Sri Lanka’s national dish is not one curry but a whole table of them – and every family cooks it differently.
What is on the plate
A proper rice and curry lunch brings a mound of rice surrounded by five, six or more small dishes: dhal cooked with coconut milk, a fish or chicken curry, curried jackfruit or beetroot, a green leaf mallung with grated coconut, and a fiery pol sambol of coconut, chilli and lime. Papadums add crunch.
Eat with your right hand if you want to try it the local way – mixing a little of each curry with the rice – or with a spoon and fork, which nobody minds.
Learning to cook it
On several of our tours, guests spend an afternoon cooking with a family, starting with a walk through the garden to pick curry leaves, pandan and chillies. You grind spices on a stone, scrape coconut and learn why Sri Lankan curry powder is roasted darker than Indian. Then everyone sits down to eat together.
