My Ceylon adventure Part V: Food in Sri Lanka

This will be the final installment of my posts on my travels in Sri Lanka. Head on to check out my other Sri Lanka travel posts via the following links if you have not: Cultural triangle, Kandy and Hill Country, Galle and Bentota, My visit to the tea factory.

I decided to dedicate the final post to my food experiences in Sri Lanka.

To be honest, I did not have high expectations of the food in Sri Lanka before I went after chatting with a few people. In fact, I was so worried that I wouldn’t like the food or that I would not be able to get used to their flavours that I packed along a couple of muesli bars (something that I almost never do when I travel).

Yes, I’m a worrier by nature. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded; there wasn’t any need for those muesli bars after all.

In general, we enjoyed the food we had there; some more so than others. I was excited by the ingredients they used, the dishes they had and basically the food culture because Sri Lankan cuisine is one that I’m unfamiliar with.

Oh and another thing: I didn’t get sick of rice and curry as I had anticipated; in fact, I loved it! In the entire duration of our travels, we only had two meals where we had something non-local – pizza and burger.

Here are some of the foods of the traditional food/dishes that we tried in Sri Lanka and found interesting:

1. King coconut

The locals will tell you that this is simply the best and you have to try it. It is sweet and refreshing especially on a hot day in the Cultural triangle. It became our default choice of drink during the trip as it is really thirst quenching. What is great is you can scrape the bits of sweet coconut flesh and eat it after you have finished drinking.

2. Rice and curry

Sri Lankans like their rice and curry. They have it for lunch and dinner. Seems boring? But with a large variety of curries and sides, no rice and curry meal is exactly the same.

Basmati rice is usually served with papadum, a chutney, pickles, various vegetables in curry form, yellow daal and a meat/seafood curry. It is usually a huge spread and you would be spoilt for choice.

One of my favourites is the wanbatu curry (eggplant curry). Even though it is called a ‘curry’, it is more like a ‘dry curry’. The eggplant is first deep-fried then being cooked in caramelised sugar, curry leaves, spices, aromatics and balanced off with vinegar. I love how it is so well balanced with sweetness, spice, and I just love the texture of it.

I also enjoyed the black pork curry (see picture below) we had in Bentota. The version I had used fatty pork pieces so they were really tender and melt-in-the mouth. It isn’t a coconut milk based curry and had the right amount of spices and I gathered that they use rampe leaves /pandan leaves which gave it a very lovely aroma.

3. Egg hopper

Egg hoppers are usually eaten for breakfast and evenings. I love this one. A good egg hopper is paper thin, slightly crispy near the edges.

It is made from rice flour, coconut milk, yeast, and a lightly seasoned egg is cracked into the centre just before it is cooked in a specialised round bottom pan over fire.  A light but really delicious breakfast if you ask me. It is also eaten for tea as a light snack.

4. Traditional Sri Lankan breakfast – Roti

Rotis are Sri Lanka’s version of the flatbread. It is similar to the South Indian roti prata that we are used to in Singapore. For those who are unfamiliar, rotis are made from wheat flour to form a dough, they are tossed by hand to get its light, ‘flaky’ layers when cooked over an oiled flat grill.

It is eaten for breakfast and sometimes dinner. The locals would use their hands to dip the roti in curries like the red fish curry and pol sambol. They saw that we were tourists so they brought out the utensils for us.

Pol Sambol  is a very interesting dish, I have yet to see dessicated coconut used like this; it combines grated/desiccated coconut, dry red chillis, dried Maldive fish. It is savoury, spicy and is the perfect match with the roti.

5. Kottu

You are more likely ‘hear’ kottu before you spot it.

I was looking for this legendary street food for quite a long time. Just when I thought I would go home disappointed, I heard the sounds of metal scrappers clanking in an almost rhythmic fashion. It was then I knew I found my kottu.

