Hoppers (appa) are one of Sri Lanka's great culinary achievements — a thin, lacy, bowl-shaped pancake with crisp golden edges and a soft, slightly spongy centre. An egg hopper (bittara appa) has an egg cracked into the middle so it poaches gently in the batter. They're a breakfast and dinner staple, sold from tiny street stalls and served in the grandest hotels alike.
The batter is the whole game, and it needs time: rice flour and coconut milk, lightly fermented overnight so it develops a faint sourness and the bubbles that give hoppers their texture. You'll also need a hopper pan — a small, deep, round-bottomed wok-like pan with a lid. A small non-stick wok makes a decent substitute. The first hopper is always a practice run; don't be discouraged.
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 cups coconut milk (plus more to loosen)
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- Oil, for wiping the pan
- Salt and black pepper, for the eggs
Method
- Activate the yeast: in a small bowl, stir the yeast and sugar into the warm water. Leave for 10 minutes until frothy.
- Make the batter: in a large bowl, whisk the rice flour with the yeast mixture and about 1 cup of the coconut milk until smooth and lump-free. The batter should have the consistency of thin pancake batter or single cream; add more coconut milk if needed.
- Ferment: cover the bowl and leave in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight. It should rise, bubble and smell faintly sour.
- Finish the batter: stir in the salt and the remaining coconut milk. It should pour easily and coat the back of a spoon thinly. Loosen with a splash of coconut milk if it has thickened.
- Cook: heat the hopper pan over medium heat. Wipe it with a lightly oiled paper towel. Pour in a small ladle of batter (about 1/3 cup), then immediately lift the pan and swirl it in a circular motion so the batter coats the sides in a thin film, leaving a small pool in the centre.
- Crack an egg into the middle of the pool. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Cover with the lid and cook for 3–4 minutes, until the edges are crisp and golden-brown and the egg white is set (the yolk stays runny).
- Run a thin spatula around the edge to release, then lift the whole hopper out. Repeat with the remaining batter, wiping the pan with oil between hoppers.
- Serve hot, straight from the pan, with lunu miris (chilli-onion sambol), pol sambol or a curry.
Cook's notes
- The batter must ferment — that's what makes hoppers light and lacy. Don't skip the overnight rest.
- Consistency is everything: too thick and you get a thick pancake; too thin and it won't hold the bowl shape. Aim for thin cream.
- Swirl the moment the batter hits the pan, before it starts to set, to get those crisp climbing edges.