1) King Coconut Juice. A very thick, clear liquid; king coconut juice is not the same as coconut milk. It is very filling and I can not drink a whole coconut's worth. It doesn't have a strong flavour but it can take you quite by surprise if, when served in a glass, you thought you were drinking water.
2) Salted Cordial. This must be an acquired taste. The problem is that when you are offered cordial you can never know if it is salted or not. There has been many a time when we have gratefully accepted a drink only to given a salty surprise.
3) Peppered Pineapple. Sri Lankan pineapple has to be the best pineapple in the world. Why on earth they want to pepper it is beyond me!
4) Wattalapan. Wattalapan is a gelatinous pudding, a bit like a creme caramel. It is sweet, brown and nutty. Sri Lankan dessert menus are never very long - dessert is typically fruit salad, perhaps with some icecream - so this traditional dish is a bit of a local celebrity.
5) Kottu Roti. A mix of roti (flat bread), vegetables, chicken and spices, chopped into thin slices by some pretty impressive knife work, cooked on a grill and served in a pile. Yummo! We prefer ours without the bones but we are told that Sri Lankans like to see the chicken bones in the kottu roti so they know the cook isn't tricking them by adding poor chicken meat. The man we buy kottu roti from was so confused by our request for no bones that, for a while, he was sending the bones along to us in another bag so that we could be reassured that we were getting what we paid for.
6) Curried Mango. Not for me, but if you're a fan of mangoes and curries, it might appeal. As with the peppered pineapple, I'm not quite sure why anyone would want to do this to such a delicious piece of fruit.
7) Cream Soda. Not red creaming soda, just creaming soda, this soft drink is a pure sugar hit. Needless to explain then, I love it.
8) Brinjol. A vegetable somewhat akin to a zucchini (which I love) and an eggplant (which I hate). I know a guy who prepares the yummiest brinjol. I'm yet to make him teach me how.
9) Breadfruit. Breadfruit, when cooked and prepared, is a bit like potato. The aforementioned man cooks it with coconut milk and spices to make a very tasty dish. Once again, I'm not in on the secret. Perhaps some cooking lessons are in order. Don't confuse breadfruit with jackfruit, which is a large prickly fruit that looks a bit like durian and is, in my opinion, rather dry and tasteless.
10) Kangaroo Meat. We brought some back by request for some friends of ours. They had tried it in Australia and their children had loved it. It wasn't that bad, actually, considering that my mind connects kangaroo meat with the horribly smelly dead animal that my dad once got to feed the dog with. Not the greatest though, a little chewy. I think it was the marinade that I liked. Still, I think it is nicely ironic that my first - and probably only - taste of kangaroo meat was an overseas experience.
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