One Land, Many Cuisines

       Sri Lanka’s multi-ethnic population ensures culinary variety

      Sri Lanka boasts a vast array of tropical fruits, vegetables and spices, as well as an abundance of fish and other seafood in its lakes, rivers and seas, and wild game in its forests. The way Sri Lankans put this bounty together in the kitchen depends to some extent on where they live, and even more upon their ethnic and religious background.

      The multi-ethnic mix of people living on this small island comprises Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors (Muslims), Burghers and Eurasians, Malays and Veddhas.

      The majority of the population are Sinhalese, believed to be descended from Indo-Aryans who arrived from northern India more than 2,000 years ago and intermarried with scattered groups of tribal Veddhas. Over the centuries, the cooking of the Sinhalese has evolved into two slightly different styles: coastal

       or “low country” Sinhalese, and Kandy or “upcountry” Sinhalese.

      Regardless of where they live, the staple food for Sinhalese (and indeed, for all Sri Lankans) is rice. This is usually accompanied by a range of spiced vegetables, fish, poultry, meat or game dishes. Most Sinhalese are Buddhist and although the taking of life is against Buddhist teachings, most Sinhalese don’t mind eating food which has been killed by others. Strict Buddhists, however, are vegetarians (something they share with a number of Hindu Tamils).

      In coastal Sinhalese cuisine, fish and other seafood feature far more widely than poultry or meat, and coconut milk is the preferred base for curries. Towns such as Bentota, Chilaw and Batticaloa are noted for excellent seafood but most famous of all is Negombo. The crab and prawn dishes from this west coast town are well-known throughout Sri Lanka. Negombo is also the site of one of the island’s busiest and most colourful fish markets.

      Another Sinhalese specialty from the coast is Tamarind Claypot Fish or ambulthiyal. At its best in the Southern town of Ambalangoda, ambulthiyal is a dish of balaya (bonito) which uses tamarind as both a flavouring and a preservative—even in Sri Lanka’s heat and humidity, this dish can keep for up to a week.

      An ingredient known as Maldive fish is widely used as

       a seasoning throughout Sri Lanka, but especially in coastal regions. It is made from a type of bonito (also known as skipjack) which is boiled, smoked and sun-dried until it is rock hard.

      Kandy, the heart of upcountry Sri Lanka, remained an independent Sinhalese kingdom until the British finally took over in 1815, thus it largely escaped the social and culinary influences of the Portuguese and Dutch. Thanks to the higher altitude and cooler climate, a wide range of vegetables and fruits flourish around Kandy and other upcountry regions, which are renowned for their range of delicious vegetable dishes.

      Many Kandian curries are made with unusual ingredients such as young jackfruit, jackfruit seeds, cashews, breadfruit and green papaya, while various edible flowers such as turmeric, hibiscus and sesbania may end up in an omelette or curry. Game, including deer and wild birds, was also an upcountry favourite, although dwindling forests and restrictions on hunting in protected areas have diminished the amount of game now being cooked in upcountry kitchens.

      Sinhalese refer to their main meal as “rice and curry,” and normally serve several types of spiced or “curried” dishes of vegetables, fish, meat or poultry. Curries are classified by their spicing and method of cooking rather than by their main ingredient. Thus, there are “red” curries which contain an often incendiary amount of chilli and usually a limited number of spices. There are also the distinctively Sinhalese “black” curries which develop a wonderfully rich aroma and flavour, thanks to the technique of roasting whole spices (primarily coriander, cumin and fennel) to a rich brown colour before grinding them. “Brown” curries are made from unroasted spices, while “white” curries, which contain plenty of coconut milk and very little chilli, are generally quite mild.

      When choosing which curries to serve with the rice, Sinhalese cooks ensure that there is a variety of textures as well as flavours, with at least one fairly liquid, or soupy, curry to help moisten the rice, and usually a relatively dry curry with a thick gravy. One of the curries will most likely be a spiced lentil dish, and there is sure to be at least one pungent side dish or condiment known as a sambol (from the Malay sambal). These sambol, also know as “rice pullers,” are guaranteed to whet the appetite with their basic ingredient—anything from onion to bitter gourd, dried prawns to salted lime—heightened by the flavours of chilli, onion, salt and Maldive fish.