List of Sri Lankan sweets and desserts

This is a list of notable Sri Lankan sweets and desserts. Sri Lanka is well known throughout South Asia for sweets and desserts originating from there. Desserts are usually served as part of main meals, whereas sweets are consumed at tea times. Many Sri Lankan desserts and sweets contain domestic spices, jaggery and kithul (Caryota urens) treacle. Locally made treacle and jaggery are the most common sweeteners.Sri Lanka's most famous sweet as acknowledged by all Sri Lankan is kawum .

Desserts

Name	Image	Main ingredients	Description
Watalappam		Coconut milk, jaggery (kittul treacle), eggs, spices (cardamom, cloves)	The most popular dessert among Sri Lankan Muslims during Ramadan. Commonly served at weddings, parties and other special ceremonies.
Buffalo curd		Buffalo milk, starter culture	Popular in southern Sri Lanka for weddings, alms, and as a household dessert.
Semolina and jaggery pudding		Semolina, jaggery, milk, spices cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla	A less common dessert.
Avocado Cream		Avocado, sugar, cream	Household dessert often offered in restaurants.
Kirala (Lumnitzera littorea) fruit milk		Kirala fruits, treacle	A dessert drink popular in southern Sri Lanka.
Kithul flour pudding		Kithul flour, coconut milk, jaggery or sugar, spices	A popular dessert among Sinhalese people, offered in some small restaurants.
Wood apple milk		Wood apple, coconut milk, sugar	A very popular dessert drink.
Pudding of dulya		Eggs, milk, bread crumbs, sugar, vanilla	Similar to bread pudding. Used for special occasions.
Sago pudding		Sago, sugar, milk, eggs	This is popular among all communities in Sri Lanka. Mostly offered at Tamil weddings and cultural festivals.

Sweets

Commonly used ingredients across traditional Sri Lankan sweets are Rice flour, treacle and coconut milk. Treacle is a food sweetening syrup made from the sap oozing from "tapped" blossoms of palm trees, particularly, Coconut (Cocos nusifera) or "Kithul" (Caryota urens).

Name	Image	Main ingredients	Description
Aasmi		Rice flour, coconut milk and the juice of cinnamon leaves	Deep fried but served cooled. Popular treat served at Sinhalese New Year and special events.
Aggala		Kithul treacle, rice flour, pepper	Spicy sweet. Mostly prepared for tea time in villages.
Aluwa		Rice flour, sugar, milk, butter, spices (cardamom, cloves)	Popular among Sinhalese. Served at cultural festivals.
Athirasa		Rice flour, treacle, coconut milk	A very popular and culturally important Sinhalese sweet. Diamond or round shaped batter deep fried in hot oil.
Bibikkan		Semolina, raisins, treacle, rice flour, scrapped coconut, spices and flavours	Similar to fruit cake.
Dosi		Fruit, sugar, water	candied fruit
Green Gram cake (Mung Kevum)		Rice flour, mung flour, treacle, ghee, spices	A popular Sinhalese sweet fried in oil often used at cultural events.
Halapa		rice flour, kurakkan flour	It's usually wrapped in a leaf.
Kalu Dodol		kithul jaggery, rice flour, coconut milk, and cashew nuts	Sri Lankan dodol. Household sweet, usually served at tea time and special events. Prepared by boiling Coconut milk and Kitul Juggery in big Pan (thachi) and adding rice flour, cashew nut and spices to the reduced mix.
Kesari bhath		Rava, cardamon, sugar, ghee	A South Indian sweet now very popular among Tamils, who cook it for celebrations.
Kevum (Oil Cake)		Rice flour, treacle, coconut milk	A very popular Sinhalese sweet. Fried in hot oil pan individually. The small bump at top gives the name 'konda' (tied hair).Ladies with special skill to get "Kanda" wins respect.
Kiri aluwa (milk toffee)		Condensed milk, sugar, cashew nuts, cardamom	soft milk toffee
Kokis		Rice flour, coconut milk	Crispy biscuit-like, Of Dutch origin
Lavariya		Rice flour, Pol Pani	Soft string hoppers filled with caramelised coconut
Popo (coconut balls)		Coconut, sugar, flour, essence	Used in rituals and special events.
Sowboro		Flour, sugar, rulan, scraped coconut, butter and salt	Popular biscuit among Sinhalese, available only in village boutiques and fairs.
Undu Walalu/Undu Wal or Pani Walalu		Urad bean flour and kithul treacle	Tasty crispy tubes filled with Kithul treacle. Looks like earthworm but a world class sweet, unique to Sri Lanka.
Weli Thalapa		Rice flour, scraped coconut, Kitul or coconut treacle, spices	Household sweet, usually served at tea time. Prepared in two step process, first is to prepare Pittu with Rice flour and second to mix that with Kitul / Coconut treacle.

See also

• Sri Lankan cuisine
• List of desserts

This page was last edited on 2 November 2023, at 13:17