The 10 foods you must try in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan food is a melting pot of cultural influences and flavours, fusing fiery spices with sweet tropical fruits, fresh ocean fish and healing Ayurvedic herbs. The Tri team have eaten our way along the length and breadth of Sri Lanka and narrowed this down to the top 10 dishes which every traveller must taste – it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it! Read on for our highlights

HOPPERS

Crisp and lacy-edged pancakes made with fermented rice flour, bowl-shaped hoppers are surely the most iconic Sri Lankan dish. Traditionally served for breakfast, our favourite hoppers are served with a golden-yoked egg and generous helpings of sweet onion seeni sambol and fiery lunu miris.

Credit: Nick Hopper
Credit: Nick Hopper

PARIPPOU

Flavoured with fragrant spices, fiery chillies and black pepper and sweet-sour tamarind, curries are perhaps the most famous Sri Lankan food. The humble Parippou (otherwise known as dhal) is king of the curries: mild and creamy, the perfect foil to hearty meat or vegetable curries and sweet sambols.

dal

JACKFRUIT CURRY

A pale green-to-yellow fruit, jack fruit is a staple in Sri Lankan cookery. The fruit takes on a convincingly meaty texture as it cooks and soaks up all the surrounding spices and flavours, making it the ideal base for a delicious vegetarian — or vegan — curry.

Credit: Color and Spices
Credit: Color and Spices

KOTTU ROTI

The ultimate quick and tasty meal, kottu roti is a delicious, spicy dish formed of flaky roti bread, which is shredded and quickly fried up with spices, fresh vegetables, meat or fish on a hot, flat grill. Travelling through regional towns and villages, you’ll often hear the rhythmic metal clacking sound of Kottu Roti being prepared. Fast, fresh and delicious!

Kottu Rotti @ Srilankan Canra

STRING HOPPERS

Another common Sri Lankan breakfast option, string hoppers are a far cry from their bowl-shaped cousins. These hoppers are a tangle of rice noodles, steamed and piled high with curries — a little like a savoury noodle pancake!

Credit: Flickr / Charles Haynes
Credit: Flickr / Charles Haynes

VADAI

Served sizzling hot and wrapped in newspaper, ‘short eats’ are quick afternoon snacks sold to hungry passers-by at roadside stalls up and night markets and down the country. Our favourite is a fresh fritter called a vadai – a lentil-based dumpling, fried until crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, dotted with spices and fresh corn or flavoursome shrimp.

Vadai

AMBUL THIYAL

Ambul means ‘sour’, and ambul thiyal is a fittingly hearty fish curry which strikes a perfect balance between sour tamarind, sweet coconut milk and fragrant spice. Our fish is always fresh from the ocean or our very own Koggala Lake, and the curry is served with myriad accompaniments including coconut pol sambol and fresh mallum made from shredded greens.

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Credit: Nick Hopper

BUFFALO CURD & TREACLE

Thick and creamy buffalo curd, paired with sweet kithul palm treacle, makes for a delicious start to the day. Add some colour with vibrant local pineapple, mango, papaya and banana, or try Tri’s famous buffalo curd ice cream, served with homemade granola!

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WOOD APPLE

Of all the bright and colourful fruits used in Sri Lankan food, the wood apple is not going to win any beauty contests. The small, hard, ball-shaped fruits have a tough rind and curious scent, but the smooth and sweet brown pulp aids digestion, tastes delicious and can be used in tangy chutneys, or blended with water and jaggery to make a refreshing juice.

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Credit: Recess City

WATALAPPAN

With so many delicious savoury dishes In Sri Lankan food, there’s rarely any room for dessert! One exception, however, is watalappan: a wobbly custard pudding akin to pannacotta, made with coconut milk infused with sweet jaggery, crunchy cashew nuts and fragrant spices including cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Wattalapam

Finally — no meal in Sri Lanka would be complete without an amber-toned cup of the finest Ceylon tea. The national drink is grown throughout the country, along the coast and in the lush and mist-draped central highlands, picked by hand and carefully sorted and dried to produce a refreshing, fragrant brew: the ultimate taste of Sri Lanka.

Digital Detox: Disconnecting to Connect

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Chances are you’re scrolling through digital devices before your brain has had a chance to process you’re even awake. Here at Tri, it’s easy to switch off from the modern world as you wake every morning with only the sounds of chirping birds and swaying palm trees for company. However, it’s no secret that we’ve all been a slave to our smartphone at one point or another.

Studies have shown that the average person reaches for their phone a whopping 200 times a day – that’s once every six and a half minutes. One in four of us are spending more time online than we do asleep. Now, don’t get us wrong – technology is a wonderful thing – but where’s the limit? We’re constantly faced with warnings that too much digital exposure could be damaging our memory, concentration, productivity, mental health, and ultimately disconnecting us from the real world. Think it’s time to do something about it? Read on for five helpful tips on how to switch off.