True enough, I found the Kottu man at his grill plate, frying up the shredded roti, roughly chopped up vegetables like carrots, spring onions, cabbage, egg and red onions with two metal scrappers.

We ordered a plate of kottu to share, one with chicken pieces, you can also have it with beef or seafood. The kottu was like a festival on a plate -a huge heap of confetti like colours. It was certainly a delight to eat – certainly a must-try street food if you are ever in Sri Lanka.

Oh, and they eat it with chilli sauce. And boy is that good. Wash it down with some ginger tea or local Lion Lager if you can get your hands on some!

6. Deep fried Sri Lankan Sweets

We were in Sri Lanka over the Sinhalese and Tamil New year so we were privileged enough to try some of their deep fried sweets on top of witnessing families lighting up firecrackers. These sweets are usually eaten during new year or celebrations.

These were interesting and not overly sweet as I thought it would be when I heard what they were made of. I love the fact that they still maintain the tradition of making them and sharing with their family and friends.

Kokis( the wheel shaped ones): Made from rice flour, coconut milk, and eggs.

Konda kavum (the round ones): Made with rice flour, coconut treacle, fennel seeds

Moong kavum (the crescent shaped ones): Made from mung bean flour, rice flour, coconut milk, coconut treacle

7. Kiribath (Milk rice)

Kiribath or milk rice is made with four basic ingredients – rice, coconut milk, water and salt. It symbolizes good luck and prosperity. Every Sri Lankan household would make and eat this on the first of every month and during the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year.

This dish can be eaten plain (like what we did), with a savoury sambal or with jaggery (somewhat like treacle). I think I would prefer to eat it sweet, personally preference though.

***

That’s my shortlist of the foods to try/look out for if you ever head over to Sri Lanka. Please promise to at least give them a shot and not head straight for the sandwiches and pasta.

If you have a low tolerance for spiciness, do remember to inform the restaurant servers, most places would willingly accommodate your requests.  Happy eating!

Sticky date pudding

I remember my first taste of sticky date pudding.

It was on a particularly cold winter’s day during a family vacation in Margaret River, Western Australia.  We sat down for lunch in the restaurant of one of the vineyards. I remember that lunch was good but the one dish that left me such a deep impression was the dessert -  sticky date pudding.

Till this day, a decade later, my family and I still reminisce about the sticky date pudding we had that day.

Thankfully for me (and us), we need not travel so far to satisfy a sticky date pudding craving. I’ve made this so many times that I lost count and it remains as one of my favourite desserts.

A sticky date pudding seems like an easy enough dessert to make but a good one is somehow rather elusive; somehow the ones I find in some of the restaurants doesn’t tick all the right boxes.

A good sticky date pudding needs the right balance of moistness and density; it has to have the right amount of sweetness.

I think this recipe works well as long as you pay attention to the baking time and temperature, as with all puddings. I know that some swear by a bain marie or water bath for the perfect sticky date puddings, opting for a more controlled approach in temperature so that it doesn’t become over-baked or too tough. I personally don’t find that it is absolutely necessary; I find it quite a fuss to use a bain marie but that’s your call.

I’ve included my go-to recipe below. You may even wish to swop the dates for dried figs or apricots. I heard that they are pretty awesome as well.

xx,
jo

Recipe: Sticky date pudding
Makes 12 individual puddings  in half spherical silicon mould . Alternatively, you can use large muffin moulds

I can’t remember where I first got my sticky date pudding recipe from. I have tweaked it so many times since and this is my favourite. It is important not to substitute the sugar with white sugar as the brown sugars add a nice dark molasses flavour with much less sweetness.

