The kitchen at the Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple in mid-Los Angeles (above), was filled with home cooked food for a Sunday afternoon celebration.
The occasion was Sri Lankan new year, which takes place in mid April. Traditional for this occasion is milk rice (above)--rice with a delicate coconut flavor because it is cooked with coconut milk and water.
The rice is eaten with spicy condiments such as the chile sambol above.
Here is a plate of milk rice with onions on the side. All of the food was vegetarian.
This container of pickled fruit was so big it had to be set on the floor. The women are mixing diced mangoes, pineapple and green apple with chili powder, mustard powder, pepper, salt and vinegar.
The drink of the day was a blend of finely cut fruit with orange juice.
Crisp rosettes called kokis (above) were made with coconut milk and rice flour.
Sweets included small chewy oil cakes (above).
The traditional Sri Lankan butter cake (above) was there too.
The sumptuous date cake above also contained raisins and almonds. The dates colored it brown.
When the meal was finished, the cooks lined up for a round of applause.
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