• Latest
The Leafy Plate

The Leafy Plate

January 26, 2023
Investec Cape Town Art Fair

Investec Cape Town Art Fair

March 3, 2023
Discipline and Precepts are Favorable for Self-Development

Discipline and Precepts are Favorable for Self-Development

March 3, 2023
DY Patil University Centre of Excellence Opens in Navi Mumbai

DY Patil University Centre of Excellence Opens in Navi Mumbai

March 3, 2023
A Walk Down Cobblers’ Street

A Walk Down Cobblers’ Street

March 3, 2023
The Colombo Cultural Show: A Soiree into Sri Lanka’s Heart

The Colombo Cultural Show: A Soiree into Sri Lanka’s Heart

February 7, 2023
Kandy Central Market: The epitome of local ambiance

Kandy Central Market: The epitome of local ambiance

February 7, 2023
The Art of Local Writing

The Art of Local Writing

February 7, 2023
Carnival Magic

Carnival Magic

February 7, 2023
Ponniyin Selvan 1: Leveraging the Lure of History and the Power of Storytelling

Ponniyin Selvan 1: Leveraging the Lure of History and the Power of Storytelling

January 11, 2023
Rumination and Emotional Process

Rumination and Emotional Process

January 13, 2023
Segar Represents Sri Lanka in Asia Art Bienniale in Dhaka

Segar Represents Sri Lanka in Asia Art Bienniale in Dhaka

January 11, 2023
Good Conversations Start with Mlesna

Good Conversations Start with Mlesna

January 11, 2023
Retail
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Subscription
Advertise
  • Home
  • Issues
    • 201_
      • 2010
        • January 2010
        • February 2010
        • March 2010
        • April 2010
        • May 2010
        • June 2010
        • July 2010
        • August 2010
        • September 2010
        • October 2010
        • November 2010
        • December 2010
      • 2011
        • January 2011
        • February 2011
        • March 2011
        • April 2011
        • May 2011
        • June 2011
        • July 2011
        • August 2011
        • September 2011
        • October 2011
        • November 2011
        • December 2011
      • 2012
        • January 2012
        • February 2012
        • March 2012
        • April 2012
        • May 2012
        • June 2012
        • July 2012
        • August 2012
        • September 2012
        • October 2012
        • November 2012
        • December 2012
      • 2013
        • January 2013
        • February 2013
        • March 2013
        • April 2013
        • May 2013
        • June 2013
        • July 2013
        • August 2013
        • September 2013
        • October 2013
        • November 2013
        • December 2013
      • 2014
        • January 2014
        • February 2014
        • March 2014
        • April 2014
        • May 2014
        • June 2014
        • July 2014
        • August 2014
        • September 2014
        • October 2014
        • November 2014
        • December 2014
      • 2015
        • January 2015
        • February 2015
        • March 2015
        • April 2015
        • May 2015
        • June 2015
        • July 2015
        • August 2015
        • September 2015
        • October 2015
        • November 2015
        • December 2015
      • 2016
        • January 2016
        • February 2016
        • March 2016
        • April 2016
        • May 2016
        • June 2016
        • July 2016
        • August 2016
        • September 2016
        • October 2016
        • November 2016
        • December 2016
      • 2017
        • January 2017
        • February 2017
        • March 2017
        • April 2017
        • May 2017
        • June 2017
        • July 2017
        • August 2017
        • September 2017
        • October 2017
        • November 2017
        • December 2017
      • 2018
        • January 2018
        • February 2018
        • March 2018
        • April 2018
        • May 2018
        • June 2018
        • July 2018
        • August 2018
        • November 2018
        • December 2018
      • 2019
        • January 2019
        • February 2019
        • March 2019
        • April 2019
        • May 2019
        • June 2019
        • July 2019
        • August 2019
        • September 2019
        • October 2019
        • November 2019
        • December 2019
    • 202_
      • 2020
        • January 2020
        • February 2020
        • March 2020
        • September 2020
        • October 2020
        • November 2020
        • December 2020
      • 2021
        • January 2021
        • February 2021
        • March 2021
        • April 2021
        • May 2021
        • June 2021
        • July 2021
        • August 2021
        • September 2021
        • October 2021
        • November 2021
        • December 2021
      • 2022
        • January 2022
        • February 2022
        • March 2022
        • April 2022
        • May 2022
        • June 2022
        • July 2022
        • August 2022
        • September 2022
        • October 2022
        • November 2022
        • December 2022
      • 2023
        • January 2023
        • February 2023
        • March 2023
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Archive
  • Find Us on Magzter
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result

The Leafy Plate

in August 2011, Featured
0 0
0

If you ask most Sri Lankans what their favourite meal is, they’ll probably tell you it’s rice and curry. But a meal is more than just food, it’s how it’s packaged and presented as well. And for many Sri Lankans their rice is tastiest when eaten not on an ordinary plate, but on a banana leaf or nelum kole (lotus leaf). Similarly many sweets are baked wrapped in kenda kole (kenda leaf), an example of how Sri Lankans have incorporated the natural world into their cooking.

