Lamprais

{{Short description|Sri Lankan rice dish}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{EngvarB|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox food |name=Lamprais |image=Lamprais (2).jpg |caption = A serving of lamprais |country=Sri Lanka |course=Main meal |type=Main meal |main_ingredient=mixed meat curry, ghee rice, ash plantain, frikkadeller meatballs, belacan, seeni sambol, eggplant pahi }} '''Lamprais''', (Sinhala ලම්ප්‍රයිස් ; Tamil லம்ப்ரைஸ்), also transliterated in English as "lumprice", "lampraise" or "lumprais", is a Sri Lankan dish that was introduced by the country's Dutch Burgher population.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Burghers|first=J. B.|last=Müller|publisher=Wimal Enterprises|date=2006|page=275|isbn=9789551535001}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Being a Christian in Sri Lanka: Historical, Political, Social, and Religious Considerations|last=Pinto|first=Leonard|publisher=Balboa Press|date=2015|page=57|isbn=9781452528625}}</ref> Lamprais is an Anglicised derivative of the Dutch word {{Lang|nl|lomprijst}},<ref>{{cite book|title=Sri Lanka|author1=Gottberg, John|author2=Anthonis, Ravindralal|author3=Keuneman, Herbert|author4=Hoefer, Hans|publisher=Apa Productions|date=1983|page=300|isbn=9789971925222}}</ref> which loosely translated means a packet or lump of rice, and it is also believed the dish has roots in the Indonesia dish lemper.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://serendib.btoptions.lk/article.php?id=1838|title=Lamprais: A Curious Culinary Creation|publisher=SriLankan Airlines|work=Serendib|author=Boyle, Richard|date=July 2016|access-date=19 April 2021|archive-date=29 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129072939/http://serendib.btoptions.lk/article.php?id=1838|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==History== From 1658 until 1796, the coast of Sri Lanka was under Dutch rule. The Dutch Burghers (an ethnic group of mixed Dutch, Portuguese Burghers and Sri Lankan descent) came up with the dish. The dish itself is not a native dish to the Netherlands but is based on the Javanese meal ''lemper''. Lemper is a snack consisting of shredded seasoned meat and glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf. The Dutch in Dutch Ceylon are likely to have adapted this dish from the Dutch East Indies in the early 16th century.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archives1.sundayobserver.lk/2018/01/07/artistry/lamprais-legacy|title=The Lamprais Legacy|newspaper=Sunday Observer|date=7 January 2018|access-date=2 May 2021}}</ref>

One of the first literary mentions of lamprais was in Hilda Deutrom's ''Ceylon Daily News Cookery Book'', published in 1929.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sundaytimes.lk/160619/plus/cooking-up-a-nation-197623.html|title=Cooking up a Nation|newspaper=The Sunday Times|date=19 June 2016|first=Deborah|last=Philip|access-date=20 February 2025}}</ref>

==Composition== thumb|alt=Lamprais|Lamprais, comprising chicken, egg, cutlet, fried eggplant and ash plantain It consists of two special curries (a three-meat curry, often including beef, pork and chicken, and ash plantain with aubergine), seeni sambol, belacan, frikadeller meatballs and rice boiled in stock, all of which is wrapped in banana leaves and baked in an oven.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090913/Plus/plus_22.html|title=That Burgher delicacy wrapped up in banana leaf|first=Megara|last=Tegal|newspaper=Sunday Times|date=13 September 2009|access-date=18 April 2017}}</ref> The rice is made by frying raw short-grain rice with onions and spices in butter or ghee and then cooking it in a meat stock. A hard-boiled egg which has been deep-fried is also a common, but non-traditional, addition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://explorepartsunknown.com/sri-lanka/history-baked-in-a-banana-leaf/|title=History baked in a banana leaf|website=Explore Parts Unknown|first=Vidya|last=Balachander|date=25 October 2017|access-date=20 February 2025}}</ref>

The traditional recipe always contains three meat items; however, modern versions can include just a single meat, such as fish or chicken, or may be vegetarian.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sundaytimes.lk/010408/plus5.html|title=Getting 'veggie' friendly|first=Laila|last=Nasry|newspaper=The Sunday Times|date=8 February 2001|access-date=20 February 2025}}</ref>

==See also== * Lemper

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Meat and rice dishes Category:Sri Lankan rice dishes Category:Dutch Ceylon Category:Sri Lankan lamb dishes Category:Sri Lankan egg dishes Category:Netherlands–Sri Lanka relations