The Dish
Lamprais, Sri Lanka
PLATE UP
Welcome to one of the world’s greatest boxed lunches. A Sri Lankan lamprais has everything you need to set you up for the rest of the day – or, the rest of a few days. It’s a large mound of rice (cooked in rich stock), plus one or two meat or vegetable curries, a spiced meatball (sometimes replaced with a fish cutlet), a boiled egg, some eggplant sambal and coconut belacan, all wrapped in a banana leaf.
FIRST SERVE
Lamprais is a delicious clash of Sri Lankan, Dutch and Portuguese cultures. Its history dates to the 17th century, when Dutch Burghers – an ethnic group of Dutch, Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent – on the island began adapting a Javanese meal called lemper (rice and meat wrapped in a banana leaf) to local tastes, including a Dutch-style frikkadel, or meatball, along with local curries and sides. The name is thought to be a derivative of the Dutch word “lomprijst”.
ORDER THERE
Lamprais is readily available throughout Sri Lanka as a handy take-home meal. For one of the best to eat in-house, try VOC Cafe at the Dutch Burgher Union in Colombo (thedutchburgherunion.org).
ORDER HERE
In Sydney, fill that lamprais-shaped hole in your life at either Ram’s Food in Homebush West (02 9763 1456), or Chef Ceylon in Toongabbie (chefceylon.com.au). In Melbourne, head to Drums Street Food, with various locations across the city (drumsstreetfood.com.au).
ONE MORE THING
If you’re wondering how a group of Dutch/Portuguese/Sri Lankans knew so much about Javanese food, it’s because of the Dutch East India Company. The powerful conglomerate established a headquarters in what is now Jakarta in 1611, and the Dutch ruled parts of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, from 1640.
Source: Traveller
