6. Hoppers (appa or appam)
Hoppers are the Sri Lankan answer to the pancake. The batter is made from a slightly fermented concoction of rice flour, coconut milk, sometimes coconut water and a hint of sugar.
A ladle of batter is fried in a small wok and swirled around to even it out. Hoppers can be sweet or savory, but one of the local favorites is egg hoppers. An egg is cracked into the bowl-shaped pancake, creating the Sri Lankan version of an "egg in the hole."
Egg hoppers are garnished with lunu miris, a sambol of onions, chilies, lemon juice and salt.
Unlike the runny batter used for hoppers, string hoppers are made from a much thicker dough. The dough is squeezed through a string hopper maker, like a pasta press, to create thin strands of noodles, which are steamed.
String hoppers are normally eaten for breakfast or dinner with curries.
7. Polos (green jackfruit curry)
Jackfruit is consumed in a number of different stages of ripeness, from very ripe and sweet to green and starchy. Polos is a Sri Lankan curry prepared with young green jackfruit.
The fruit is sliced into bite-sized chunks and boiled until soft.
It's then cooked with onions, garlic, ginger and spices like mustard seeds, turmeric, chili powder, roasted curry powder, pandan leaves and curry leaf sprigs. The final step is to add coconut milk and simmer to reduce most of the liquid, leaving all the beautiful flavors within the cubes of jackfruit.
Jackfruit has a starchy texture, somewhat similar to cassava or potato. Polos is a standard dish available at most Sri Lankan curry restaurants.
8. Wambatu moju (eggplant/brinjals pickle)
Served mostly with rice and curries, wambatu moju is an extremely flavorful candied eggplant (brinjals) pickle.
The eggplant -- usually the purple-skinned, long and slender variety -- is cut into bite-sized wedges and deep fried, giving the eggplant a crispy texture with a soft and silky interior.
It's then caramelized with a spoon of sugar, vinegar, red onions, green chilies, mustard seeds, chili powder and a hint of turmeric powder until the color turns almost black.
Take a bite and the soft and juicy texture of the eggplant should melt in your mouth -- the slightly sweet, sour and salty contrast is absolutely sensational.
9. Gotu kola sambol (pennywort salad)
One of the most readily available green vegetable dishes in Sri Lanka is gotu kola sambol.
Gotu kola (known in English as Asiatic pennywort) is a medicinal herb in Asia. It's shredded into slivers, then combined with shallots, tomatoes, fresh grated coconut and chili and seasoned with a dressing of salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Sambol is a term used in Sri Lanka for ingredients that are combined and eaten raw, sometimes more of a chili sauce and sometimes more of a salad, like gotu kola sambol.
Gotu kola has a powerful, herbaceous flavor similar to kale, making it an extremely fresh and crisp dish. It's typically a side dish served with curry and rice.
10. Kiribath with lunu miris
Kiribath is a special type of rice, cooked with thick coconut milk and often served during special or auspicious occasions, such as Sinhalese New Year.
There are a few versions of kiribath, but the basic procedure is to start by boiling a pot of rice.
Before the rice finishes cooking, add coconut milk and a pinch of salt. The coconut milk makes the rice creamy and rich and helps it form a sticky consistency. Once the rice is finished cooking, it's cut into wedges and served like slices of cake.
Kiribath can be eaten along with a number of different Sri Lankan dishes, often either sweetened with jaggery or consumed salty with chili sauce or curry. One of the most common ways to garnish kiribath is with lunu miris, a sambol chili sauce made from red chilies, onions, lemon juice, salt and sometimes dry Maldive fish, all ground into a paste using a stone mortar and pestle.
Comments