Sri Lanka, the beautiful tear-drop shaped island in the Indian Ocean is one of a kind. An off-beat destination that brings you the best of tropical living, beautiful forests and classy beaches, Sri Lanka is also a paradise for those who love delicious food. Here are some dishes from this island nation that you cannot afford to miss.

Sambol

This is the first and most amazing dish I have tasted in Sri Lanka. Though it is served as a side dish, I think it will become a really good breakfast dish or snack as well. They make sambols with a stone pestle and mortar, creating rich and chunky sauces.

There are many kinds of sambols which could become a part of your everyday cuisine. My favorite is the Pol sambol. It is made of red onion, dried red chilies, grated coconut and lime juice. It tastes best with fish dishes.

You can also try lunu miris. It is also a flavorful dish made of onions and red chilies. Seeni sambol is made of caramelized onion. My personal favorite is still the first dish.

Ambul Thiyal

This fish curry comes with a delicious sour taste that you will fall in love with. It is mostly cooked with tuna cubes that is cooked in a savory blend of spices- this includes curry leaves, garlic, cinnamon, black pepper and turmeric. This is not all, you will also be tasting an exotic fruit- goraka. It tastes much like tamarind and gives a sour and mind-blowing flavor to this dish.

Lamprais

Lamprais isn’t just delicious but a completely authentic Sri Lankan dish. The origins of this dish can be traced back to Dutch. The Lamprais is actually a derivative of Dutch Sunday lunch recipes and was adapted by their descendants here.

Making Lamprais isn’t easy. In fact, it takes a lot of time and effort to cook one. You have to get a seeni sambol, a three-meat curry that comes with exotic spices like cardamom and cinnamon and frikkadels, which are Dutch meat balls.

All these have to be prepared separately and then mixed with rice. This is not all, the rice itself has to be cooked in a spicy broth. Once mixed, a banana leaf is used to make small packages of the lamprais and it is then baked in authentic style oven. The taste is equally great.

Egg hoppers

Have you ever had authentic Sri Lankan style pancakes? If not, then egg hoppers are right for you. These bowl-shaped pancakes made of eggs look so beautiful that you may keep looking at them forever. They make for perfect Instagram-worthy pictures as well. It is made of rice flour which is fermented for a few hours and mixed with a little sugar, coconut water and coconut milk. An egg is broken into it in the end to make it look amazing.

Don’t all these dishes make you feel like going to Sri Lanka right now? Well, you could go and do that right away. Just make sure you taste everything this island has to offer.