23 Famous Sri Lankan Food Dishes

Malabar matthi curry is a Sri Lankan curry dish with modern variations coming from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, a state in India. The “Malabar Matthi” term means “sardines” in English, and they are also the main ingredient in this dish.

Ideally, fish and rice are 2 of the core food sources for the curry, employing semi-cooked sardines in Kerala-style curry, okra, or onion. However, some can include coconut milk or tamarind juice to create a twist in flavor and differentiate the Sri Lankan version among various ones.

This bold flavor curry goes fine with bread, rice, tapioca, and naan. Aside from Sri Lanka, other Indian States like Goa and Kerala also enjoy this flavorful curry.

Kakuluwo is a seafood dish of Sri Lanka made using mud crab or blue swimmer crab for cooking on medium-low heat for a long time.

The locals usually simmer the curry in a clay pot to maintain the heat well and bring more flavor to the crab’s meat. The dish is especially popular in the north side of Sri Lanka.

To get the full experience, you should pair kakuluwo with rice and pol sambol, a coconut dish with rice and string hopper.

Kukul mas maluwa is a traditional chicken curry hailing from Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese cuisine. With a strong coconut flavor, the curry calls for bone-in chicken to sweeten the broth.

While cooking, the chicken soaks up coconut milk curry for a savory and charming bite. You will find this chicken curry spicy and earthy thanks to using strong spices like cinnamon and cumin seeds.

Polos curry is a young jackfruit curry utilizing the meaty jackfruit meat and combining it with spices. The cooked young jackfruit will have a tender texture like steak; that’s why its name is polos (in Sinhala, polos can be translated literally to tender).

Polos curry has been consumed in Sri Lanka for a long time, often simmered until the liquid nearly runs out, unlike other curries with a bit of sauce after cooking. The cube-sized jackfruit with eye-catching color and signature flavors will make your meal more beautiful.

Dhal curry is a traditional dish made with red lentils (also called masoor dhal), coconut milk, and spices. It is a staple in Sri Lankan cuisine and is often served with rice, roti, or other curries and sambols.

It is a mild, creamy, and fragrant lentil stew that can be enjoyed by vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. In Sri Lanka, the liquid dhal curry is a popular pick for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner.

Fish ambul thiyal is a unique dish in Sri Lanka and a special way to preserve blackened fish. The word “ambul” in Sinhalese means “sour”, referring to the fish being dry-cooked.

People use goraka and black pepper to marinate fish, turning the outer into a black color. Coming from Ambalangoda, the dish is a specialty of the southern province of Sri Lanka.

Kiribath is a rice dish in Sri Lanka often used for special occasions such as New Year, weddings, birthdays, or a welcome home party. This rice creation needs 2 main ingredients, featuring milk and rice, before being shaped into cubes.

This treat provides a creamy, tender profile along with a subtle aroma of coconut milk. To add to that, kiribath is a common pick for many in Sri Lanka, including variations like mung kiribath (made using green gram) and imbul kiribath (with coconut and jaggery filling).

Lamprais is a Sri Lankan dish of the Dutch Burghers, who were influenced by Indonesian cuisine. It is a rice-based dish wrapped in banana leaves and baked with various curries, sambols, and meatballs.

The standard version requires short-grained rice cooked in stock, eggplant pickle, shrimp paste, onion relish, frikadeller meatballs, 3-meat curry ash plantain, and eggplant curry, sometimes including fried, boiled eggs.

Instead of displaying it on a platter, people use a banana leaf for a subtle and unique aroma.

Puttu is a steamed dish combining ground rice with coconut and salt that is popular in Sri Lanka and some parts of India. These cylindrical creations are often layered with grated coconut.

Most of the time, people cook puttu in a cylindrical vessel with holes, or a coconut shell, or a bamboo stem. It is usually eaten for breakfast with curries, sambols, or coconut milk.

Aside from rice, puttu can also be made with different grains, such as wheat or red rice, and with different fillings, such as meat or fruit.

Kola kenda is a common herbal porridge that locals often have for breakfast. It provides consumers with energy thanks to rice and coconut milk along with freshly squeezed juice.

The signature green color of kola kenda comes from a variety of herbs used. Also, depending on the disease you suffer from, you can order the congee made from suitable herbs.

Its original flavor is a little bit bitter; so people will add palm sugar to relieve the profile.

Appam is a thin pancake blending 2 basic ingredients in Sri Lanka, featuring rice flour and coconut milk. Fermentation is often needed for the batter before being cooked in a flat pan for a crispy texture.

