Rice and curry is effectively the national dish of Sri Lanka. The bland name hides a range of delicately spiced dishes.

A typical rice and curry dinner will comprise the following:

• A large bowl of rice, most often boiled, but frequently fried. Sometimes Kiribath, rice cooked in coconut milk, is served.
• A curry of meat, most often chicken, or fish. The spicy sauce is usually quite thin and has a coconut milk base.
• Dahl, a spicy lentil dish
• A vegetable curry, perhaps of green beans, jackfruit or leeks
• poppadoms, a thin crisp side dish
• Sambols, which are fresh chutney side dishes; they may include red onion, chili, grated coconut or lime juice, and are often the hottest part of the meal.

Apart from the rice, each bowl contains only quite small portions, but as in most of tropical Asia, if a bowl is emptied, it is immediately refilled.

Although Sri Lankan food is similar to south Indian cuisine in its use of chili, cardamons, cummin, coriander and other spices, it has a distinctive taste, and uses ingredients like dried Maldive fish which are local to the area.

see also Hopper