Rice,
the centre in all meals, is the most important staple food in
Sri Lanka. There are over hundred varieties of rice. The most
common are the plain white rice, the blandness to bring out
the richness of curries, the healthier red rice and the soft
suduru samba, so utterly smooth and refined in texture it graces
all special meals. Basmati is a popular substitute for sometimes
elusive suduru samba.
Plain Rice
For the basic everyday meal, rice is cooked plain with only
an inch of water covering the rice, 3 – 4 inch pandan
leaf and about quarter teaspoon of rice. Though an electric
rice-cooker is often used these days, the traditional rice cooking
pot is especially designed to hold the falling froth of the
boiling rice.
Yellow Rice
When entertaining guests, yellow rice is often served. This
is prepared by first sautéing garlic, onion, cinnamon
stick, cardamoms and cloves until fragrant. Rice, usually suduru
samba or basmati is added with salt and turmeric. This rice
is then boiled with a pandan leaf. Often raisins and roasted
cashews are folded at the end.
Milk Rice
For festive and ceremonial occasions, milk rice is a must. This
is cooked the same way as plain rice, but without the salt.
Instead of the pandan leaf, a few pods of crushed cardamoms
are often used. The boiled rice is again boiled in thick, salted
coconut milk. This sticky rice is then spread evenly on a flat
plate or a banana leaf and cut into diamond shapes.
A number of delicious centre dishes are created from the rice
flour. The most popular rice dishes are string hoppers, hoppers
and pittu.
String hoppers
This is the Sri Lankan version of noodles. A relatively thick
rice flour batter is squeezed out of a special kitchen utensil
into thin strings. These are wound on top of woven circular
mats, which are about 5 – 7 inches in diameter. These
mats are then stacked upon each other in a steamer and steamed
for about 15 minutes.
Hopper
This is a crisply baked pancake with a soft center. The thin
rice flour batter is smeared in a half-moon shaped greased pan
with a twist of hand. This is then baked until crisp and removes
easily from pan. A popular variation is an egg added with salt
and pepper a minute or so before removing from pan.
Pittu
Grated fresh coconut and rice flour is mixed using finger tips
until it resembles very soft, tiny breadcrumbs. A special utensil
is used to steam this mixture. It is a steamer with a long cylinder
by way of a lid. The prepared rice flour mixture is then tightly
packed into this cylinder and steamed. The cylinder is then
removed and the now firm mixture is gently pushed from one side
onto a plate.
Boiled baby-jak, tapioca and sweet potatoes are also enjoyed
as a main dish – usually with a very hot sambol.
