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At home in Sri Lanka, our cuisine is fresh, flavourful, and bold. For centuries, Sri Lanka was a key trading hub in the Maritime Silk Route, where merchants from the Arab world, Persia and India often frequented the island. From the early 16th century, the island fell into the hands of European colonial powers: Portuguese, Dutch and the British – in that order. Today, contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine plucks inspiration from all these cultures and communities. It’s a vibrant blend of indigenous cooking traditions and Indian, Malay, Moorish and European influences. 

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At Kolamba, our Sri Lankan cuisine restaurant in London, the menu pays tribute to these culinary roots, with flavourful dishes that capture the heart and soul of the island’s homecooking. And Sri Lankan food is more than just curry – it’s also the joy of dipping into a chilli coconut sambol sprinkled with a dash of lime, biting into Sri Lankan snacks, like crunchy, bread rolls stuffed with spiced mutton.

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So today, let’s look at some of these different elements of Sri Lankan cuisine.

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Short eats 

Short eats are essentially Sri Lankan snacks. There’s no one definition for them. They are both savoury and sweet, they come in different sizes, shapes and textures. Think of a deep-fried breaded roll stuffed with spicy canned fish or a triangle-shaped pancake filled with a delicious mix of potato, fish and a boiled egg. Then you get the maalu paan (fish bun), a soft baked bun with a spicy filling of potato and fish. Thin flatbreads are loaded with mutton, chicken and beef and browned on a pan while bite-sized croquettes of canned fish are coated in breadcrumbs and fried in oil until they turn golden brown. 

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You’ll find sweet ones almost everywhere, too. Modakkam, rice flour dumplings with sweet jaggery and coconut filling, are popular among the Tamil community. Aggala are beloved teatime snacks – they are ground roasted rice made into tiny balls with grated coconut and sugar. 

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Short eats are so deeply woven into Sri Lankan culture that they are ubiquitous throughout the island, you’ll find them loaded into glass cabinets in hole-in-the-walls and served during fancy high tea ceremonies. Hawkers sell them in buses and trains and street carts pop up along the busy streets as dusk falls. You’ll get them at Kolamba, too, with our fish cutlets and banana blossom patties. 

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Bites

Although some short eats – like fish cutlets and mutton rolls – can be bites (the kind you’ll pair with drinks), Sri Lankan cuisine is packed with unique bites to enjoy with booze. And when you think of Sri Lankan bites, you can’t miss hot butter cuttlefish (HBC), which are essentially cuttlefish or squid tossed with butter, spring onions, and chilli for the extra heat. It’s so good that HBC is also part of Kolamba’s bites menu, batter-fried with a beautiful chili glaze. 

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There are other types of Sri Lankan snacks, too, like fried mushrooms, peppery pork and deep-fried sardinella that pair well with a glass of beer or whiskey. 

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Curry

Different types of curry dishes are integral to Sri Lankan cuisine. Most curries are thickened with creamy, rich coconut. They are also flavoured and seasoned with spices and aromatics like cinnamon, pandan and curry leaves. Not all curries in Sri Lanka are fiery and spicy. In fact, some dishes like potato curry are mildly spiced, coloured with a pinch of turmeric, and simmered in coconut milk. There are other types of preparations – like mirisata – which include vegetables, lentils or fish made into a spicy dish with a chilli kick. Other preparations include: thel dala, a spicy dry fry (potatoes, chickpeas and dried fish are often made this way); and kiri hodi, a coconut milk gravy typically eaten with bread or string hoppers (steamed rice flour noodle mats). 

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Almost every Sri Lankan meal accompanies some type of curry, like parippu, a creamy red lentil curry cooked in coconut milk, or Sri Lankan chicken curry. These curries are paired with carbs, often white or red rice, oven-baked bread, string hoppers, or pol roti (flatbread made with grated coconut). 

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Sambol

Sambol – also called sambola – is a common condiment in Sri Lankan cuisine. They go with pretty much everything. Pol sambol is popular, and so it makes an appearance on Kolamba’s menu, too. For pol sambol, grated coconut is muddled with red chilli and onion, and sprinkled with lime to add flavour. They are often plated with rice, string hoppers and bread.

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There are other Sri Lankan condiments, too, like seeni sambol – caramelised onions mixed with umbalakada (Maldivian fish flakes) that add a nice umami touch. For something fresh, think of a carrot sambol made with grated carrots, coconut and lime; or karawila sambol, deep-fried bitter gourd slices with a hint of lime. 

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Mallung

Mallung directly translates to “mix,” which is also how it’s made. You could say mallung is the Sri Lankan version of a salad, where ingredients are tossed up together to create a light, fresh and delicious dish packed with nutrients. Generally, for Sri Lankan mallung, finely shredded leafy greens are tossed with scraped coconut, lime and salt, to pair with rice, sambols and curry dishes.

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Kola kenda

Kola kenda is perhaps a great way to enjoy leafy greens. Traditionally prepared for breakfast, kola kenda is somewhere between a thick porridge and a herbal smoothie. It’s earthy, green and aromatic as one or several types of kola (leafy greens) – like curry leaves or Indian pennywort – are cooked with rice and coconut milk. Rich in antioxidants, street vendors roll up their carts every morning to serve this nourishing breakfast smoothie to passersby with a piece of palm jaggery, its sweet, smokey flavours pairing well with the herbal notes of the drink. Sri Lankans also prepare other types of kenda that don’t involve any greens, like the popular sau kenda, or sago porridge. 

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Whether you’re looking for Sri Lankan snacks, mallung or a glass of kola kenda, each Sri Lankan dish tells the story of our island home – meals cooked with love, unparalleled hospitality, and vibrant markets with bounties of the land and the sea. 

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