Small island, great flavors: Finally, Sri Lankan cuisine is recognized.

When Kolamba first opened in 2019, many people who entered the charming restaurant in the Soho district of central London were unfamiliar with Sri Lankan cuisine.

They thought it was very much like Indian food, says the eatery’s prime supporter, Aushi Meewella, who experienced childhood in Sri Lanka.

According to her statement to biggbosstamils7, she states, “We felt Sri Lankan food was underrepresented in central London, so we wanted to bring the dishes we grew up with and missed when we moved away.”

Despite having only 22 million people, Sri Lanka’s cuisine and culture are quite distinct from India’s.

What’s more, presently, another age of Sri Lankan gourmet experts and business people across the world is focusing on their local food, while embracing the country’s different culinary legacy.

The connection to tourism

Meewalla asserts that the increased exposure of Sri Lankan cuisine has “been a long time coming.” However, a growing number of Sri Lankans are now willing to experiment with our cuisine, open restaurants, and introduce it to the rest of the world. “Meewella credits the travel industry for the new flood in interest and backing for Sri Lankan food.

In spite of the fact that traveler appearances were ended by a progression of mishaps including a lethal bomb assault, the Coronavirus pandemic, and, all the more as of late, the nation’s most terrible ever financial emergency, Sri Lanka is back on the travel industry radar, previously following north of 800,000 guests in 2023 as of the principal seven day stretch of August. Meewella puts it this way: People come to our island to see how diverse it is and to try our food, which they discover to be equally delicious.

Culinary expert Dhayanie Williams, a hopeful on “MasterChef Australia 2019,” says the ascent of web-based entertainment somewhat recently and programs like Masterchef have additionally assisted proficient and home gourmet specialists with advancing Sri Lankan food in the global market.

According to the chef, who is well-known for the Sri Lankan crab curry and chicken curry she prepared on the show, “We’ve seen many participants stick to their roots and create authentic Sri Lankan dishes on these programs.”

“People try Sri Lankan food in restaurants because of this constant exposure on the internet.”

Multiple influences

Today, a growing number of Sri Lankan chefs are promoting Sri Lankan cuisine and debunking common misconceptions about the cuisine.

“It has helped change the worldwide insight that Sri Lankan food is unique in relation to Indian food, and it’s not just a great deal of curries matched with rice,” Williams says.

For instance, notwithstanding sharing a name, Sri Lankan roti are more modest, thicker “plates” made of newly ground coconut and rice flour, dissimilar to the huge Indian rotis, which are made of wheat.

Sri Lankan cuisine is built on rice, coconut milk, local fruits and vegetables, seafood, and native fruits and vegetables.

Meewella explains that it is influenced by the Dutch and Portuguese, who once ruled Sri Lanka, as well as diverse ethnic cultures. Mutton poriyal, in which the meat is dry-fried with onions, green chili, and lime, is a common dish in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority northern region.

Watalappam, a coconut and palm jaggery custard that Muslims make to celebrate Eid, is one popular dessert.

Meewella says that Sri Lankan food is also a lot plant-based, and there are many vegan options, which makes the food stand out and appeal to people all over the world. She continues, “This way of eating is not a fad for us.”

Sri Lankans have created dishes with distinctive flavors by combining wild and organically grown ingredients like jackfruit, water spinach, and yams with spices and herbs, then frying and currying them. This has been done for centuries. With dishes like breadfruit curry made with coconut milk and raw green banana fried with grated coconut, Kolamba’s menu pays homage to these plant-based recipes.

Coconut milk is used to thicken a variety of vegetable and meat-based curries in Sri Lankan cuisine by grating and pressing the white flesh of the coconut.

New coconut milk is additionally added to a morning smoothie-like beverage called kola kenda, made with spices and rice. Sri Lankans also make kiribath, a creamy breakfast, with rice and coconut milk on occasions like the first day of work or the New Year.

“At the point when I facilitated early lunches at home, I didn’t expect there would be a hunger for dishes like kiribath, however individuals went gaga for the kinds of my life as a youngster,” says Sam Front, a Sri Lankan-American cook situated in Lexington, Kentucky.

“Eventually, the demand grew so great that I started selling the food I was cooking behind a bar in town from a tent.”

Fore’s pop-up gained national attention within two years thanks to its focus on straightforward Sri Lankan-inspired dishes. Fore is now prepared to open her first Lexington restaurant.

Spicy, sour, sweet

Sri Lankan cuisine is made up of many other spices and herbs than chili, despite the widespread perception that it is hot. Dishes can be flavored and scented with coriander seeds, black pepper, mustard seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, curry leaves, pandan leaves, and lemongrass.

Curry powder, an essential flavoring agent, is also made by roasting and grinding spices together.

These fluctuated kinds of Sri Lankan cooking apply well to normal culinary methods, Front says.

For example, she makes fried chicken, a dish that most Americans are familiar with, but she adds Sri Lankan chicken curry spices by grinding them and mixing them with buttermilk to bring out the flavors.

Fore asserts, “I don’t dumb down the spices in my dishes.” I make an effort to honor the recipes that have been passed down to me and introduce diners to flavors that come by accident but make them understand my point of view.

Chefs like Fore aren’t afraid to use new ways to introduce Sri Lankan cuisine around the world.

Williams tried a dish called “Yesterday” at Nadodi, a high-end Sri Lankan and South Indian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. This dish was suggestive of Sri Lankan diya shower or pazhaya soru kanji, a day-old rice doused for the time being in water and eaten with dried, restored chilies.

It is served with pickles and fried dry fish in a miniature clay pot by Nadodi. Williams claims that by elevating the flavors and plating it in a sophisticated manner, the dish awakens memories and is authentic.

Brian Senaratne, co-founder of the well-known Sri Lankan restaurant Curry Bowl in Zagreb, Croatia, has similar ideals.

He says, “We keep it simple, but we keep the original flavors.” When we (Sri Lankans) go to a restaurant, we usually order a few different curries and rice to share with the whole group. However, we noticed that European customers each order a dish. Therefore, adding fifteen curry dishes to the menu will only make things more difficult.