Street food

Located near the sea a large area of green where chilren fly kites and local treet food is the best.

The aroma that wafted towards me was as strong as the wind that blew my hair around my head and sent my lovely straw hat flying through the air like a kite. With the smell of the sea to temper the aroma, it made my stomach cry in hunger. One of my favourite places to eat some street food was Galle Face Green in Colombo, Sri Lanka. From early evening until a few hours after night fall these stalls are open and ready to serve their delicious food to the hungry people walking around.

There is a row of delicacies on show here. Little carts with Petromax lamps shining bright, lit the various array of food inside. The Crab Vadai was one of my favourite. As my teeth crunched into the fried crab on top of the vadai, all my taste buds went into action. The taste was unbelievable. It was so crunchy and flavoursome. One could also buy the traditional “isso vadai” which is prawn vadai, with a full prawn stretched out on top of the lentil dough and deep fried, which is just as tasty as the crab vadai. 

I moved on munching my vadai to the big fat man standing behind a smoking black barbecue spit on which roasted huge fish, chicken, prawns and more, all being prepared to be eaten hot hot straight off the barbecue spit. People flocked around this stall, no doubt the smell had drawn them there.

And then there were the famous Sri Lankan “devilled” food stall – hot spicy food full of chilly and much loved by the locals – devilled prawns, cuttlefish, beef, chicken …….  Looking fiery with red flakes of hot chilly covering it.  Why this dish is called “devilled” is a mystery. It is chilly hot and fried with onion and capsicums. So tasty when eaten with naan roti or rice, or as many local men do – eaten as “bites” with their arrack (local alcohol). Eating it, while watching the red hot sun go down into the calm blue sea while children made sand castles on the beach below and friends held hands and waded in the water was such a nice chill out.

As I walked along crunching my crab vadai and observing the food on display, there was a sudden huge noise, which shocked me and assaulted my ears and ripped the quiet sound of the sea lapping on the rocks. I soon realized that this was the “Koththu” man making his famous “koththu”. Now this is an interesting dish.

I stood watching him as he started making a fresh batch. He smeared a generous portion of oil onto a flat black rectangular griddle and threw in some chopped carrot, cabbage and onions, then in went some chicken curry which he chopped up with two huge rectangular chefs knives making an enormous noise and then he threw in a few Godamba rotis and started that ear splitting noise again as he started chopping it up in a very quick motion, both hands holding two knives, like playing a drum. As the knife touched the metal griddle it gave out such a noise that I was sure that I would not be able to hear once it was over.

But then the end product was like a mixed flat pasta dish but oh what a difference. And the taste. …. Mmmmm …. Now that was sooooo nice. But be warned, it is very hot and spicy!

For the adults, there were stalls selling bottles of water and soft drinks. And the enticing four-wheeled carts with glass all around selling potato chips, manioc chips, muruku and the likes. Totally unhygienic. But excitingly interesting. 

I watched as a woman in a long blue skirt and waist length platted black hair and a pair of worn out brown rubber slippers approached the cart. The seller, wearing a pair of baggy shorts and a torn shirt, reached into the cart with his bare hands and wrapped some chips in a piece of newspaper and gave it to the woman. There was an exchange of money, he then began to serve another customer, the same pair of hands that took the money, reached inside again – no gloves, no clean bag.

And the worst part was the solitary black fly that was flying about inside jumping from pile to pile of potato chips, I quickly turned and walked away.