are made from a fermented coconut milk, palm toddy and rice flour batter. The batter is carefully poured into a bowl shaped, cast-iron pan and gently removed once crisp and golden. A variation to the plain hopper is the egg hopper; an egg is broken onto the center of the half-cooked hopper and left to fry with the lid closed. Hoppers can be eaten with any curry, but is typically enjoyed with a fiery, ground chilli relish (kata sambol))

String hoppers (idi appa) are served as neat little stacks on flat dishes. White rice flour and red rice flour lend the white and brown colour to the string hoppers. The thin strands resemble vermicelli but the subtle rice flour taste is noticeably different. They are served with either a white mild curry or with a spicy curry and hot relishes as accompaniments.

(String hoppers (idi appa) – made from rice flour and water, it is a thick batter gently squeezed onto small, wicker mats from a custom-made mould. This steamed favourite can be consumed with a vegetable or meat curry, but tastes best with a red chilli coconut sambol (pol sambol) and yellow coconut milk gravy (kiri hodi))

Pittu is another extraordinary dish. Shaped in the form of mini rolls standing on end, pittu is made out of steamed rice flour and coconut. It is eaten mixed with curry and or coconut milk, which softens it into a crumbly texture.

(Pittu-prepared with rice flour and shredded coconut, it is steamed in a traditional cylindrical bamboo mould. Its texture is soft and crumbly and is mostly consumed with a fiery, ground chilli relish (katta sambol) and white coconut milk gravy (kiri hodi)

Incidentally hoppers, string hoppers and pittu are savoured in the same manner in Southern India, indicating a striking similarity in the culinary habits of that region and Sri Lanka.

Roti the local equivalent of leavened flat bread, is made of wheat flour blended with grated coconut, onions and green chilles and shaped into soft, small rounds.

(Roti – A thin, flatvround bread, it is made from rice flour and shredded coconut. Baked on a hot griddle till brown, it can be consumed with a meat or vegetable curry and a red chilli coconut sambol (Pol sambol)

The preparation of hoppers, string hoppers and pittu requires practice and dexterity. Their preparation can be seen at roadside hopper kiosks throughout the country. It is fascinating to watch as cooks pour dollops of butter into small wok-shaped pans and twirl them in the air, the hopper pans with batches of hoppers being prepared swiftly and deftly resemble a mini assembly line.

Another appetizing preparation is godamba roti. This is made of pliable dough, which if flipped sideways to obtain a paper-thin consistency. It is cooked on a long steel griddle plate and folded neatly. The godamba roti with its elastic and translucent feel is delicious with chicken or mutton curry. Egg godamba and stuffed godamba with a spicy fish or chicken filling are delicious variations.

Fancy bread for breakfast…Taste the Lankan bread with a well-baked crust roast paan-straight from traditional wood fuelled oven.

Roast paan is available at village bakeries or roadside cafes. Chicken or a fiery coconut sambol (pol sambol) is a spicy alternative to marmalade with the bread. An ideal picnic breakfast is bread rolls stuffed with fish and potato filling (malu paan) meat filling or the spicier onion relish filling (seeni sambol) paan.

A Sri Lankan fresh fruit breakfast platter is sensational, in appearance as well as taste. There is a wide variety of plantains, juicy pineapples, ripe mangoes and papaya to mellow the glow left by pungent spices. Avocado, watermelon, papaya mango and passion fruit are some of the exotic fruit juices popular with breakfast. Of course, there is also Ceylon Tea to aid digestion.

With its diversity of cooking styles and delicious range of ingredients the Sri Lankan breakfast has been savoured with the same zeal over the years.