Weekend Food: Darina Allen introduces you to some of her favourite Sri Lankan dishes

IT CAME as quite a surprise to many to discover that one of the several ‘hats’ I wear is Honorary Council General for Sri Lanka to Ireland.

The 3,000-plus Sri Lankan community in Ireland are of course aware but it wasn’t until the tragic events in late April when I attended mass in the St Mary’s Pro Cathedral, celebrated by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin for the victims of the massacre that my connection became more public. I accepted the honorary role in November 2017 on the invitation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who visited Ireland and Ballymaloe Cookery School over Christmas in 2015.