Food

*Did You Know?* Most Tamils eat with the fingers of their right hand rather than using forks and spoons.

The staple diet of Tamils in Canada, Sri Lanka and India is rice. It is eaten with curry and a variety of chutneys, pickles and sambals. The rice may be boiled and served with curries or it may be cooked with spices and in coconut milk, as 'yellow' rice. It is also baked in meat stock as a Biriyani. Meats, seafood and vegetables are cooked as a curry with a base of coconut milk.

	Paal Soru or Kiribath - Paal Soru means 'milk rice' and is a traditional dish for festive or special occasions.
	Hoppers - Hoppers (egg and plain) are made of a batter containing coconut milk and palm toddy left overnight to ferment. It is then fried in a bowl shaped metal pan which forms its shape. Simply breaking an egg into the centre of the plain hopper makes an egg hopper.
	String Hoppers - String Hoppers are vermicelli made of rice flour and steamed over a low fire.
	Pittu - Pittu is prepared with rice flour and shredded coconut and steamed inside a bamboo. It is eaten with a hot sambal and pol hodi (coconut gravy).
	Lamprais - Lamprais is a dish of Dutch origin. The rice is boiled in meat stock and then the vegetables and meat are added then slowly baked wrapped in a banana leaf.

Desserts
	Buffalo Curd and Treacle - kithul pani which is made from the kithul palm
	Juggery - a hard, brown coloured sweet made out of kitul treacle
	Kalu Dodol - made out of coconut milk, juggery and cashew nuts
	Kavum, Kokis and Athiraha - traditional Sinhala sweetmeats
	Watalappan - made out of boiled coconut milk and juggery laced with cashew nuts and raisins
	Thalaguli - sesame balls
	Halape - a mixture of coconut and juggery
	Aluwa - a fudge-like sweet
	Puhul Dosi - pumpkin preserves
	Panivalalu - 'honey bangles'

Fruits
	There are various varieties of mangoes, bananas, papaya, pineapples, avocados, guava, melons, passion fruit and pomegranate. Other special fruits are:
	Rambutan - Related to the lychee. It is coated with a soft red hairy skin, which is easily peeled to rach the sweet flesh of the fruit.
	Mangosteen - A dark purple fruit with luscious translucent segments within. Its flavour may be described as a combination between strawberries and grapes. They are seasonal and are available from July to September.
	Durian - Although the skin of the fruit has a strong, sometimes unpleasant aroma, the fruit is rich, soft, and yellow custard-like on the inside. This is believed to be an aphrodisiac.
	Wood Apple - A hard wooden-shelled fruit. This can be made into a tasty drink or a rich pudding with coconut milk.
	Jackfruit - A very large fruit that may be eaten fresh as a fruit or cooked as a curry. Within the coarse, green skin, there are hundreds of succulent orange/yellow segments inside.
	Babyjack - A watermelon-sized fruit which is eaten cooked as a curry

Seafood
	Prawns
	Tuna
	Crabs
	Mullet
	Shrimp
	Shark
	Lobster
	Squid
	Seer
	Skipjack
	Amberjack
	King Fish

Links
	Origins of curry
	food related links