Sri Lanka Foods Pictures

Sri Lankan Curries served at lunch and dinner, or even for breakfast!

Curries for lunch and dinner. Even at breakfast, you will be offered tasty dhal (lentil stew) and crispy, delicate wafers called papadums that, along with fragrant Basmati rice, are the mainstays.

This meal tasted as good as it looks!

To alleviate the burn of of overly-hot and spicy curries, I was told to immediately eat a spoonful or two of the plain, grated, fresh coconut that was served at every meal. It works!

Traditionally, many Srilankans eat food with their fingers, first pinching up a bit of rice, then using the rice to scoop curry or meats into their mouth.

More Srilankan food curries and condiments beautifully presented

It doesn't matter if you don't know their names when they appear on your plate!

All these foods tasted great.

Many Sri Lankans are vegetarian, as about 85 per cent of the citizens practice Buddhism, and many of the rest practice Hinduism.

Many curries are fiery hot, so test out a small portion first.

The earthen bowls are traditional SriLankan.

SriLankan Egg Hoppers a SpecialtyAnd Special Occasion Food

Egg hoppers are made to order much as omelettes are in breakfast buffets. The chef prepares these hoppers at the outdoor buffet at the Colombo's Hilton Hotel.

Egg hoppers are basically egg-filled crepes made from rice flour and coconut milk batter.

A ladleful of batter is swirled in the small, lidded wok. This wok gives hoppers their distinctive shape. Then a whole raw egg is placed in the centre of the cooking crepe.

Another ladle of batter is poured over the egg to cover it, and the whole hopper is then cooked until the egg is set.

Names of Sri Lanka Vegetables and Fruits in English

Names of foods don't translate well from one language to another.

The name of the long, green vegetable, in English, was 'chicken bones', we were told (see comments at bottome of page for notes).

It tastes similar to okra, but had thin, brittle strings.

They were the 'chicken bones', I gather, and were needle-sharp and inedible.

Cashews were sold roasted, spiced, as snacks, or raw, and made into foods like Cashew Curry.

Sri Lankan String Hoppers another Traditional Food

Prepared by the chefs at the Hilton, string hoppers are the fluffy balls pictured here.

The unusal name -- hoppers -- comes from the English mis-hearing the SriLankan word for rice : appe (Ah Pay) which they called Hoppers.

While Egg Hoppers are considered a special treat (more difficult to make) the string hoppers are available in many restaurants.

String hoppers are made from a pounded, steamed rice noodle, similar to vermicelli.

Fresh Coconut Water Stand beside Sri Lanka Highway

Cut off the top of the coconut, insert a straw, and you have a cooling drink.

The 'mug' -- the coconut meat -- is edible, too.

That was what this fellow did at a roadside stand just outside Colombo on the road to Kandy.

As we were happily sipping the sweet, refreshing coconut water, our guide mentioned that coconut water acts as a diuretic.

Immediately all the women on the washroom-free bus stopped drinking :-)

Coconuts grow at elevations up to 700 metres (2100 feet).

The green or brown ones coconuts are used for their milk and cream; these yellow ones in the picture are a source of water.

Pineapples Market Beside Sri Lanka Highway

Pineapples at a roadside market on the road to Kandy.

The vendor peeled and cored a few of the juicy fresh fruits, which went down very well in the heat of the day.

I believe there are seven varieties of pineapple grown on the island, and some one hundred varieties of fruits overall.

Most of the large fruit plantations are in the north, in the area around Jaffna.

Arica palms grow here.

They are used to make Arack, the strong Srilanka liquor.

Try it over ice, with lots of fresh-squeezed lime juice.

Indian Ocean Lobster Served at Colombo Hilton Restaurant

Ready for dinner at the Hilton Hotel Colombo, these large and tasty looking lobsters were cooked up by one of the chefs.

Toronto Canada (my home) has a large Sri Lanka community, but as one Srilankan told me, they prefer takeout restaurants so they can eat at home.

See More Sri Lanka Travel Pictures

Kandy * Colombo * Galle and the beach at Bentota Fortress at Sigiriya * Sri Lanka Information * Before You Go and What to Pack