My Taste of Sri Lanka

When in Sri Lanka, I forgo my usual continental breakfasts in favour of the local. So I mostly eat dosa (thosai), hoppers or appa and string hoppers with the various curries (fish, parippu/dhal, polos/young jackfruit, potato, squid, shrimp, etc.), and sambols (Gotukola/Pennywort, Pol/spicy coconut, Lunu miris/onion, etc.). Then usually there are the various breads like Paratha, Pittu (flour & coconut funnel cakes), and Pol roti (like our lempeng kelapa). I also like the other Sri Lankan traditional food of kiribath (milk rice) which you eat with sambols, although I prefer the sweet, especially the one with the mung beans.

I really like the breakfast at Mount Lavinia Hotel (MLH) because they make the iconic appa fresh on request. It is rather odd (read: different) though, that you can have an egg sunny side-up in the middle of the appa. I still do prefer our Malaysian version of a sweet centre.

As at MLH, our breakfasts at the Berjaya (Malaysian) Hotel were also mostly local Sri Lankan dishes.

Then there are many kinds of fruits in Sri Lanka, and so many are similar to ours, both our countries being in the tropics; banana, papaya, mango, rambutan, avocado, durian, pomegranate, carambola, water melon, mangosteen, lime, pomelo, dragon fruit, jack fruit, etc. There are passion fruits of both the yellow or purple variety, and really sweet ananas or pineapple. There are the Kilo Pera or Kilo Gram Guava (known to weigh 1 kilogram mostly) savoured with chilli powder and salt.

A rather unique tasting fruit juice I discovered is that of the Wood apple (mostly growing wild), with its slight taste of sweet and sour but quite nice. Some describe its taste as that of blue cheese with tamarind. I like to eat blue cheese so I guess I am okay with wood apple. (I have just found out that we do have wood apple in Malaysia - gelinggai/belinggai - but I have never seen or tasted one before this!)

Our favourite drink in Sri Lanka is of course the Thambili or King coconut (water), which we try to get at every opportunity. The heat makes thambili the drink of choice. It is good that you can find this orange coloured coconut in many places on the streets. And it only costs 50 rupees!

One evening we dined at the Rasa Malaysia restaurant by the ocean. Okay, the Chef was Malaysian, especially flown out from Pulau Tioman, so the food was not quite Sri Lankan, yet not quite rasa Malaysia. Anyway A was feeling under the weather and wanted to 'cool down'. But there was no thambili on the menu. Then we spied a tree in front of the restaurant that had coconuts on it. We asked and they obliged! Thank you for the sweetest thambili ever. Or is it sweetest because it was gratis?

                            Thambili @ Rasa Malaysia                            Thambili @ Pinnawala

Mostly the thambili is consumed au naturel but sometimes I go for sweet, so jaggery (like our gula melaka) is added.

                                          Kurumba hora - Thambili with jaggery @ The Shore by O!

On our road trip to Kandy we passed by Cadjugama/Kajugama, where kaju or cashews grow in abundance. You can buy these nuts from roadside vendors (usually ladies in colourful attire) or some little shops. Eat them roasted and also spiced with chili. We bought enough to munch our way throughout our stay in the island.

                                          Cashew nuts of Kajugama

Sri Lanka is a spice island especially famous for cinnamon. There are many spice gardens to visit throughout the country, and again the herbs and spice plants are rather similar to what we have in Malaysia. But they do grow the second most expensive spice in the world (vanilla) rather more successfully than us.

When we visited the Island Grove Spice Garden, it was lunch time. I had fried rice which is not really Sri Lankan food, but is now ubiquitous in most eateries. My prawn fried rice was served with the local condiment of mango chutney.

                            Island Grove Vanilla                                       The Village Restaurant fried rice

With so much tea fame, of course Sri Lankans do drink a lot of tea. Our driver/guide stops for our bio-breaks at eateries or places that also serve tea. Quite Anglophile really... Visits to tea plantations and factories are a must for tourists, including us (although a train ride in tea country still eludes me). 

                                          White tea at Glenloch Tea Factory

                                          Tea and cakes at Barefoot

Then of course you have to have your last cup of Ceylon tea at the airport where there are many tea pavilions/cafes to choose from. Bon appe...tea!

10-15 February 2015