Rice and Main-Meal Bases Recipes

Kaha Bath

Sri Lankan Yellow Rice

Sri Lankan yellow rice, known as kaha bath, is golden turmeric rice cooked in coconut milk with whole spices, curry leaves and pandan. This festival rice, sometimes called Sri Lankan turmeric rice or coconut milk yellow rice, is fragrant, faintly rich and far more interesting than plain rice, yet barely more effort. Serve it under a spread of curries and sambols.

Lamprais

Lamprais

Lamprais, also written lump rice or lomprijst, is the dish that sums up Sri Lankan Dutch Burgher cooking: rice cooked in meat stock, a special mixed-meat curry, a fried ash-plantain curry, seeni sambol, a frikkadel meatball and a pungent blachan, all wrapped in a banana leaf and baked together. It takes a day or two to make properly, but the moment you open a warm parcel and that layered, smoky aroma rises up, you get why it is such a beloved festive dish.

Kiri Bath

Kiribath

Kiribath is Sri Lanka's milk rice, and it's a quiet one. Short-grain rice gets cooked until soft, then thick coconut milk and a little salt are folded through, the whole thing pressed flat and cut into diamonds. Plain, creamy, just gently rich. It's the food of new beginnings: New Year morning, birthdays, the first of every month, nearly always with a spoonful of fiery lunu miris. You'll also see it written kiri bath. It's one of the simplest, most meaningful dishes in the Sri Lankan kitchen.

Rathu Kekulu

Sri Lankan Red Rice

Sri Lankan red rice, or rathu kekulu, is the island's everyday wholegrain rice. Unpolished red-skinned grains, a nutty flavour, a satisfying chew, and far more fibre than white rice. It's the base of a proper rice and curry, and it's simple to cook on the stove or in a rice cooker once you know it wants a little more water and a little more time. Naturally vegan and high in fibre, it's a rice that actually works for you.

Ghee Bath

Ghee Rice

Ghee rice, or ghee bath, is long-grain rice cooked in ghee with onions, whole spices, pandan and curry leaves until each grain is glossy and perfumed. It sits next to yellow rice on celebration menus, mild, buttery and aromatic, usually topped with fried cashews and raisins. Some call it Sri Lankan ghee rice, and honestly, it makes any meal feel a little festive without much work.

Buriyani

Sri Lankan Chicken Biryani

Sri Lankan chicken biryani, called buriyani or buryani, starts with chicken marinated in yoghurt and spices, browned, then layered with par-cooked basmati or seeru samba rice, fried onions, mint and coriander. It is sealed and finished low so the flavours meld. Richer and more aromatic than plain rice, it leans on roasted spice notes, sweet fried onions and a generous ghee base. This is the dish that crowns weddings, Ramadan and Eid tables, served with mint sambol, raita, a fiery sambol and cashews or boiled egg. That is a feast on one plate.

Mutton Biriyani

Sri Lankan Mutton Biryani

Let's get one thing settled first: Sri Lankan mutton biryani, also called mutton biriyani, is made with goat. The meat gets marinated in yoghurt and Sri Lankan spices, slow-cooked until tender, then layered with par-boiled basmati or seeru samba rice, fried onions, mint and coriander, and finished sealed on low heat. It's deeper and more robust than its chicken sibling, and this goat biryani trades quick cooking for a long, patient tenderising that pulls the meat off the bone and leaves the rice stained gold and heavy with spiced juices. It is the dish that crowns weddings, Ramadan iftars and Eid mornings, served with mint sambol, raita, a fiery acchar and ghee-fried cashews.

Beef Biriyani

Sri Lankan Beef Biryani

Sri Lankan beef biryani, known locally as beef biriyani, is beef marinated in yoghurt and spices, slow-cooked until tender, then layered with par-cooked basmati or seeru samba rice, sweet fried onions, mint and coriander, then finished sealed on low heat so every grain drinks up the spiced juices. It's richer and more robust than the chicken version, leaning on roasted spice notes, a generous ghee base and beef that falls apart at the fork. This is the biryani that crowns weddings, Ramadan and Eid tables. Serve it with raita, mint sambol, a fiery sambol and fried cashews or boiled egg, and you've got a full feast on a single plate.

