I have had a few meals now down the street where my friends were staying. The Auntie and Uncle there are typical Sinhalese...uber sweet and accommodating with the motto "If you are happy, this makes us very happy". Auntie makes a great green herb dish for her rice and curry, and when I inquired about it she shared that she uses it to make a traditional Sinhalese breakfast porridge. I was intrigued...so of course, she offered to make this (labor-intensive) porridge for me and my friends. Well, it was delicious!! And in a country where most food doesn't leave you feeling "light and refreshed", I'm happy to say that I felt healh radiating out of eyeballs after this soup. It's basically brown rice, green herbs (one herb to be exact, a leaf that is native to this country), coconut milk and shredded coconut...with a touch of salt, all puréed in a blender. My favorite part was that it is eaten along with a chunk of Jaggery, sugar made from coconuts. You take teeny bite of jaggery and then a spoonful of porridge. It's delightful, and the jaggery smooths out the earthiness of the kola kenda.
The hopper is made with rice flour and some water, and is very similar to a crepe. After you put the batter into the hopper dish (which looks like a miniature wok), you crack the egg in and cover it, leaving it on low heat until the egg cooks. This is served with Seeni (sugar) sambal (spice)....Caramelized onions cooked with a touch of sugar, garlic and lots of chili.
All I gotta say is HARIMA RASAI (so tasty!)!!!!!
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