Mangoteen and Rambutan


Mangoteen

Mangoteen is a dark puple fruit with luscious translucent segments within. Its flavour maybe described as a combination between strawberries and grapes. They are seasonal and are available from july to September.











Rambutan

Rambutan is related to the lychee. It is coated with a soft red hairy skin. Which is easily peeled to rach the sweet flesh of the fruit.








Passion Fruit and Cashew Apple


Passion Fruit

The passion fruit takes its name from the flower symbolic of Christ's Passion. Passion fruit are round, slightly oval fruit 5-8cm in length that grow on long, trailing vines. They are purple or yellow in color . and have a smooth, thin skin that wrinkles as the fruit loses moisture - a normal process which doesn't affect their flavor. Their juicy flesh is orange and contains several soft, edible seeds. Passion fruit have a bittersweet flavor and pungent aroma.

Cashew Apple

The cashew apple is the yellowish-orange part . It is known everywhere as the nut, and the "fruit" sold for eating is a swollen stem. It has a very thin skin-green when unripe and turning to yellow, pink, or more rarely, bright scarlet, when ripe. The ripe fruit is sweet, crisp and juicy with a faint rose perfume.

Dessert



Baffalo Curd and Treacle (Kithul pani which is made from the kithul palm)

Juggery
Juggery is a hard, brown coloured sweet made out of kitul treacle.

Kalu Dodol

Kalu Dodol is made out of coconut milk, juggery and cashew.
















Kavum,
Kokis, Athiraha
Kavum, kokis and athiraha are traditional sinhala sweetmeats.

Rasakevili
Rasakevili are the sweetmeats eaten during the festive seasons.


Thalaguli
Thalaguli are sesame balles.

Halape
Halape are a mixture of coconut and juggery.

Aluwa
Aluwa is a fudge like sweet

Puhul Dose
Puhul dosi (pumkin preserves)

Panivalalu
Panivalalu are 'honey bangles'

Bibikkan
Bibikkan is a traditional sinhala cake made from juggery coconut. bananas, papaya, pineapples, avocados.


Short Eats



"Short-eats" are savoury bite-sized pastries or rolls and can be quick, easy and fun. There's always a dish of sambol (a red hot combination of grated coconut, chilli and spice) available if you really want to set your mouth on fire. Short eats such as chinese rolls (a pancake with a beef, fish, chicken or vegetable filling and fried), cutlets, patties, pastries, hot dogs, ham burgers etc. are freely available. The fish cutlets made from mashed tuna spliced with curry spices are delightfully tasty, while the squids hidden in a bed of onions fried to the very bone seem unusually crispy. But still, the taste of the flesh is intact.

String Hoppers


Another popular breakfast dish is a rice preparation known as indi-appa or string hoppers. These are small spaghetti-like strings of rice-flour dough squeezed through a sieve onto small woven trays, which are steamed one atop the other. Light and lacy, string hoppers make a mouthwatering meal with curry and sambol.

Milk RICE (Kiribath)



Kiribath (milk rice) is a ceremonial specific and included in all special occasion menus. Kiribath is translated in to "milk rice". The rice is cooked in thick coconut cream for this un sweetened rice-pudding which is accompanied by a sharp chilli relish called "Lunumiris" or with a tackey coconut and treacle confection called "Panipol" - a sweet made with grated jaggery coconut and touch of vanilla.

Hoppers (Appa)


The most popular breakfast dishes in Sri Lanka are the hoppers (appa). These wafer thin, cup-shaped pancakes are made from a fermented batter of rice flour, coconut milk and a dash of palm toddy. A hopper, crisp on the outside, yet soft and spongy in the centre, is best eaten with curries and sambols while still streaming hot. There are many types of hoppers: plain hoppers, egg hoppers, milk hoppers, and sweeter varieties like vanduappa and paniappa.

Makes about 20

15 g/1/2 oz fresh compressed yeast
or 1 teaspoon dried yeast
125 ml/4 fl oz/1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
185 g/6 oz/1 1/2 cups medium-coarse ground rice
185 g/6 oz/1 1/2 cups fine rice flour
or plain (all-purpose) white flour
2 teaspoons salt
400 ml/14 fl oz can coconut milk
500 ml/1 pint/2 cups water

Sprinkle yeast over warm water, stir to dissolve, add sugar and leave for 10 minutes or so. If yeast starts to froth it is active and you can proceed with the recipe. If it has no reaction, start again with a fresh batch of yeast. Put ground rice, rice flour and salt into a large bowl. Combine 300 ml (10 fl oz canned coconut milk with measured water and add yeast mixture. Stir into dry ingredients to form a smooth, thick batter. Allow to stand overnight, or put in a warm (turned off) oven for 1 hour until the mixture rises and froths.

