Are you craving The Sri Lankan Lamprais? Make your own take on the famous Sri Lankan lamprais recipes from scratch. Customize your lamprais to satisfy your food cravings. Follow the step-by-step to make an unforgettable lamprais meal.
These lamprais recipes are great for meal prepping ideas, to host a family cook-off party or to have your friends over to spoil them with comforting soul food.
Let’s make lamprais recipes
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As we mostly home cook during the week, often on weekends, we like to go on looking for Sri Lankan food to satisfy our spicy food cravings. Although more and more South Asian food spots are popping up in GTA, very few offers the Sri Lankan’s famous lamprais, that we all love and crave.
let’s not go into details of its origin & history. Lamprais, or as we call it the lump rice, is just another version of enjoying Sri Lankan’s most popular rice and curry meal.
Instead of serving the rice and curry on a plate, the food is wrapped tightly in banana leaves and baked. Then the magic takes place inside the oven. The baking process gives out a pleasant smoky flavour to the food.
Sri Lankan Lamprais Recipes
Even with only a few lamprais spots near here, I can still say that I’ve had a few too many lamprais in my life to motivate me to create my own take on the dish.
and I loved each one of them and encourage you to DIY too to satisfy your cravings.
where to buy banana leaves?
Banana leaves are available year-round back home at the island, we can just run to the backyard or to the next door to cut a leaf of the banana tree to wrap food with or to cover or serve food on.
As we live in Canada, or anywhere else in the world, and you don’t have a banana tree in the backyard, check out your local Asian stores near you.
You may find it in their frozen section, if not, don’t be disappointed just yet, do ask around. The staff sometimes have them stored in the back.
If you happen to purchase a larger portion of the banana leaf, pack the leftovers in freezer-safe ziplock bags and throw them in the freezer.
When you are ready to use it again, thaw it for about 30 minutes before use.
Other than making lamprais, banana leaves are good at baking, roasting or cooking other food in, as it adds a smoky flavour, and acts as a waterproof wrapper.
My favourite is to use it as a plate to serve food on.
what goes into lamprais recipes?
The dish varies from place to place. So you may find lamprais in plant-based, meat, or in seafood type.
They all come in different combinations of food wrapped and baked in a banana leaf. Generally, a lamprais consists of rice, curries, sambal, something fried, a few healthy veggies, cutlet and an egg.
Here is an example of my take on a seafood lamprais and its recipes to complete a wrap:
- The Ghee Rice
- The Ambulthiyal Curry
- The Dhal Curry
- Eggplant & Potatoe Curry
- Okra Fry
- Banana Flower Stir-fry
- Fish Cutlets
- Hardboiled egg
- The Anchovies Sambal
Rice
It’s the soul of the dish. I highly recommend making The Ghee Rice Recipe. It’s flavourful, aromatic and delicious.
To substitute ghee rice, you may go with plain white rice, red or even brown rice. To make the rice taste richer, cook it in meat stocks or veggie stocks to bring out an aromatic flavour.
curry
All versions of lamprais come oozed in a thick layer of bite-size meat curry. Choose one to two curries of your choice to add to the dish.
To name a few curries, you can choose from bite-size chicken, beef, lamb, mutton, fish, shrimp etc.
Check out The Fish Curry Recipe, The Ambulthiyal Recipe (Sour Fish Curry), or The Meat Curry Recipe I’ve used before. Remember to cook until the gravy turns thick.
Curry for vegetarian lamprais
For those who are into vegetarian, plant-based, and vegan diets, I suggest creating a thick meatless curry. Choose from tofu, soy, lentils, chickpea, beans, or green peas curry.
They are all high in protein, which is great for strengthening your muscles and staying feeling fuller which can promote weight loss.
Check out The Chickpea Recipe or The Dhal Recipe (Lentil Curry) I never miss adding on all my lamprais.
sambal
I’ve always seen a version of onion sambal in each lamprais I’ve tried. You can pick from seeni sambal, onion sambal, Maldives fish sambal, beef onion sambal, beef fry sambal and the list goes on.
These sambals can be prepared a day or two ahead to reduce the overall cooking time. Prepping any of the onion sambals days ahead can make the onions intensify their rich flavour as it sits until its used. Store in an air-tight container and refrigerate for up to a week.
Check out my Caramelized Onion Recipe, The Onion Sambal Recipe, The Maldives Fish Sambal Recipe, The Beef Fry Sambal, The Anchovies Sambal, or The Beef Onion Sambal Recipe.
veggies
Choose from 1 – 3 veggies to include in the banana wrap. There is an abundance of healthy vegetables you can choose from. Either sauté, stir-fry, boil or steam to your taste.
See below to check out the recipes of a few veggies I have used on my lamprais.
- The Potatoe Curry Recipe (Ala hodi/Urulaikilangu)
- The Cassava Curry Recipe (Tapioca/Manioc)
- Beetroot Curry Recipe
- Cauliflower Stir-Fry Recipe
- Green beans & Potatoe Curry
- Eggplant & Potatoe Curry Recipe
- Okra Fry Recipe (Bandakka/Vendakkai)
- The Carrot Sambal Recipe
- The Snake Gourd Stir-Fry Recipe (Patola/Podalangai)
- Kale Stir-Fry Recipe
- Drumstick Curry Recipe (Murunga/Murungakkai)
- Fenugreek/Methi Leaves Stir-Fry Recipe
- Banana Flower Stir-Fry Recipe (Kesel-muwa/Vazhaipoo Poriyal)
fish cutlet
A fish cutlet or two is just what a lamprais needs to complete the dish. Some take-out spots forget to include it in the wrap.
