Temple-Side Breakfast · Herbal Rice Gruel
Kola Kanda
Photo: AntanO / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Stalls near Kandy's temples open early and often sell out within a couple of hours — and tradition says the bitter green gruel should be eaten alongside a lump of jaggery to balance it.
Red rice is boiled down with coconut milk and the blended juice of gotu kola or other medicinal leaves into a thick, jade-green porridge, ladled from clay pots at roadside stalls near Kandy's temples every morning until the pot runs dry.
Why it's made this way: Rooted in Buddhist monastic and Ayurvedic practice around Kandy, the porridge was valued as a cheap, medicinal start to the day long before it spread into a wider Sri Lankan breakfast habit.
More from Sri Lanka
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.