Appam not only appears in Sri Lankan breakfast or dinner but also is a staple dish in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

These hoppers are created using soaked rice and coconut milk, but many people choose rice flour instead to save time in modern life. Ideally, appam goes well with an egg as a topping.

Idiyappam is a variation of appam, coming in the form of white noodle strings. People will; need to squeeze the rice batter and press it to create thin noodles.

These strings are neatly steamed before serving. In addition to the name idiyappam, you can find this food under different ones such as indi appa, savige and more.

Since the thin noodles don’t have an impressive flavor, you should accompany it with stew, egg curries, and kormas.

Pol sambola is a common condiment in Sri Lanka and is served with rice, appam, and other delightful side dishes. The coconut specialty features shredded coconut meat with chilies, lime juice, shallots, and salt.

The old-day pol sambola is mixed in a rectangular granite block and rolling pin.

Medu Vada is a Sri Lanka spicy and savory dish shaped like a donut hailing from Maddur in Karnataka. You can find its shape is quite similar to a fritter, often serving as a street food in Sri Lanka.

Often enjoyed as a snack or appetizer, these lentil donuts are tasty on their own, though locals usually serve medu vada with sambar or green hot peppers.

Lunu miris is a food from Sri Lanka made of simple ingredients like salt and chilies. The condiment is a spicy paste that can be combined with many Sri Lankan dishes, like kiribath, appam, bread, rice, and roti.

This spicy mixture brings together chili pepper, shallots, Maldives fish, sea salt, black pepper, and lime juice. Locals often use a mortar and pestle to make lunumiris.

Gotu kola sambol is a Sri Lankan salad made with a herb called gotu kola, which is also known as pennywort. Many mix this green with grated coconut, onion, green chilli, lime juice, salt, and sometimes Maldives fish flakes.

The salad is a favorite option, boasting a mild, citrusy, and slightly spicy flavor. This dish is celebrated for its health benefits, including promoting mental clarity and vitality.

Mallung is a vegetable mix in Sri Lanka, consisting of lighlty sautéd green with coconut meat. In Sri Lanka, “mallung” or “mallum” simply translates to “mixed” or “mix”.

This side dish requires several greens lightly sauteed with coconut and other ingredients. When served, mallung offers a bitter profile.

You can encounter this green mix in almost all Sri Lankan meals, and their meals usually contain 1 or 2 types of mallum.

Wambatu moju is a Sri Lankan dish of eggplant, shallots, green chilies, and spices. It is a type of pickle or relish that has a sweet, sour, and spicy taste.

The dish is usually served with rice, roti, or other curries. Wambatu Moju is cooked in a clay pot over a fire and can be eaten hot or cold.

Elawalu roti is a Sri Lankan flatbread stuffed with a spicy vegetable mixture. These crunchy snacks are eaten with rice, roti, or other curries.

The snack is made by stretching a thin dough and filling it with a mix of potatoes, carrots, leeks, cabbage, onions, green chilies, curry leaves, and spices. The filled dough is then folded into a triangle and cooked on a hot griddle until crispy and golden.

Pol pani is translated loosely as honey coconut, a tea-time snack in Sri Lanka. The locals often eat these crepes in the new year as they believe that this treat will bring you the sweetest things in the upcoming year.

To have a honey-like and sticky texture filling, the chefs will cook shredded coconut with jaggery (a local sugar) and then use the crepes to wrap the mixture.

Pol roti is a classic dish native to Sri Lanka, combining 2 traditional factors of coconut and roti.

Besides simple and familiar ingredients, people add shredded coconut to the dough to create a new texture. Some even mix the dough with chopped onions and green chilies to make an extraordinary taste.

Eating coconut roti with curries or lunu miris is a great idea for people who love spicy foods. On the contrary, the kids will love a simple spread of palm sugar on the roti.

Kokis is a crispy and deep-fried Sri Lankan snack with a beautiful flower shape. The dish is a combination of rice flour, coconut milk, eggs, sugar, and salt.

It is believed to have a Dutch origin, and its name may come from the word for cookies in Dutch. Kokis is a traditional dish for the Sinhala New Year festival and is often served with other sweets and curries.

Kottu is a savory Sri Lankan creation of chopped roti, egg, onion, chilli pepper, and a meat curry. This spicy dish is usually prepared and served as fast food or street food.

Kottu is also known as kothu roti, which means chopped roti in Tamil and Sinhala. This shredded dish of roti comes from the eastern Tamil regions of Sri Lanka or from Madurai, India.