Ingredients:
250g dried dates, pitted and chopped
175ml boiling water
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking soda
75g unsalted butter, cubed
70g light brown sugar
70g muscavado sugar or dark brown sugar
120g eggs (2 large eggs), room temperature
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

For the toffee sauce:
90g light brown sugar
85g muscavado sugar or dark brown sugar
110g unsalted butter, cubed
70 ml double cream (with >35% fat)
25g pecan nuts, chopped ( I used walnuts this time)

Method:

1. Soaking of dates: Start by pitting the dates and chopped them up roughly. Add them into hot water and add vanilla extract and baking soda. Set aside for about 5-10 minutes while prepar

2. Cream butter and both the sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.

3. Add in sifted dry ingredients in three ingredients, alternating with the date mixture (including all the liquid), until just incorporated. Do not over-beat mixture.

4. The mixture would look sloppy at this point but that it is how it should be. Fill your silicon moulds/greased muffin trays with the pudding mixture. Tap the tray against the counter top twice, and firmly to knock out any huge air bubbles in the pudding.

5. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and bake for about 25 -30 minutes until the tops springs back to touch. Be careful not to over-bake it, if not it may become tough.

6. For the toffee sauce: Place cubed butter, sugar, cream in a pot and combine together over medium-low heat and bring it to a boil and then allow it to  simmer for about 5 minutes. Make sure all sugar crystals have dissolved and butter has melted completely. The mixture should be thick and uniform.

7. To serve: Place warm pudding onto a slightly deep dish, scatter nuts over and pour over warm toffee sauce. Best with a dollop of vanilla creme fraiche or vanilla bean ice cream for a complete dessert experience!

*Storage tips: It is best to eat this straight out of the oven but if you have leftovers, you can store the sticky date puddings in an airtight container and the sauce in the fridge covered with cling wrap. Re-heat the puddings with the sauce in an oven for about 5-7 minutes before eating.

My Ceylon adventure Part IV: Ceylon tea factory tour

As promised, here’s the post on my visit to the tea plantations and tea factories in Sri Lanka.

I have to dedicate a post to the tea country because it’s very definitive of Sri Lanka. Correct me if I’m wrong but I do think that most people’s first encounter (knowingly or unknowingly) with Sri Lanka is with its tea – Ceylon tea.

Lipton tea, a tea company that we are all familiar with, began in the heart of Sri Lanka’s tea country. Its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, started his tea company by purchasing a tea estate and a factory (Dambatenne) to process tea in Sri Lanka.

While Ceylon tea started with very humble beginnings, it has now put Sri Lanka on the map as the fourth largest producer of tea in the world. Its tea export is one of the country’s top three exports.

**
We started our journey being immersed in the beauty of the landscape of the tea country in Hatton, which I have written about in my previous post.

Then, we visited three tea factories in total, Glenlock, Mackwoods and Dambatenne (The original Lipton factory).

We were taken on a guided tour to see the process from leaf to cup. The tour was fascinating for a tea drinker like me. It certainly shed light and welcomed a newfound appreciation for the tea I’ve been drinking.

I would highly recommend taking a tour to one of the tea factories to witness how tea is being made and sample some of the tea that they make. Most tea factories in Nuwara Eliya opens its doors to tourists and you can choose to buy boxes of tea, which would make great gifts.

The tour takes about 15 -20 minutes and in small groups (when we were there, we joined another couple on the tour). You would be taken through the tea factory (still at work) and the guide would explain the process they take to make tea.

Did you know?:
a. Most of the tea pickers are women and mostly Tamils. They are paid about US$5 per day for picking at least 15kg of tea leaves per day.

b. After packing of the tea leaves, they are transported to Colombo where there would be tea tasting done (just like coffee) and then auctioned off.

c. To make 1 pound of dried black tea, about 4-5 pounds of fresh green tea leaves are needed.

Here’s the lowdown on what I’ve learnt at the tea factory on the manufacturing process of tea:

1. Plucking
The tea leaves are hand- plucked by mainly Tamil women. Only the top leaves and the unopened bud are picked.

2. Withering
The leaves are then transported to the estate factory and laid out on withering racks and a cool air currents is passed through the leaves to dry them out. This takes about 10 to 12 hours.

3. Rolling and crushing

The withered leaves are then passed through the rolling machines – this breaks up the cell walls of the leaves and to release enzymes that promote oxidation.

