Sri Lankan Lunch

Sri Lankan Lunch

In Sri Lanka a meal is naturally referred to as 'rice & curry' and curries can vary from main dish offerings (meat, chicken, fish, or mutton) to a mixture of vegetable and even fruit curries. Rice & Curry Sri Lankan cooking has grown around the staple rice. The traditional meal is not referred to as Curry but Rice and Curry.

More than 15 ranges of rice are grown on Sri Lanka, from tiny white, radiant pearl shapes to long-grained Basmati and as well as the red rice (Kekulu haal). The fully cooked (not al dente) rice has the highly spiced accompaniments rubbed into it and each mouthful is gently massaged by hand to mix the flavors. Sri Lankan Rice & Curry usually includes a range of small curry dishes -vegetable, meat or fish. Vegetarians won't have any concern finding tasty food- vegetable curries are made from banana (ash plantain), banana flower, breadfruit, jackfruit, mangoes, potatoes, beans, ladies fingers and pumpkins, to name just a few.

Boiled rice & spicy curries are the main diet of most Sri Lankans. Just about whatever can be curried. It’s a dish of meat, fish or vegetables, cooked in to coconut milk or coconut oil and seasoned with salt, chillies, onions, pepper, garlic, various spices, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, turmeric etc.

Rice (either boiled plain white or spicy and coloured with turmeric) is usually served with up to six or seven curries. It may be supplemented several pickles, chutney, chillie paste, and sambol or salads.