Foods & Drinks - Sri Lanka

Main Dishes

The cuisine mainly consists of (steamed) rice and curry. Curry usually takes various forms and thereby brings versatility to dishes. Curries can not only be made using meat or fish but with vegetables and fruits where the dish becomes a delicacy.

Spices and coconut milk are always generally used to make the Sri Lankan cuisine. Sri Lankan food is generally considered to be more spicier than Indian food because of various types of chilli used. As a matter of fact Sri Lankan cuisine is considered to be among the hottest and spiciest cuisine in the world. However, tourist hotels prepare most Sri Lankan foods to favour the foreign palate since most people aren't used to very spicy food.

Another famous rice dish is Milk Rice, which is generally made during special occasions such as auspicious days, birthdays, weddings,etc. It is eaten with an accompaniment of a chilli paste and sometimes dried up fish curry.

However flour based foods are also available which are generally eaten for breakfast or dinner among the Singhalese, Hoppers, string hoppers, roti, thosai, etc.

Sweet meats and Deserts

Sweet meat always graces the dining table during any auspicious day. Usually on the Sri Lankan and Tamil New Years Day sweet meats are seen in abundance. The most common sweet meat is Oil Cakes or kavum which is made by mixing flour with treacle and fried in deep hot oil. Kokis has a much more crispier texture to it and is more famous among small children. One of the famous dessert is Wattalapan originated from the Malays. Buffalo curd along with treacle is also eaten as a dessert.

Beverages

Sri Lankan Beverages are mainly herbal drinks. Fresh Drinks made from papaya, avacado, lime are also consumed a lot during very hot days. Sago soup is also drunk to cool down ones body temperature. Tea and coffee is also used as a common day to day refeshment and is always served in households when guests arrive. Young coconuts are also very famous among people. Most of the drinks are targeted to bring down or cool down the heat, since Sri Lanka is a tropical island a lot of refreshing drinks are found. Arrack and toddy are famous liquours among Sri lankans.