Words Duruthu Edirimuni Photographs Mahesh Prasantha

Sri Lankan history has left its imprints and authenticity in its spicy and aromatic cuisine, while gaining recognition and popularity as being one of the world’s finest. Historians say that many of its foods are influenced by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Malays, the Arabs, and the South Indians, all of whom have left their culinary impression in the island.

While in the countryside, people tend to cook and eat mainly traditional foods, hesitating to try foods characteristic to other cultures, they also have still preserved the more ecologically sensitive practices of ancient communities such as the custom to cook and eat traditional foods in ‘disposable’, ‘degradable’ plates and bowls. The most famous of such throwaway plates are banana leaves, kenda leaves and nelum (lotus) leaves which also serve many purposes in Sri Lankan cooking shedding some light on this local serving tradition. While easy to cook with, cleaned banana leaves, which could be disposed of after the meal, were traditionally used as an alternative to plates. Futhermore when hot food is served on these leaves, it would impart a distinct aroma and taste to the food. Banana leaves are still utilised on auspicious and festive occasions but are much less common otherwise. The use of banana leaves as a “biological plate” has gained much popularity in many restaurants in the island as well.

Though its use has declined now, the time when banana leaves came into their own used to be during the paddy planting and harvesting seasons back in the day. During these times, lotus or banana leaves were the ideal container in which to serve meals for the hungry workers who worked outdoors in paddy fields for long hours and in some villages the practice still prevails.

When hot food is served on these leaves, the leaves add aroma and taste to the food.

Lamprais, which are parcels of fragrant rice, curries and accompaniments, wrapped in a banana leaf and baked, is a favourite prepared by the burgher community and a popular urban dish. Before using the fresh banana leaf as a wrapping, passing it over a flame to soften and make it flexible will also render a better taste. Alternatively, blanching the leaves in boiling water for a few seconds renders it pliable for easier handling as well.

One of the signature dishes in the South is fish baked in banana leaf with olu rice, which is technically not rice but seeds of a native lotus flower. The neutralising gotu kola sambol on the side makes this dish truly Sinhalese.

Banana and Kenda leaves are also seen used as a wrapping for grilling food and as such it contains the juices and prevents the food from getting burnt.

Another two unusual types of food which are made with the aid of kenda kole are halapa and vandu aappa. Halapa in particular will intrigue anyone who is not used to eating it. It is a flat sweet wrapped in the leaf which must be peeled away to taste the sweet. The unique flavour of the Kenda leaf is infused in to these sweets, which give them a characteristic taste.

There is also a procedure as to what is to be served where and when on an ubiquitous leaf. According to many historians initially this procedure was thought to be for some superstitious reason but it does have a practical purpose. According to the traditions of the Central Province, the broader side of a leaf is to be placed to the right since most of us use our right hands and it would thus be easy to eat from the wider end. The tip of the leaf would be to the left of the person eating so that the white tender part of the leaf will be outward and slightly green part inward. Generally hot food is served inside and the green part will bear it. Banana leaves impart a subtle sweet flavour when food is served or wrapped in them. Salt, pickle, fruit, parippu (dal/lentils) all have their own places reserved on the banana leaf but the nelum and kenda kole aren’t used as such.

Banana and Kenda leaves are also seen used as a wrapping for grilling food and contain the juices and prevent the food from getting burnt whilst at the same time giving off a faint flavor.

Banana leaf, according to historians is hygienic and has medicinal value tested over centuries. Furthermore oil does not stick to the banana leaf as opposed to a plate.

Banana leaves serve many purposes in Asian cooking, from adding flavour to foods cooked within them, to simply being used as a colourful and exotic background for serving-plates and party platters.

[nggallery id=66]

TweetShareShare
Please login to join discussion

Search

No Result
View All Result

Recent News

Investec Cape Town Art Fair

Investec Cape Town Art Fair

Discipline and Precepts are Favorable for Self-Development

Discipline and Precepts are Favorable for Self-Development

DY Patil University Centre of Excellence Opens in Navi Mumbai

DY Patil University Centre of Excellence Opens in Navi Mumbai

Explore Sri Lanka

Explore Sri Lanka Online, the web edition of Sri Lanka’s leading monthly corporate publication. Founded in 1996, the magazine currently has a distribution of over 6,000 copies island-wide.

Recent News

  • Investec Cape Town Art Fair
  • Discipline and Precepts are Favorable for Self-Development
  • DY Patil University Centre of Excellence Opens in Navi Mumbai

Find Us

Explore Sri Lanka
20-2/1 Lauries Place Facing
R. A. De Mel Mawatha
Colombo 04
Sri Lanka.
(+94 11) 259 7991
(+94) 715 134 134
info@btoptions.com
btoptions.com

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 Explore Sri Lanka | Designed by Lithic Labs

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Issues
    • 201_
      • 2010
      • 2011
      • 2012
      • 2013
      • 2014
      • 2015
      • 2016
      • 2017
      • 2018
      • 2019
    • 202_
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
      • 2023
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Archive
  • Find Us on Magzter

© 2022 Explore Sri Lanka | Designed by Lithic Labs

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In