How to order rice and curry without getting the tourist version

Rice and curry is not a dish, it is a format: rice plus somewhere between three and twelve accompaniments. What you get at a hotel buffet and what you get at a roadside shop after 11am are different meals.

Say this

Ask for the lunch packet if it is between 11 and 2. It is wrapped in paper, costs almost nothing, and is what everyone around you is eating.

The things to look for

• Pol sambol — coconut, chilli, lime, maldive fish. Non-negotiable.
• Parippu — dhal, usually the mildest thing on the plate.
• Kiri hodi — a coconut milk gravy that saves you if you overreach on chilli.
• Mallung — shredded greens with coconut, the closest thing to a salad.

On heat

Asking for it mild is completely normal and nobody minds. Asking for it Sri Lankan hot when you have not built up to it is a decision you will regret around minute four.