Village ‘mystery box’ for MasterChef – By Smriti Daniel From lessons on different textures of coconut milk, to how to eat with his fingers, George Calombaris gets a taste of local life in Dambulla on the first day of his Lankan tour George Calombaris takes a bite of the kernel of a local thirst quencher ’kurumba’. Pix by Indika Handuwala George Calombaris watches a woman roughly grind mint leaves into a bright green paste. Crushed between the stone surfaces of her mortar and pestle, their sharp fragrance drifts through the small clearing around a village home. His hosts, Cinnamon Life, flew Calombaris down from Colombo to Dambulla only this morning, and it took a car, a boat and a brisk walk to bring him here. He is visibly tired but still paying close attention. This session with home cooks in rural Sri Lanka on Thursday has been an instructive one ...