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Sri Lankan lunch meal plan 1

Sri Lankan Lunch meal plan 1.

rice, mildly spiced beetroot curry, slow-cooked beef just like my grandmother used to make, pumpkin curry cooked in coconut milk, a few slices of Cucumber in a bed of lettuce leaves.

I’ve been playing around with this idea of Sri Lankan meal plans for a few months now and if you go back to my earlier post or type lunch bowls on the search bar, you’ll find a few of my earlier creations.

The idea behind Sri Lankan lunch bowls was just a way of listing dishes that compliment each other and helping me to keep a regular posting schedule.

Well, it didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to add more recipes first before creating bowls of Sri Lankan meals.

I stopped the theme and concentrated more on adding recipes.

Now, I have a list of Sri Lankan recipes to work with and a lot more to come, I’ve decided to do the meal plans but instead of them in bowls, they are going to be detailed with links to the recipe I’ve used.

These meal plans are based on my initial idea, our typical Sri Lankan meals can run from three, four, five, and even seven dishes a meal.

If you are not familiar with a Sri Lankan meal, you might find it intimidating creating all those dishes but they are not.

You can easily do two or three and be completely satisfied and if you continue to follow the Sri Lankan meal plans, you’ll notice a pattern in our menus.

Rice will always be the preferred carb and can be your regular rice, basmati for festive occasions, and red rice.

There will be a milk curry, which can have a heavy base of coconut milk, turmeric, and mildly spiced.

A dry stir-fry(for want of a better word)which in Sinhalese is called”thelata” that can be vegetables cooked in oil and semi-fried, this dish can be spicy sometimes.

There’s also the “mallung”, a green salad that might have a few ingredients added to it and finally a meat, poultry, seafood curry which I must say is a must if we need the boys and men in the family NOT grumbling(men turn to boys, boys turn to babies which can drive some of us crazy!).

These are the basics that complete a Sri Lankan food table.

So come join me, let’s have lunch together, or let me at least help you with a few ideas you can work with.

My Sri Lankan meals might not be too elaborate as my guests are usually kids and teens who as entertaining, they can be but a boring lot to cook.

Send me a few of your favorite meal ideas you want me to try and I’ll try my very best to include them here.

How to prepare and cook your first Sri Lankan menu.

For individual recipes, press the name of the dish and you will be taken directly to the recipe.

Start with the dish that takes longer to cook, in this case, it would be the slow cooked beef curry. 

Sri lankan beef curry(slow cooked and just like my grandmother made) -islandsmile.org

While the Beef curry simmers, you can begin with the Pumpkin curry.

Assuming you have a double stove, while the other two curries are cooking, start with the beetroot curry. 

The recipe includes a kid-friendly version I used to make when the kids were younger, move down on the post and you’ll find the updated recipe.

I find myself using the grater to shred the beetroot sometimes as it reduces time and energy cutting the beetroot into slightly thick strips.

Sri Lankan Beetroot curry, with a variety of health benefits, this colorful dish is a must try for anyone who's been eating their beets in salads. vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, low-carb-islandsmile.org

In between making the curries, you’ll be able to get the rice cooking.

I’m currently working on an ultimate guide on how to cook rice and they include a few methods you can try, in case your pressure cooker fails you.

The post will also include the quantity of rice for servings, once I’m done with it, I’ll link the post here. 

Cucumber and Lettuce salad.

You need something fresh and raw to compliment your other cooked Sri Lankan dishes, so I opted on slicing a few cucumbers, placing them on a bed of lettuce leaves, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

I prefer to do this last as cucumbers kept out long, let’s out water.

Well, that’s it for my first Sri Lankan meal plan, let me know what other dishes you would add to this menu, I’ll be happy to hear from you about your favorite menu to serve family and guests.

Send me an email or contact me through my social media profiles and I’ll try to recreate your menu.

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Each recipe on this blog has been written with great care and love to the best of my ability with you in mind.
It’s free and on the blog, for you to try anytime.

All I ask is that you do not save it on any apps, recipe boxes, or online groups which will affect me as a food blogger and the growth of this blog.

I would appreciate it if you only share the link rather than the full recipe. 

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Shazna

Thursday 30th of September 2021

I'm a Sri Lankan abroad and my husband and I love Sri Lankan cuisine. I'm so glad I came across ur blog. Please share more meal plans which would be much helpful for new cooks who love to try authentic Sri Lankan food..

jehan

Thursday 30th of September 2021

Hi Shazna, Thank you for writing to me. there are a few meal plans on the blog, just use the search bar and type meal plan or Sri Lankan menu. you'll find them. in addition, for each recipe, I do write what to serve with it. Hope this helps, Stay safe and regards J

Melanie Watt

Wednesday 23rd of January 2019

I would like to subscribe. Grateful for the information. How many servings does this menu make? A family of 5 adults is my audience.

jehan

Thursday 24th of January 2019

Hi Melanie, This would roughly serve three adults. It all depends on if your audience is single serving or two serves. I would recommend cooking extra than less. If you take this meal plan and you are serving for five adults. I would say, Rice 3-4 cups which can yield enough cooked rice for 5 with anyone who wants to double serve. Slow cooked beef-the recipe given is for 500g of beef, you can double the recipe ingredient and cook for 1kg, should be adequate. Pumpkin curry recipe is for 500g, so you should be fine for 5 people. Beetroot recipe is for 250g double the recipe to 500g. As I mentioned earlier it all depends on how your audience of 5 eats, light or heavy. I hope this information helps. let me know if you need more details. There is a box to subscribe in the sidebar for you to do it.

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