A visit to Sri Lanka earlier this year would, I hoped, provide some opportunity to sample widely the culinary delights of the island. However, my concern was that the opportunities might be limited as we were visiting the ancient heritage sites in the central and less commercialised area of the island north of Kandy, and we were booked for evening meals in our hotel which was miles from anywhere (the nearest town was over ten miles away). In any event, as those who have visited India know, the general way of life for the ordinary citizen on the sub-continent does not include much eating out which severely limits the restaurant scene outside the main cities and tourist resorts. What the hotel food was going to be like, and whether I was going to be able to sample many local dishes, was uncertain.

I need not have worried. I did manage to eat out at lunchtimes, and the food at the hotel - the Kandalama - proved to be excellent, varied and abundant with a good selection of Sri Lankan dishes daily as well as  International dishes for unbelievers. Therefore, not only I was able to sample a very wide range of Sri Lankan foods but the staff were very helpful in explaining some of the local dishes and cooking methods (as was our driver who ferried us around during the day).

So what of the Sri Lankan food. Well, it does have much in common with that of Southern India in that there is a wide variety of excellent vegetable dishes, but there are also plenty of chicken, duck and fish, including squid, cuttlefish and crab from the surrounding tropical waters. But the food is distinctive in it’s own right as, unlike India, the cooking is done generally with coconut oil rather than ghee, and coconut milk is commonly used as a major ingredient in Sri Lankan curries.

I found that Sri Lankan dishes were often generically referred to as ‘red curry’ (the hottest type with plenty of chilli), ‘yellow curry’ (with turmeric as the key ingredient), ‘black curry’ (unique to Sri Lanka I’m told, and which has roasted cumin as the most important flavouring) and ‘white curry’ (the mildest, made without chilli but usually plenty of coconut milk). Having said that, I found Sri Lankan food to be generally quite fiery and most seemed to be firmly in the ‘red curry’ category. The only ‘white curry’ varieties I found (both at the hotel) were a rather creamy chicken curry, the name of which I forget, and a Potato Kulamba (potato cubes cooked in coconut milk and spices) which was delicious without being hot (although the chef said that chilli can be used, and often is for locals).

The majority of the wide variety of vegetable dishes are similar to those found in Southern India although, in addition to Potato Kulamba,  Cabbage Malung (cabbage fried with onion and curry leaves) and a garlic curry (comprising only whole cloves of garlic, perfectly delicious and not as hot or ‘garlicky’ as I imagined it would be) were varieties I had not seen in India. Dall was served virtually everywhere, and was excellent.

The non-vegetarian dishes were generally spicy and with plenty of chilli. The Kandalama produced an excellent Devilled Chicken, superbly hot and spicy, although Devilled Fish and Devilled Squid also featured frequently. I was surprised to learn (as it sounds a bit Europeanised) that the word ‘devilled’ is commonly used in Sri Lanka to describe a dish cooked with chillies. Chicken Sambal (or other varieties of sambal dishes) are similarly hot, if not even hotter, being cooked with the fiery sambal mixture which is commonly served as a chutney (see below).

Fish and seafood also feature strongly on menus and often have strong flavours. Ambul Thial (a sour and spicy fish dish) is a particular favourite of Sri Lankans, although a bit too sharp for me, while Dhallo (curried squids or cuttlefish) made an interesting and different dish.

The South Indian specialities of Dosa, Idli and Uppuma are also commonly available, while an interesting Sri Lanka accompaniment to a meal is the Hopper - a crisp rice flour pancake, usually cooked in a deep saucepan-like pan to produce what looks like a small, upturned crispy bowl. String Hoppers are even more fascinating as the flour mixture is dribbled, string-like into the pan to produce what looks like a nest made from a string vest. With Keema inside it makes a tasty breakfast, but they are often served with a fried egg inside.

Sri Lankan curries are always accompanied by a range of relishes and pickles. The most commonly provided are delicious Coconut Chutneys (mild) and Sambal (a fiery blend of onion, chilli, coconut and lime juice). One, which I gather is a local delicacy, is made from dried fish and chilli and is strong smelling and very strong tasting - like pungent, over salted anchovy!

Although the Kandalama provided a wonderful selection of curries, smaller local restaurants - when I could find them during the day - provide excellent, good value basic curries. Most ordinary Sri Lankans eat what they simply call ‘curry and rice’ and which comprises one meat or fish curry with some vegetable curry and dall, plus chutneys. Our driver, who always described his meals as ‘curry and rice’, would take us for 'curry and rice' at small local eating houses at lunchtime, and it was always good - usually several small dishes of different vegetable curries to accompany a meat or fish dish.

One traditional variation of ‘curry and rice’ is called Lamprais, said to have been introduced by the Dutch from the East Indies. It is the staple basics of meat and vegetable curry with rice but all baked together in a banana leaf. They are interesting, tasty, filling and cheap, and rather like Sri Lanka’s version of the Cornish Pasty. As in India, most of these smaller local restaurants also offer their own version of Chinese dishes, such as Vegetable Fried Rice, Chow Mein or Chop Suey.

There are smarter restaurants, of course, offering more than basic ‘curry & rice’ but these are mainly in Colombo and the larger towns, plus an increasing number on the south/south western coastal resorts where tourism is growing. I didn’t go to any coastal resorts but I understand that at the resorts all the main hotels plus the growing number of independent tourist orientated restaurants offer both international and Sri Lankan dishes.

We finished our visit to Sri Lanka in Colombo which, as you might expect, has plenty of restaurants. Unfortunately I was not there long enough to sample many but outside of the hotels, the Sea Fish Restaurant at 15 Sir Chittampalam Gariner Mawatha is good for seafood dishes, while the very reasonable New Woodland Vegetarian Restaurant at 108 York Street (1st floor of the Negris Building) is a good bet for Sri Lankan and Indian vegetable dishes.

And so I returned home a little plumper, a little wiser about Sri Lankan curries, and very content that my worries on the culinary front had proved to be ill founded.