The welcome we receive everywhere in Sri Lanka is very warm and inviting.....Ayubowan with folded hands ....right from the time we board Sri Lankan airlines to embark on our vacation...till the time we come back and deplane back home...
Ayubowan - wishing you a long life...is used to say hello & bye...it comes from the words, ayu - ayush - life...and bowan - meaning more...
Sri Lanka is a an amazing place from the sea, to the mountains with the tea estates & rubber plantations...winding roads, lakes, calm & peaceful environment in which to relax, unwind, and enjoy all their gastronomical delights...
Some of the sights shown below....is a victory parade held at Galle Face ( in honor of their third anniversary of victory ), Elephant Orphanage ( Pinnawala ), Town Square ( Colombo ), Tea Estates ( Hatton ) ...besides which we visited their Botanical gardens, Gregory Lake ( Nuwara Eliya ), Tooth Relic temple in Kandy ( this is a Buddhist temple holding the tooth of Buddha ), and Ashokawati - Sita temple ( where Sita was kept captive )...all these were truly moving experiences...
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| Victory Parade |
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| Elephants at the river - Bathing time |
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| Tea Estates |
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| Town Square |
The pictures does not do justice to Sri Lanka which is so much more...however it is a small beginning...
Our experiences was varied as we moved to different places - the pace changing from fast to leisurely...the weather from hot & humid ( Colombo ) to pleasant ( Kandy ) to cool almost cold ( Nuwara Eliya & Hatton ) and at each place we were fortunate to sample some delicious Sri Lankan fare...and even though the language was a bit of a stumbling block, seeing as that I did not speak or understand Sinhalese... I did manage to get the sense of what the ingredients of the dishes were and a general idea of how it is prepared...
Well with the blog being related to food...I had to get to it eventually, so here are some of the dishes we had there ...
Rice & curry is the main food eaten in Sri Lanka but there is a lot more in their repetoire ...
Rice & curry is the main food eaten in Sri Lanka but there is a lot more in their repetoire ...
Kiribath - Milk rice...basically made of rice, coconut milk..a link given below
A plesant surprise was the juice made from avocados....till now I had had avocado in a salsa ..generally had along with Mexican style dishes ...
Avocado juice - made of avocado pulp, sugar, water, milk - put all in a blender and crush...water should be added to get the consistency required - some have it thicker - so you can eat it like soup - some make it thinner - so you can drink it like juice...
Avocado juice - made of avocado pulp, sugar, water, milk - put all in a blender and crush...water should be added to get the consistency required - some have it thicker - so you can eat it like soup - some make it thinner - so you can drink it like juice...
Some use coconut milk instead of regular milk...
But this juice is so amazing - smooth and creamy...it was unbelievable...
Some even make a smoothie with curds and sweetened condensed milk...but given below is the proportions for avocado juice with milk...
Ingredients :
Avocado - 1 - deseed and remove the pulp
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - to taste...
Put the avocado, milk, sugar in a blender...water can be added to adjust the thickness...
Some even make a smoothie with curds and sweetened condensed milk...but given below is the proportions for avocado juice with milk...
Ingredients :
Avocado - 1 - deseed and remove the pulp
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - to taste...
Put the avocado, milk, sugar in a blender...water can be added to adjust the thickness...
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| Avocado Juice |
Fruits are grown in plenty ( including the above avocado ) - so fruit platter, fruit juices with various combinations of banana, papaya, water melon, mangoes are also available at all places and at all times and they were all delicious...sweet and juicy.
Many of the vegetables and curries are cooked either with coconut or coconut milk and many with coconut oil...it adds a very distinctive taste and flavour to the dishes ...all of which we relished with great joy.
A couple of salads which stood out in taste and simplicity...was cabbage with coconut, green chillies, coriander and seasoning of oil, mustard seed and broken red chilli - and the second salad was made with Brahmi leaves and coconut, again this had green chillies, salt and squeeze of lemon...
Breakfast on one day was transformed into a gastronomical treat with String hoppers and coconut milk sambhol(like curry) and chutney...
Sri Lanka has many different types of hoppers - the string hoppers are like idiappam - made of rice which is ground with a little salt and water and then pressed thru a seive onto small vatis or dishes specially made for making idiappams -this is placed in hot water in a idli container...after it is steamed thoroughly - it is taken out and served with a curry - fish or chicken in case of non-vegeterians and coconut milk curry in case of vegetarians.
For desert we would generally stick with fruit platters...a healthier choice besides being so yummy it was not too difficult a choice...but we did try out some of the other choices ...one of which was their mango pudding.
Mango pudding is made of course from mangoes, condensed milk, gelatin, sugar, hot water...the sugar and gelatin are melted in hot water and then the magoes pulp and condensed milk are mixed in - cool till it sets, then unmold and serve...
For desert we would generally stick with fruit platters...a healthier choice besides being so yummy it was not too difficult a choice...but we did try out some of the other choices ...one of which was their mango pudding.
Mango pudding is made of course from mangoes, condensed milk, gelatin, sugar, hot water...the sugar and gelatin are melted in hot water and then the magoes pulp and condensed milk are mixed in - cool till it sets, then unmold and serve...
I feel I have just barely touched upon the topic of Sri Lankan cuisine...their different chutneys with onions ( cooked and raw )...and the coconut chutneys...and mango curry...and beans veggie cooked with coconut milk, leeks vegetable ( never knew I could so enjoy it )....and another breakfast dish made with millet flour and had with potato curry......
You can see that I have started drooling....so let me stop here...and hope that you have all enjoyed reading about our culinary experiences...
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| Salad with Brahmi leaves |
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| Mango curry |
You can see that I have started drooling....so let me stop here...and hope that you have all enjoyed reading about our culinary experiences...
The folks we met with were delightful and all even our tourist guide/driver, the tea estate workers all were very interested in our film industry, and cricket...knew quite a bit about IPL...and at one place we were even serenaded by a group singing "Kuch kuch hota hai"...we were touched...
We would love to go back for another visit...and wish all of them...
Ayubowan.....
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