4. Fermentation
Black teas are fermented/oxidized which gives them its characteristic flavor. The rolled leaves are spread out on a rack in a controlled environment that promotes oxidation. By the end of the few hours, the leaves would have turned brown.

5. Firing/Drying
The fermentation process is halted by passing the tea leaves through a hot air chamber. It also dries the leave even further.

6. Sorting
The sorting is done using a static electricity roller to separate the unwanted leaf steam or fibre which will go to compost from the tea leafs. Then the tea leafs are sorted by size – the finest one would go into tea bags and the larger ones would be used in loose leaf teas etc and then be packaged into the different grades of tea eg. Orange Pekoe, Pekoe, BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe) etc.

See
Glenloch Tea factory
(Nuwara Eliya) – Best to get a driver. Not possible to get here by public transport.
Cost for tour: Free ( tipping is expected)
Teas here are quite expensive.

Mackwoods Labookellie Tea Factory
(Nuwara Eliya) - Best to get a driver. Not possible to get here by public transport.
Cost of tour: Free (Tipping is expected)
Lovely views of tea terraces. Nice outdoor terrace for a cup of tea.

Dambatenne Tea factory
(Haputale) – Take a taxi from Haputale town centre. About 11km to get here.
Cost: 250 rps for the tea tour

My Ceylon adventure Part III: Galle and Bentota

Feeling rejuvenated by our quiet walks in the Hill country, we headed towards the Southern coast of the island. The scenery changed from the greens and browns to the sparkling shades of blues as we drove by coastal towns.

We stopped by Weligama bay to catch the stilt fishermen in action. This is a unique sight to Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese stilt fishermen cast their fishing line while standing on a cross bar tied to a vertical pole.

By the time we arrived in Galle, it was mid-day. Lunch of rice and curry was served in the second floor of a terraced restaurant that overlooked the ramparts of the fort. That was our first sight of Galle and we loved it!

There is not much ‘sights’ to cover in Galle – the only one being the Dutch fortifications and ramparts facing the open ocean. The walk along the fort is beautiful; you will meet many locals who are taking their evening strolls or jogs, couples finding a clandestine spot under shade, and little children playing cricket on an open field. A warm and friendly native spotted us taking photos and stopped to have a chat with us about his love for his town.

The charisma of Galle only emerges when you wander aimlessly along the narrow lanes of the own town lined with little shops, old churches, art galleries that still oozes its colonial charm. The town is very small and don’t worry yourself with a map and just get lost in the moments of everyday life in Galle.

In the evening, we headed to Galle Fort hotel for a drink at its beautiful veranda. It is a good place to recline back from the day’s heat and people watch. We wanted to have dinner there but it was fully booked for the night that we were there. It is best to make reservations for dinner especially if you don’t want to be disappointed.

Bentota, A beach paradise on the Western coast

The trip rounded up in Bentota quite spectacularly, our secluded beach paradise for the last three days. I can’t quite exclaim how glad I was to end the trip with a relaxing beach vacation. After days of walking and trekking in the hot sun, it was time to be a beach bum.

We also made sure that we ended the trip with a big bang so we booked our stay at The Villa, Paradise Road, our most luxurious stay in Sri Lanka. It is a beautifully designed boutique property with 15 rooms and suites. A lot of attention is given to its décor which was stylish and immaculate. It was like being on paradise.

We were glad that we picked Bentota out of all the other beach towns on Sri Lanka’s Western coast. We wanted something low-key and quiet and Bentota offered just that. It is no party town and there are no tourist restaurants or shops along the beach.

The best part of the villa is that it is right along the quiet, almost secluded stretch of Bentota beach (you just need to cross over a rail track). We spent our mornings by the beach walking along the soft, white sand and picking up sea shells, our afternoons by the beautiful pool at the resort, the evening back at the beach catching the most glorious colours of the setting sun.