When making these lamprais recipes from scratch, I tend to forget or at times even skipped this step to avoid extra work. I suggest prepping this recipe a day or two even a week ahead if kept frozen to cut down on the extra cooking work.
The cutlet does complete the lamprais wrap, so do try to include one or two when wrapping your lamprais. Enjoy the rest of the cutlets in the evening for snack-time or keep frozen to use on another day.
Check out my Fish Cutlet Recipe.
eggs
An egg is another essential when wrapping lamprais. Some like to hard boil the egg. A few others prefer to take a few extra steps to season and fry the egg after boiling.
To follow this step, first, boil the egg in water and salt. Once it is hard-boiled, peel the shells off and pat-dry it with a kitchen paper towel.
Next, prick around the eggs with a toothpick or a fork, season it with turmeric powder, Kashmir chilli powder or Cayenne pepper powder and salt.
Finally, deep fry until it is crisp before taking off the heat.
something fried
Lamprais needs something fried. It can be bite-size meat, seafood, or vegetables. Let’s say it’s a veggie lamprais, fried eggplants, green plantains, okra, or even seasoned potatoes goes well.
Mix the cubed or bite-size chosen ingredient and season with turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Deep fry, pan-fry or air-fry to a crip.
Check out my Deep-fried Cassava, and The Anchovies Recipe.
Lookin’ for more flavorful recipes like this?
Take a quick look at the recipe collection HERE.
Choose recipes from snacks & appetizers, curries & sides, sweets & desserts to meals & more.
Find ways to create delicious meals to satisfy your food cravings.
Assembling The Food with recipes of lamprais
Use one whole banana leaf per lamprais wrap. First, cut it to the desired size, clean it in water and then dry the banana leaves.
Without burning the leaf, gently heat it over a low open flame to make the leaves more soft and pliable to wrap. Next, preheat the oven to 350’F/175’C.
Note
The banana leaf may tear when handled. If it did, do not discard it, it is still rescuable if used a foil wrapper underneath to secure it all in place. If the leaves rip, use two or more small pieces of leaves to lap on one another to create space for the food.
Whether the leaves tears or not, I always start by placing a piece of foil wrap flat on the surface. Then the banana leaf goes over the foil.
When assembling the food
keep in mind the portion you place. As too much food may result in overcrowding, difficulty in wrapping it, and may tear the leaf further.
Place a desired amount of rice (1-2 cups) in the middle of the banana leaf and then a tablespoon or two of the curry and vegetables around it. Place the egg and cutlets on the top middle.
When folding, bring each edge of the banana leaves to the middle covering the food. Use a few toothpicks to hold down the leaf in place. If it is difficult to hold down the leaf with a toothpick, use the foil underneath to wrap it over the banana leaf tightly.
Place the wrapped rice in an oven-safe tray or container and bake it at 350’F/175’C for about 30 minutes.
As it is baking, the juices from the food will seep right through the rice and the leaf. As the leaf is being heated, it will start spreading a smoky flavour to the food.
When the baking is done, handle it with extra care and remove it from the oven. Avoid burning your fingers, open with care, eat with your dominant hand and when done toss out the banana leaf.
what are the benefits of eating by hand?
You may have noticed, when eating by hand, all of your senses come on point. Sight, smell, touch, taste and even hear the way you chew the food.
Getting your hands messy with food is not at all a bad thing. It brings out an intimate connection with the food.
Not only does it help satisfy your food cravings but also the touch stimulates the digestive juices in the stomach, which helps improve your digestion.
So, It is totally okay to ditch the cutleries to go all hands-on. Just remember to wash your hands before handling food.
How to store lamprais?
If you are making lamprais recipes, they are great for weekly meal preps. Wrap a few extra to use on another day. Once the rice is assembled and wrapped in banana leaf. Wrap it again tightly with foil wrap and can be refrigerated for up to 3-5 days.
can you freeze lamprais?
Yes. Once the food is wrapped in banana leaf. Wrap it tightly again with foil. Keep frozen for weeks or even months.
how do you re-heat lamprais?
If frozen thaw for about an hour. Remove the foil, if needed, place it in an oven-safe baking tray or a container. Bake it for about 30 – 45 minutes at temperature 350’F/175’C in the oven.
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DIY lumprais recipe
You don’t have to be South Asian to enjoy lamprais. Look for takeout spots near you. If there are none, create your own.
Plan it all first, prep days ahead, and take a few hours to whip up your own take on lamprais.
This is an excellent meal prep idea to have them made and ready for busy days to come. Great meal idea to spoil your friends, have a get-together party, create memories with the food you enjoy.
Why not host a family cook-off party? A lot like a potluck cook-off and then bring the food together to wrap it into a lamprais. It’s always great to have your loved ones over to enjoy comforting soul food like these.