The batter should be of a thick pouring consistency, but thin enough to cover the sides of the pan with an almost transparent coating when the batter is swirled. It will probably be necessary to add extra water. A little practice will tell you when you have achieved the perfect consistency, and so much depends on the absorbency of the flour (which is variable) that it is not possible to give an accurate measurement.

Heat the pan over low heat until very hot, rub the inside surface with a piece of folded paper towels dipped in oil, or spray with one of the light oil or non-stick lecithin-based sprays and pour in a small ladle of the batter. Immediately pick up the pan by both handles, using potholders, and swirl it around so that the batter coats the pan for two-thirds of the way up. Cover pan (any saucepan cover that fits just inside the top edge will do) and cook on very low heat for about 5 minutes. Lift lid and peep. When the upper edges begin to turn a pale toasty colour, the hopper is ready. Where the batter has run down the sides to the centre there will be a little circle of spongy mixture, rather like a crumpet, while the curved edge is very thin, crisp and wafer-like. With a curved slotted utensil or flexible metal spatula, loosen edges and slip the hopper from the pan on to a wire rack. Wipe pan again with oiled paper and repeat. Serve the hoppers warm, accompanied by a hot chilli, Maldive fish and onion sambal or any kind of meat, fish or chicken curry.

Note: The remaining undiluted coconut milk, with a pinch of salt and teaspoon of sugar added, is usually spooned into the centre of the last few hoppers which are made. This is a special treat, known as miti kiri appe or coconut cream hoppers and may be served with shavings of jaggery.

Egg Hoppers

Have ready an egg broken into a cup. As soon as the batter has been swirled to coat the pan, gently slip the egg into the centre of the hopper. Cover and cook as in the Hopper recipe, and the egg will be done to perfection by the time the hopper is cooked. Serve with pepper and salt for grinding over the egg. This type of hopper is generally served with a knife and fork, and a plain hopper which can be rolled up and dipped into the egg.

Pittu



Pittu probably came to Sri Lanka with the Malay regiments of the European colonial period. It is however completely naturalized now and is a staple of Sri Lankan cuisine. Pittu is a mixture of fresh rice meal, every lightly roasted and mixed with fresh grated coconut, then steamed in a bamboo mould. It has a soft crumbly texture and is eaten with fresh coconut 'milk' and a hot chilli relish or curry

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Main dish

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
250 g Rice flour
250 g Coconut
1/2 ts Salt
75 ml Hot water
180 ml Thick coconut milk

Roast and sieve the flour well. Grate the coconut.
Place the flour in a bowl and add the salt. Slowly
pour in the hot water, mixing with your fingers as you
do so until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the grated
coconut and mix well in. Place the mixture in the
pittu mould and place over a pan of boiling water
until steam emerges from the top of the pittu mould.
Cover with half a coconut shell and steam for a
further 5 minutes or until done.

Note: If a pittu mould is not available, mould dough
into loaf shape, wrap in muslin and steam for about
15 minutes.

Rice and curry



Rice and Curry - boiled rice with curried vegetable, fish and/or meat laced with Sri Lankan spices is the typical Sri Lankan main meal, a gourmet’s delight. It is served for both lunch and dinner and some do have it for breakfast too. Curries are usually made hot but can be mellowed to suit the pallet. Rice and Curry is served for lunch and dinner. Boiled or steamed rice with a variety of curries, salads, sambols, pappadam and chutney form the meal. Spices are added to make the dishes more delectable. The unaccustomed may sometimes find the curries too hot but, this is easily controlled by reducing the quantities of spices used, specially chilli and pepper, to suit the different tastes. Everything is brought to the table at once and there are no separate courses as in a Western style meal. It is perfectly correct to take a little of everything and taste it against the neutral rice. On special occasions yellow rice is cooked in coconut milk and delicately flavoured with spices. Turmeric is added to give the rice a bright yellow. It is served garnished with cashews raisins, and hard-boiled eggs.