The nation has been rattled by economic crisis, political upheaval and corruption, but many believe the dessert-making custom could spark joy in these bleak times
As a child in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Oryan Cumaraiah-Misso remembers excitedly readying himself in front of a handheld meat grinder to crush cashews. It was his part in his family’s annual tradition of preparing a 60-year-old recipe for Christmas cake that had been passed down for generations. Christmas cake – a moist, decadent treat filled with nuts and fruit – usually kicks off the holiday season on the island nation, and for immigrants in the US, has become a way to preserve traditions from back home.
Sri Lanka’s Christmas cake is similar to the fruit cake, a quintessentially British dish, but has since evolved from its colonial roots. Like the British version, Christmas cake includes raisins and cherries, but also preserved ginger, the green vegetable chayote (or chow chow, as Sri Lankans call it) in sugar syrup, preserved melon (known as puhul dosi), candied peel, sultanas and aromatics like nutmeg.