TAKE TECHNOLOGY OUT OF THE BEDROOM

This first one is easy: leave digital devices outside the bedroom. Experts have found that the light from our phones inhibits the production of  melatonin, which is vital for getting to sleep. Instead of spending the time before bed aimlessly scanning the internet, invest in a good book or a diary to reflect on the day gone by. For the morning, buy a traditional alarm clock, or leave your curtains open to let yourself wake naturally to the morning light, just like we do here at Tri. You’ll wake feeling more refreshed and ready to conquer the day ahead.

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Credit: Josephine Silabetzschky

GIVE YOURSELF AN ALLOWANCE

A digital detox doesn’t mean you have to put down your phone for good: set yourself an allowance, whether this be a dedicated social media hour, no emails after 6pm or phones away at the dinner table. You’re more likely to stick to it if you allow yourself access in small doses, and you’ll find yourself interacting much more with the people and places around you in your dedicated anti-digital hours.

Credit - Chris deLorenzo (34)
Credit: Chris deLorenzo

FIND A NEW HOBBY

A digital detox is the perfect opportunity to start a new hobby – join your local art class, take up yoga or learn a new language. The time you’re putting into your new passion is time spent away from the digital world, and who knows – you might just discover a new talent!

Jenna Miech
Credit: Jenna Miech

SLASH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA INTAKE

We all know how easy it is to fall into an Instagram hole, liking travel snap after travel snap (and building up an impressive must-visit list at the same time). So much of the digital world is smoke and mirrors, not real life, and stepping away from social media can do wonders for our self-esteem. Why not make social media apps only accessible via desktop, or only when you have access to WiFi? You’ll have significantly less access to the sites and more time to appreciate your real life.

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TAKE A DIGITAL DETOX HOLIDAY

If you want to truly zone out, why not take a digital detox holiday? Switch off for an entire week and just enjoy beautiful natural surroundings, delicious food and the company of your travel companion. Our serene lakeside location makes Tri the perfect spot to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, whether you want to explore verdant Koggala Lake, pamper yourself in the spaperfect the art of yoga or simply just lie by the pool. What are you waiting for?

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Credit: Picturesque

Five ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle

As the world grows ever-smaller and more interconnected, we’re all becoming increasingly aware of our impact upon it. The butterfly effect states that every flap of a butterfly’s wings can create a hurricane across the ocean; so every decision we make can ripple out to affect the planet we call home. Here at Tri we’re strong believers in looking after our little patch of blue and green; safeguarding the natural world for future generations. This doesn’t have to mean hardship and deprivation — here are five simple ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

1. EAT LOCALLY
Everyone knows that nothing tastes better than coconut water gulped from a coconut cut directly from the tree; or bananas, ripe and spotted, picked from the palm. Eating locally means enjoying food which is fresh, in season and packed with nutrients, and supporting your local farmers, whilst avoiding food miles and endless packaging. Win-win! The food concept at Tri is entirely designed around eating locally and enjoying the bounteous produce available in our lush corner of the Earth. When you’re back at home, why not try to eat with the seasons? There are few things tastier than a late-summer blackberry straight from the bush…

Credit: @xkflyaway

2. REDUCE SINGLE USE PLASTIC
Taking hundreds — even thousands — of years to break down, single-use plastics are clogging up waterways across the globe, causing environmental degradation, swirling ocean gyres and harm to wildlife the world over. The solution is simple: opt out. Here at Tri, we use our own filtered water in reusable glass bottles, and eschew plastic straws in favour of sustainable home-grown bamboo. Why not take your bamboo straw home with you? Opt out of plastic straws and enjoy a taste of tropical paradise with every sip!

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3. CUT DOWN ON YOUR MEAT INTAKE
Eating mindfully does not stop with the vegetable drawer. Tri’s menus focus primarily on locally-sourced plants, fish and seafood, to create delicious dishes with a true Sri Lankan flavour, avoiding more resource-intensive meats such as beef and lamb. It’s easy to maintain this sustainable living focus when you arrive back at home: just switch that steak for a fresh fillet of fish, or try to stick to plant based dishes for a few days each week. Simple!

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4. DITCH THE CAR
Turn off that engine: here at Tri we love getting out into nature. Co-founder Rob often starts his day with a cycle into work, or an early-morning hike through the lush greenery surrounding Koggala Lake. Ditching a gas-guzzling car for pedalling or hiking up and down hills will improve your cardiovascular fitness, strengthen your legs and help to save the environment to boot.

Credit: Chris deLorenzo

5. SWITCH OFF
Reducing our electricity use is one of the simplest steps to living more sustainably. One of the things our guests love most about Tri is the ability to completely disconnect from the outside world. Switching off will not only reduce your electricity use, but give you a mental break from our fast-paced, never-stopping world. Use the time to enjoy a yoga class or get out into nature. Take a break, and just breathe.

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Image credits: @xkflyaway, Chris deLorenzo, Coke Bartrina