When it was time to bid goodbye to this little paradise, I was far too reluctant to leave. However, I  know that the the beauty that I’ve seen on this paradise have left a resounding imprint in me…

“The echoes of beauty you’ve seen transpire, Resound through dying coals of a campfire.”  - Ernest Hemingway

Travel shortcuts

Stay
The Villa, Paradise Road, Bentota
138/18 Galle Road, Bentota, Sri Lanka
Tel: +94 34 227 5311

See

Galle
Galle fort and ramparts
Perfect time to go is in the mornings when it is low tide and you can see how clear the waters are. You can spend an hour or two just wandering around the fort.

Old town
Spending half a day wandering through narrow lanes in the old town is the best way to see Galle.

Galle Fort Hotel
Beautifully restored hotel. Stay here or enjoy drinks at the verandah. Great way to wind down the day and people watch

Bentota

Bentota beach
The quiet end of Bentota beach is where Paradise Road, The Villa and Club Villa is situated. The other end has more hotels/resorts and hence it sees more crowds.

My Ceylon adventure Part II: Kandy and Hill country

We departed Dambulla for higher lands in Kandy where we warmly embraced the slightly cooler air. Temperature aside, Kandy must be the least favourite of our stops in Sri Lanka. For people who are travelling to the hill country,  many will make Kandy their stopover.

I’m very reluctant to say that we did not enjoy the one night that we spent there.

While I do try to embrace all new cities/towns that I visit, Kandy was overcrowded with tourists, more so than the other areas that we visited in Sri Lanka and we has some less than pleasant experiences with touts and a con artist.

Like all tourists in Kandy, we visited the Temple of the Tooth Relic. In my opinion, I found that the entrance fee is a little too hefty for what the temple offered. The temple’s exterior is quite plain and unimpressive. The temple was first built in 1600 but most of what you see of it is not its original form.

The most interesting part of the Temple of the Tooth Relic is the evening punja (ceremony). We timed our visit so that we can witness the ceremony which includes drumming and prayers and also to take a sneak peek of the gold casket that holds the relic.

We also caught the Kandyan cultural dance which is Sri Lanka’s iconic performing art. I would suggest giving that a miss because I found it very touristy.

We attempted to make the best out of our day there. That’s the only thing to do when you are on a trip.

The best time we had was our moments at the rather large and well-maintained colonial style Peradeniya botanical gardens. It is a pretty enjoyable way to spend a morning with neatly manicured rows of colourful flowers, palm trees and tropical plants.

There is a little spice and herb garden that we found particularly interesting – we saw the pepper, coffee, cinnamon, pandan being grown amongst others.

Thankfully, the next stop on the itinerary was tea country – the part of the trip that I have been looking forward to most since I booked my flights.

Hill country: Hatton, Nuwara Eliya, and Haputale

It was another long drive from Kandy to Hatton. After drifting in and out of sleep on the 4 plus hour ride, I woke up to green slopes of tea terraces that seem to roll on for miles. It was simply magnificent!

The drastic scenery change was one that we welcome, most gladly. I was most excited when I saw the signpost hidden in the midst of tea fields that said “Mandira Bungalows”. That was to be our home for a night.

The colonial bungalow used to be the residence of tea planters during the British colonial period. I felt myself stepping into a time warp; to a bygone era of old world charm of a tea planter’s life.

We had the luxury of an afternoon of sipping tea (made in their tea estate) with some ginger biscuits at the bungalow’s terrace with unobstructed views of the manicured gardens and the distant tea fields. The cool breeze on our skins made the experience complete. I can get used to this!

Trekking around the tea fields is one of the highlights of our trip in Hatton and Sri Lanka. Walking through the neat rows of tea terraces amidst the orange-red  glow of the sun setting was picture perfect. I felt calm and at peace.

The next morning, we got up early enough for a morning stroll by the tea fields once more before our breakfast.

