Lunu Miris (Sri Lankan Chili Condiment)

Lunu Miris is a classic Sri Lankan hot chili condiment. If you love hot chili condiments or relish that adds a kick to your meals, you’ll want to try this!

Nowadays, you can easily buy a bottle of lunu miris online, but it may contain artificial preservatives, coloring, or something not-so-good for your health. Nothing beat freshly ground lunu miris and you can make it easily by just grinding a few ingredients you have at home.

What is Lunu Miris?

Lunu miris (ලුණු මිරිස්) is an all-purpose hot chili condiment in Sri Lanka literally translates to ‘Salt Chili or Salt & Chili’. Lunu (ලුණු) is Sinhalese word for Salt and Miris (මිරිස්) is for Chili. There is also similar kind of hot chili relish in Sri Lanka known as Katta Sambol (කට්ට සම්බෝල).

The original version of Lunu Miris was probably made with only salt (lunu), and chili (miris). However, nowadays, it’s typically made with shallots (small red onions), salt, red chilies, and lime juice. Adding some Maldives fish flakes is very common but you can make it vegetarian without adding fish flakes. Some may also add fresh tomatoes to make it more flavorful.

What to serve with lunu miris

In Sri Lanka, lunu miris is commonly used as a condiment to accompany breakfast dishes such as kiri bath (milk rice), hoppers (appa), string hoppers (indiappa), pol roti (coconut roti), boiled yam, and beans. Kiri bath is a classic Sri Lankan dish made of rice and coconut milk, a traditional food for any festive occasion.

Try these Recipes and Serve With Lunu Miris

String Hoppers (Indiappa) is a very popular Sri Lankan breakfast dish that everyone loves, typically served with curry and sambol (spicy condiments).

Sri Lankan Coconut Roti (Pol Roti) is an unleavened flatbread made of wheat flour, salt, freshly grated coconut, and water.

Sri Lankan Appa (Hoppers, Appam) are much-loved street food and at the top of the “Sri Lankan-must-eats” list”. 

Egg Hoppers (Biththara Appa, බිත්තර ආප්ප) are simply Hopper with an egg cooked in the middle.

Adai Dosa is a South Indian-style Dosa (savory pancakes) made from a non-fermented batter of mixed lentils and rice.

Staffordshire oatcakes are a regional specialty from North Staffordshire (Midlands region in England). These healthy oats pancakes are made from a yeast-risen batter of ground oats.

Ingredients

Red Chili: You can use dried whole red chilies if you make it in a grinding stone or using a strong blender as you need a coarsely ground chili paste to make lunu miris. Otherwise, use your choice of chili powder or/and chili flakes. Adjust the quantity of chili powder according to your taste.

Onion or shallots: Shallots are widely used in Sri Lanka. If you cannot find them, you can use yellow or red onions.

Salt: As the name implies (lunu miris = salt chili), salt (lunu) is an essential ingredient in this recipe.

Lime Juice: Lime is a common ingredient in Sri Lankan cuisine and typically freshly squeezed lime juice is widely used. Lime juice balances out the spiciness of chilies adding a nice sourness and flavor. Use lemon juice if you cannot find lime.

Maldives fish flakes: Maldives fish is cured tuna fish traditionally produced in Maldives. It is a staple of Sri Lankan cuisine and uses pounded or crushed Maldives fish to add an umami taste to a variety of dishes. If you can’t find Maldives fish, you can use Japanese katsuobushi. Skip fish for a vegan or vegetarian version.

How Do You make lunu miris?

Using a Grinding Stone-In Sri Lanka, lunu miris is typically made from scratch using a grinding stone to grind the chilies into a paste and then with other ingredients into a coarsely ground paste. That means that they require the hard work of hand grinding the ingredients but the taste of freshly ground lunu miris is excellent.

Using a pestle and mortar-Now I live in a country where there is no grinding stone, so I adapted the recipe to meet my needs and resources and I use a pestle and mortar to make it the old-fashioned way. A mortar and pestle are best for making a small amount of lunu miris when you immediately want to use it.

Using a food processor-If you don’t have a pestle and mortar just blitz everything in a food processor, it is the easy way.

In a bowl-You can also make lunu miris by mixing everything in a bowl by hand, but it doesn’t give the real taste like coarsely grinding them together.

The traditional way of making lunu miris

In Sri Lankan, traditionally, lunu miris is made using a grinding stone that is called Miris Gala (මිරිස් ගල) in Sinhalese. Mostly every home has a grinding stone and we also do. It is common practice to make lunu miris from freshly ground ingredients just before serving.

Some believe that food that’s been ground on stone is more delicious when compared to one from a grinding machine or food processor. Well, after trying all the types of lunu miris, for me the lunu miris ground on grinding stone is the best.

My mother makes lunu miris using a grinding stone. First, soaked red chilies along with salt are ground on a grinding stone into a paste, and then onion and Maldives fish are coarsely ground with the chili paste. Finally, it is mixed with some lime juice to balance the heat.

This picture shows how Amma (My mother) makes lunu miris
using a grinding stone

More Sri Lankan Relish Recipes to Try

LUNU MIRIS (Sri Lankan Hot Chili Relish) Step-by-step recipe

Prep Time 10 min
Servings 4 to 6

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chili flakes
2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Maldives fish flakes
1 medium red onion, chopped
juice of a lime or a lemon

Instructions

Gather the ingredients.

You can just blitz everything in the food processor.

OR use a pestle and mortar to make it the old-fashioned way.

Place chili pieces, chili powder, Maldives fish flakes, and salt in the mortar and then crush with the pestle.

Add chopped onion.

Grind until you’ve reached your preferred consistency.

Add freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice.

Continue grinding until the ingredients are as coarse or fine as you want.

Looking for more Sri Lankan recipes?
Take a quick look at the recipe collection HERE

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