What Is Lamprais?

A short explainer on lamprais, the Dutch Burgher banana leaf parcel, and the closest dishes on our Scarborough menu.

Lamprais is one of Sri Lanka's most distinctive dishes. Before anything else: Blessed Kitchen does not make lamprais. We wrote this explainer because people ask us about it often, and we would rather point you to what we do make than promise something we do not.

What is inside a lamprais parcel

Lamprais comes from Sri Lanka's Dutch Burgher community. The name is usually traced to the Dutch "lomprijst", a packet of rice. A traditional parcel holds rice cooked in meat stock, a mixed meat curry, frikkadels (Dutch-style meatballs), a fish cutlet, seeni sambol (sweet caramelised onion), blachan (prawn paste), an ash plantain or eggplant curry and a boiled egg. Everything is wrapped in a banana leaf and baked, so the flavours steam into each other.

How it is different from biryani

Biryani cooks the rice and meat together into one dish. Lamprais keeps every component separate, then brings them together in the leaf at the end. It is a full meal in one parcel, and it takes most of a day to make, which is why few kitchens in Toronto offer it. Many traditional versions also use pork, so halal lamprais is rare.

The closest things on our menu

• Ghee rice combos (roughly $20 to $30 per person (quoted on menu and headcount), 20 minimum): fragrant ghee rice with up to ten curries, sambols and a kithul watalappan finish. The nearest thing we make to a lamprais spread.
• Biriyani ($12): our best seller, Northern Sri Lankan style, in chicken, beef, mutton or vegetable.
• Boneless Mutton Devil ($14.99) and Chicken Devil ($12.99) to go with it.

For the longer version, read lamprais in Toronto.

How to order

• Order direct from our kitchen for pickup or delivery, with no app markup.
• Call or text (647) 449-2924. We are at 328 Passmore Avenue, Unit 59, Scarborough.
• Feeding 20 or more? See halal catering in Scarborough.

Everything we cook is HMA-certified halal.

Lamprais vs ghee rice

Lamprais and Sri Lankan ghee rice spreads share the same idea: rice surrounded by several curries, sambols and something sweet. The difference is that lamprais is baked in a banana leaf and served as one parcel, while ghee rice is served open on a plate. Our ghee rice combos are the closest thing we make, with up to ten dishes per plate.

Ask about our catering trays for 5 to 30 people (small feeds 5 to 8, medium 10 to 15, large 20 to 30).

If you are buying lamprais elsewhere

If you find lamprais in Toronto and you eat halal, ask before you order. Traditional parcels can include pork in the meat curry or the frikkadels, and the stock the rice is cooked in is worth checking too. Blachan is made from shrimp, which matters for anyone with a shellfish allergy. A seller who makes it properly will know exactly what went into each part.

Lamprais flavours that show up in our combos

Several parts of a lamprais parcel have cousins on our menu. Eggplant moju, a sweet and sour eggplant dish, appears in many of our combos, including Ghee Rice Combo 1 (roughly $20 to $30 per person (quoted on menu and headcount)) and Chicken Biryani Combo 1 (roughly $20 to $30 per person (quoted on menu and headcount)). Chicken Biryani Combo 1 also has egg masala where a lamprais would have its boiled egg. The kithul watalappan that finishes the Saffron Ghee Rice Combo (roughly $20 to $30 per person (quoted on menu and headcount)) covers the sweet end of the meal. All combos are for 20 or more.