Elawalu Biriyani

Sri Lankan Vegetable Biryani

Sri Lankan vegetable biryani, known locally as elawalu biriyani or simply veg biryani, is fragrant basmati or seeru samba rice layered with spiced mixed vegetables, sweet fried onions, mint and coriander, then sealed and finished on low heat so every grain drinks up the flavour. It's richer and more aromatic than plain rice. This meat-free Sri Lankan biryani leans on roasted spice notes, ghee and golden fried onions, with cashews or paneer added so it eats like a proper centrepiece rather than a side. Served with raita, mint sambol and a tangy acchar, it's a full vegetarian feast on a single plate.

Sri Lankan Chicken Fried Rice

Sri Lankan chicken fried rice, often called Chinese fried rice on local menus, is day-old rice tossed in a screaming-hot wok with chicken, egg, leeks, carrot and spring onion, glossed with soy and given a proper Sri Lankan kick of chilli. It's the island's most-loved takeaway, smoky from the high heat, and it almost always comes with a fiery chilli paste or a devilled side. Get the rice dry and the heat high, and you get a smoky, savoury, just-spicy-enough plate that beats any restaurant version.

Sri Lankan Seafood Fried Rice

Sri Lankan seafood fried rice, also called mixed seafood fried rice, is cold cooked rice tossed in a screaming-hot wok with prawns, cuttlefish and fish, scrambled egg, crisp vegetables and a splash of soy and chilli. The trick is speed: a hot wok and fast high-heat cooking keep the prawns plump and the cuttlefish tender, not rubbery. Smoky, savoury and just a little fiery, this fried rice turns a handful of mixed seafood into a quick one-pan meal.

Sri Lankan Egg Fried Rice

Sri Lankan egg fried rice, often made as vegetable egg fried rice, is cold day-old rice stir-fried with fluffy egg, crunchy vegetables, soy sauce and a hit of green chilli. It's the simplest, quickest fried rice in the Sri Lankan kitchen. A weeknight staple that turns leftover rice into a full meal in about ten minutes, and a base you can throw almost anything into.

Bath Curry

Sri Lankan Rice and Curry

Sri Lankan rice and curry, or bath curry, isn't one dish, it's a whole plate: a mound of rice in the centre with curries, a coconut sambol, a tempered dhal and a crisp papadam around it. It's the island's everyday meal, and the real skill isn't any single recipe, it's the assembly: choosing a balanced menu, cooking it so everything lands warm at once, and arranging colours, textures and heat so each mouthful feels different. As written here it's vegetarian, but you can just as happily build it around a fish or chicken curry.

Pol Bath

Sri Lankan Coconut Rice

Sri Lankan coconut rice goes by pol bath or coconut milk rice. It's fluffy, savoury rice simmered in coconut milk with pandan, lemongrass, curry leaves and a little onion. The coconut makes it rich and gently sweet, but it stays firmly savoury. It's the soft, comforting everyday rice that turns dhal, a sambol or a simple curry into a proper meal. Don't confuse it with kiribath, the firm rice cut into diamonds, or with a sweet coconut rice pudding. This one is fluffy, aromatic and meant to be eaten warm with curry.

Kos Bath

Sri Lankan Jackfruit Rice

Sri Lankan jackfruit rice, known as kos bath or polos rice, is a one-pot mixed rice. Chunks of jackfruit, onions, whole spices and coconut milk go in together, so the grains soak up the savoury fruit and gentle spice while they steam. It's not a jackfruit curry spooned over plain rice. The jackfruit and rice cook together in a single pot, filling enough to be a meal on its own. Naturally vegan, this jackfruit mixed rice is the one for when you want everything in one pan.