From pickles to sweetmeats she’s got them all

One step into Srimani Dassanayake’s shop, and you are assailed by the smell of several mouth-watering sweetmeats stacked neatly on the shelves of her new shop, Variety.

Srimani Dassanayake first began her cooking business in 1973. Many of you would be familiar with the snack bar at Lakpahana. This shop was run by Ms. Dassanayake, who, about a month ago, decided to start out on her own. “I was always interested in this kind of shop, and the idea of having a shop of my own really appealed to me, which is why I left Lakpahana and started my own business,” she says. “Lots of these recipes are my own, and I don’t want them to be lost completely.”

And she is definitely right about that. One of the items prepared by Ms. Dassanayake and her family of helpers is the pickled Veralu. But this delicacy is quite different from the pickle we know; it has been deseeded and stuffed with a mixture of dates and nuts.

“I owe lots of my knowledge of cooking to my aunts who taught me almost everything I know. When starting out, I was something of a novice though; I didn’t have any idea of how to price the items on sale, but I really enjoyed what I did,” she says.

The new shop is at Sri Saranankara Road, Dehiwela, and while appealing to the sweet tooth of the public, Ms. Dassanayake also prepares the Lamprais that she was famous for.

Anyone interested in getting a taste of our country’s traditional sweetmeats as well as western sweets, should pay a visit to No. 107/B, Sri Saranankara Road, Kalubowila, Dehiwela, or call 0714-239551 or 0714-239553 for more details.