We bid goodbye to the lovely Mandira property and headed to visit some of the tea factories in Nuwara Eliya. I’ll be dedicating a post to my visit to the tea factory and share with you about what I learnt about how Ceylon tea is made.

After the visit to the tea factories, we went through the meandering narrow roads in the hill country to Haputale that sits on the ridge that affords you the best views of the mountain ridges and southern plains.

The walk up to Lipton’s seat was liberating! The 7km uphill walk may sound strenuous but the views you get along the way is worth your effort! As you ascend, you will begin see never-ending tea terraces in the estate that was set up by Sir Thomas Lipton, the the plains beyond the tea terraces and the far-reaching mountain ridges. If you go early, you would be able to spot Tamil tea pickers at work.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to Lipton’s seat (which is 4695 ft above sea level), it was shrouded in mist. This is the favourite spot where the Scottish tea planter enjoys his tea and picnics.

We both had a cup of Lipton tea and a local jaggery sweet that is made with palm sugar and sugarcane. With the mountain breeze sweeping off the hair off my face and a cup of hot tea in hand, I understood why Sir Thomas Lipton he picked this as his favourite spot.

Following our day of trekking to lipton’s seat,  we scheduled to take the scenic train from Haputale to Badulla. If you are in Sri Lanka, you HAVE to take a train at least once and preferably in the Hill country where most of the time, the view is breathtaking.

The quote by T.S Eliot “The journey not the arrival matters.” seems to be specifically written for this particular train journey.

I think this journey has made me fallen in love with train travel.

We spent two hours in a small town named Badulla while we waited for our train ride back to Haputale. There is nothing much to do at Badulla except for a glimpse into the life of a local.

We took a walk to Raja Maha Vihara temple, a Buddhist temple,  and followed the locals to offer some fresh flowers at the altar. The locals are not quite used to tourists so they gave us amused looks the whole time we were there. I found them amusing as well.

The town has many old shops and we had fun just peeking into them and taking photos. We stopped for rotis, curry and egg hoppers (US$3.50 for breakfast for two) and it was delicious and probably the cheapest food we ate on the entire trip.

The local vegetable and fruit market stood in an open area with makeshift looking zinc roof with individual stall owners laying out their wares on the floor. As we were in Badulla early, we manage to see the market in action with plenty of locals doing their grocery shopping and we also spotted some unfamiliar, exotic looking vegetable that I now wish I had found out what it was.

It was a slow travel day but we vastly enjoyed it.

Next post features our journey in the South of Sri Lanka, Weligama Bay and Galle…

Till then,
Jo

Travel shortcuts

Stay

Mandira Craig Appin Bungalows, Hatton
Dickoya Estate, Sri Lanka
Tel: +94 51222 2492

Melheim Resort, Haputale
Lower blackwood, Beragala, BD 90126 Sri Lanka
Tel: +94 5756 75969

See

Kandy
Temple of the tooth Relic
Best to go in the morning (9am) or evening (630pm) Puja ceremony
Entrance fee: 1000 Rs

Peradeniya Botanical Gardens
6km away from Kandy city. Can take a tuk tuk or car there. Go early in the morning when it is cooler.
Entrance fee: US$10

Haputale
Dambatenne Tea Factory
Factory tour: 250 Rs

Lipton’s seat
A good 2 hr hike up. You can take a tuk tuk up alternatively. Best to arrive before 10am before the mist clouds the view at Lipton’s seat.
Entrance fee: 100 Rs

Adisham Monastry (St Benedictine Monastry)
Note opening hours as they close for lunch breaks.

Train ride to Badulla
Single trip journey duration: 2 hr
train ticket: very cheap. I think it is 250 Rs for a 2nd class, one way ticket if I’m not wrong.
I would recommend just getting the 2nd class ticket. You pay a lot more for the 1st class ticket. We took the 2nd class seat to Badulla and the 1st class seat in the observation car back. I don’t find it much of a difference actually especially if you are doing this journey which isn’t a very crowded stretch where you can’t get seats.