Picture this: steaming plates of rice, colourful spreads of spiced curries simmered in rich coconut milk, the crunch of papadam, sour pickles, and finely shredded leafy greens tossed in sweet onions and scraped coconut. At home in Sri Lanka, we dine together, sharing several curries and condiments spread across the table. While most Western meals typically centre on one main course, everything we cook, everything we eat is a star in Sri Lankan cuisine. Each dish packs its own element.

Rice, along with coconut, is the lifeline of any Sri Lankan kitchen. Together, they form the base for quintessential lunch spreads and everything else we love to devour. Think: pittu or puttu (cylinders of steamed rice layered with grated coconut), hoppers (bowl-shaped pancakes), and flatbreads paired with curries and condiments. With abundance of produce from the land and the ocean, we prepare meals that are both nourishing and delicious, striking a balance of harmony in both taste and nutrition. 

Growing up at home, I remember the amalgam of flavours and textures: aromatic spices, tarty tamarinds, sweet caramelised onions, juicy coconut, and the crunchy, umami notes of cured tuna. Kolamba, our Sri Lankan restaurant in London, is a homage to these kitchen traditions. ​

So join us as we take you through the building blocks of a Sri Lankan meal. ​

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The foundation: Rice, and other things rice-based

When we create meals, the base is always something carb-heavy. Rice is prominent, and it’s the evergreen staple in our diet. Eat anywhere across the island today, and you cannot simply miss the sight of steamed short-grain rice, locally called samba. Sometimes, we would mix it up with fibre-rich red rice.

While rice and curry dominate our everyday lives, Sri Lankan cuisine goes beyond that. For breakfast and dinner, there are other carb-packed dishes that form the centrepiece of our meals. Take, for example, string hoppers. Called idi appa or idiyappam in native Sinhala and Tamil, they are thin, delicate steamed rice-flour noodle mats. At home, my father would always make pol roti (coconut flatbread) for dinner, or boil some starchy root vegetables like manioc. Tamil and Muslim communities love their puttu, a crumbly mound of rice flour and coconut shavings, and dosa, savoury crepes made of fermented rice and lentils. 

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The core accompaniments: Curry

In Sri Lanka, “curry” is a blanket term for dishes served alongside rice or other carb-heavy centrepieces of a meal. From leafy vegetables, tropical fruits, nuts, and legumes to meat and seafood, curries come in several forms: there are those simmered in rich coconut gravy; dry curry dishes where ingredients are stir-fried in coconut oil; and hearty soup-like rasam, cooked with spices and tamarind.

We always incorporate several curries together, each perfectly balanced in flavour, texture, and nutrition. To complete a classic Sri Lankan meal, add one stir-fried spicy dish, a few spoonfuls of a creamy, subtly spicy gravy-rich curry, and some fresh mallung. You could also throw in something salty and crunchy, like deep-fried sundried sprats.

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Protein-based Sri Lankan dishes

With generous chunks of bone-in meat cooked in brightly coloured, fragrantly spiced broths, some of our curries are rich in protein. Every weekend at home, my mother would prepare fresh village chicken cooked in a thick coconut gravy, scented and flavoured with roasted spices, pandan, and curry leaves. Our family often enjoyed the tender meat and gravy with rice noodles. You’ll also see pork, beef and mutton. In Sri Lanka’s North, mutton is made into a dry gravy with intense heat. The black pork curry is equally loved by many Sri Lankans – it’s prepared with dark roasted curry powder (a ground mix of spices), tamarind and black pepper. 

Along the coast, seafood is abundant. Maalu ambul thiyal is a beloved southern dish of tuna coated with goraka (Malabar tamarind) paste and spices, which is slow-cooked over the woodfire. Fish, shrimp, and crab – both from the ocean and freshwater lakes – are made into thick curries, stir-fries, or light broths cooked in coconut milk or oil. 

For vegans and vegetarians, there’s the ubiquitous, protein-rich Sri Lankan dal curry, where masoor dal is cooked in coconut milk with a pinch of turmeric. These lentils work well with rice as well as string hoppers and freshly baked bread.

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Preparing vegetables

No Sri Lankan meal is complete without two or three vegetable curries. With fresh produce coming from the farmlands, the options are endless. Think: straw-like drumsticks or murunga swimming in light, watery broths, fibrous hearts of young green jackfruit slow-cooked in coconut milk, and stir-fried kohila, a root vegetable that thrives in the humid, muddy marshes in Sri Lanka. Stemming from our love for veganism, each meal naturally provides us with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

Raw fruits, like mango and papaya, too, are made into delicious, thick curry layered with coconut milk and herbs. You’ll also get seasonal ingredients like the soft, delicate white flowers of kathuru murunga (hummingbird tree), which are tossed with spices and coconut oil, or simmered in coconut milk.

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Mallung

Mallung is basically a mix of shredded coconut and minced greens. As a kid, I remember picking gotukola (Indian pennywort) from our backyard, and sometimes mukunuwenna (sissoo spinach), which thrives along the paddy fields. Our parents would turn these foraged greens into delicious mallung with a dash of lime and salt, which pair well with rice and curry.

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Sri Lankan condiments

Pol sambol is perhaps that one iconic condiment in Sri Lankan cuisine, so much so that hardly a day passes without it. To prepare pol sambol, freshly scraped coconut, fiery red chillies, onions, salt, and lime juice are jumbled together, adding a perfect element of spice. There are other sides, too, like the sweet-spicy seeni sambal, made with caramelised onions and dried tuna flakes. 

Shredded carrot sambol is a local favourite, along with deep-fried bitter gourd sambol, prepared with sliced onions, fresh green chilli and a sprinkle of lime. 

Once or twice a month, my father would open a tin of canned fish and filter out chunks of flaky mackerel from brine. He would toss in a few pieces of green chilli, onions, and a dash of lime to make “salmon sambal.” It’s something I always looked forward to.

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The crunchies

Our meals often feature something deep-fried, and perhaps a little salty. Brittle, oil-fried sheets of pappadum (lentil crisps) are a hard miss, and at Kolamba, we serve them with mango chutney. These delightfully crispy and crunchy pappadums pair well with the sweet-sour jam-like condiment. Sun-dried red chillies fried in coconut oil also add a slight crackle. For something extra salty, we fry batches of tiny dried anchovies, or sardines.

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Pickles and chutneys

Pickles and chutneys add that extra flavour kick: part sweet, part sour and part spicy. Batu moju was my mother’s favourite. It combines deep-fried eggplant stripes, green chilli, and shallots with a touch of mustard and vinegar for pickling. The Malay pickles, with their history tied to the Malay settlements in Sri Lanka, are popular during festivals like the April New Year. Prepared with shallots, dates, green chillies, mustard, spices, and vinegar, they are quite addictive, to say the least.