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Sri Lankan Recipes

Sri Lanka really is the damndest of places. It's a remarkably diverse island but you could generally describe it as 'lush' and perhaps, if you were feeling a little naughty, 'moist'. It has an incredible depth of culture, a lovely people (apart from the threateningly insistent touts on the big green in Colombo Fort and others who thrive on the margins of tourist crime) and a breathtaking range of sceneries from the green sweep of tea-planted highlands through the rainforests and the stunning vistas of palm-lined beaches. And it hits you right between the eyes from the second you walk out onto the street until the second you find shelter in a quiet room or secluded spot. Sri Lanka, whatever else it is, is a full-on experience.

Sri Lankan food is wickedly spicy and you'll frequently find yourself being hit a triple lemon grass, chili and coconut whammy. We're basically talking curry and rice here, although you'll find foods cooked in banana leaves and many Sri Lankan recipes also use pandan leaf, a set of ingredients that immediately makes a connection across to Malay and Indonesian food. And, in fact, a Sri Lankan curry wouldn't surprise a Sumatran or terrify a Thai.

Rice provides something like 45% of the calorific intake of the average Sri Lankan, so it features big in everyday eating. Basmati rice is popular: the Sri Lankans have a variety that has extra 'old sockiness' and which is pretty strong for the average palate. Further up the sock scale is red rice, which is really strongly flavoured.

A unique and typically idiosyncratic Sri Lankan rice concoction is 'string hoppers' (or idiyappam, if you prefer): a rice flour and water paste is extruded through a vermicelli press to make small round cakes of stringed rice and these are then steamed, a little like birds nests that a truck has run over. If you know what I mean. String hoppers are really nice when served up with a curry: a good string hopper is dry to the touch, not sticky or starchy.

There are also 'hoppers', which are basically pancakes made from fermented rice flour and flavoured with coconut and palm toddy.

For some reason, in common with their Indian neighbours to the North, Sri Lankans have an amazing weakness for Chinese food. You haven't lived until you've eaten a Sri Lankan Chinese meal. It's bloody odd and fiercely hot, with evil lumps of chili lurking in every mouthful.

All of the recipes below have been stolen, without a single shred of guilt, from our pal Deepika. She came round one day for a big cook-in and I just got in her way and took notes. I've eaten all of these in restaurants and this stuff is better. By the way, the names of these dishes are distinctly unromantic, but they're the only names I could get for them. I asked around, describing each dish, but always got the same answer: a shrug and 'We just call it potato curry'. So be it.

These recipes, cooked up together with a nice big bowl of freshly fluffed basmati rice, will happily serve a table of 6-8 people: any one recipe served with rice will do two nicely. If you feel fancy, chop up a few sambals and serve them alongside the curry.

Dessert would traditionally be something simple, some fruit or 'curds' (yoghurt) with palm syrup poured over it. Like southern India, Sri Lanka is rich in coconut palms and coconuts, coconut arrak (the national tipple and wickedly potent, at that) and palm syrup are big staples. Palm syrup has a lovely caramel richness to it.

A note on Sri Lankan ingredients