The Golden Age of Dutch exploration and colonialism in the 16th and 17th Centuries saw traders and armies of the Dutch East India Company sail East from Holland with the trade winds, around the Cape of Good Hope and onto the East Indies in their quest for spices and riches. When the winds changed and favoured their return, the journey back home was most often by way of what was then called Zeylan (Ceylon). Possibly their greatest find for gastronomes would be the then humble “Lomprijst” packed and consumed along the very long sea journey back to the West.

Lamprais is an Anglicisation of the original Dutch term “Lomprijst”, which refers to a lump of glutinous rice, meat and vegetables wrapped in a banana leaf. The ingredients of an authentic Dutch influenced Lamprais pack includes savoury rice, mixed meat lamprais curry (chicken & lamb), fried brinjal curry, fried alu kehel curry, lamb frikadels, shrimp blachan, seeni sambol and fried boiled egg wrapped in a banana leaf. It has become very popular throughout Sri Lanka and many Sri Lankan homes around the world regardless of race or ethnicity.