Ingredients
Rice
- 500 gshort-grain rice
- 800 mlmeat stock
- 2onions
- 4cardamom pods
- 4cloves
- 1cinnamon stick
- 50 gghee
- 1pandan leaf
Mixed meat curry
- 600 gbeef, pork and chicken, in small dice
- 1 tbsproasted curry powder
- 1 tspturmeric
- 2onions
- 1 tbspginger garlic paste
- 2 sprigscurry leaves
- 200 mlcoconut milk
- 1 piecegoraka or tamarind
Frikkadels
- 300 gminced beef
- 1 slicebread soaked in milk
- 1onion
- 1 tspmixed spice
- 1egg
- breadcrumbs
- oil for frying
Accompaniments
- blachan or seeni sambol
- brinjal moju
- 2boiled eggs, halved
To wrap
- 6banana leaf squares, softened
- string
Directions
- Make the meat curry first: fry the onions, ginger garlic and curry leaves, add the diced three meats, the roasted curry powder and turmeric, then the coconut milk and goraka.
- Simmer it until tender and the sauce is thick and clinging, about 45 minutes, then keep the stock for the rice. Cook the rice in that meat stock rather than water, with the whole spices, ghee and pandan.
- Make the frikkadels: mix the mince with the soaked bread, onion, spice and egg, roll into small balls, crumb them and fry until browned. Soften the banana leaves over a flame until glossy and pliable.
- Lay a leaf flat and put a mound of rice in the centre.
- Arrange the meat curry, two frikkadels, a spoonful of blachan, a spoonful of brinjal moju and half a boiled egg around the rice, each in its own place rather than mixed.
- Keep the components separate in the packet. Fold the leaf into a sealed rectangular parcel and tie it with string.
- Bake the packets at 180°C (355°F) for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve the packets closed and let people open their own at the table.
Technique
- Traditional lamprais contains no vegetables beyond the brinjal moju, which surprises people expecting a balanced plate.
- Prawn blachan is the older accompaniment and seeni sambol the common modern substitute.
- It is laborious enough that most families make it only for occasions, or buy it from a Burgher bakery.
Substitutions
- Chicken alone if pork is not eaten, accepting a shallower curry.
- Foil in place of banana leaf, which loses the aroma that justifies the bake.
Variations
- Vegetarian, with a mixed vegetable curry in place of meat.
- With a fried ash plantain added, which some families include.
- Made with seeni sambol instead of blachan.
History
A dish of rice, meat curry, a spiced meatball called a frikkadel, and other accompaniments, wrapped tightly in a banana leaf and baked together so the flavours meld inside the sealed parcel, developed by Sri Lanka’s Burgher community, descendants of Dutch and Portuguese colonial-era settlers who intermarried with local populations beginning in the 1600s and 1700s. Its name comes from the Dutch lomprijst, meaning a packet of food, directly reflecting that Dutch colonial heritage rather than an Indigenous Sri Lankan naming tradition. Lamprais represents a genuinely distinct fusion cuisine within Sri Lanka, blending Dutch and Sri Lankan cooking techniques and ingredients specifically through the Burgher community’s particular colonial-era history, setting it apart from the island’s more broadly Sinhalese or Tamil culinary traditions.
Frequently asked questions
What is Lamprais?
Lamprais is a main from Sri Lanka: dutch Burgher packet of rice, curries and frikkadel baked in banana leaf. A dish of rice, meat curry, a spiced meatball called a frikkadel, and other accompaniments, wrapped tightly in a banana leaf and baked together so the flavours meld inside the sealed parcel, developed by Sri Lanka’s Burgher community, descendants of Dutch and Portuguese colonial-era settlers who intermarried with local populations beginning in the 1600s and 1700s. Its name comes from the Dutch lomprijst, meaning a packet of food, directly reflecting that Dutch colonial heritage rather than an Indigenous Sri Lankan naming tradition. Lamprais represents a genuinely distinct fusion cuisine within Sri Lanka, blending Dutch and Sri Lankan cooking techniques and ingredients specifically through the Burgher community’s particular colonial-era history, setting it apart from the island’s more broadly Sinhalese or Tamil culinary traditions.
How long does Lamprais take to make?
Lamprais takes 1 hr 30 min of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 packets. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Lamprais?
Yes, within limits. Chicken alone if pork is not eaten, accepting a shallower curry. Foil in place of banana leaf, which loses the aroma that justifies the bake.
What is the most important thing to get right in Lamprais?
Simmer it until tender and the sauce is thick and clinging, about 45 minutes, then keep the stock for the rice. Cook the rice in that meat stock rather than water, with the whole spices, ghee and pandan.
