Hoppers

Hoppers are bowl-shaped pancakes of fermented rice flour and coconut milk, and a common food in Sri Lanka.

Locally they are called appa. The batter is left to ferment, usually overnight, which gives the pancake a faint sourness and a light, spongy middle. Hoppers are not the same as string hoppers, which are steamed rice noodles pressed into small nests.

What it really is

The batter is rice flour, coconut milk, yeast, a little sugar and salt, thinned to a pourable consistency and left to rise. It is cooked in a small, deep, wok-shaped pan, so the thin batter climbs the sides and sets into a bowl. The result has a crisp, lacy edge and a soft, springy centre.

An egg hopper is the same pancake with an egg cracked into the middle as it cooks, so the egg sets on top while the edges crisp.

Plain hoppers are mild, lightly sweet and lightly salted, and are meant to be eaten with savoury accompaniments rather than on their own.

How it's served

• Hot from the pan, folded or torn by hand.
• Plain or with an egg in the centre, usually with a curry such as dhal or a meat or fish curry, and a sambol such as coconut sambol or a spicy onion relish.
• At breakfast or dinner, not as a sweet dessert.

How to write it on the menu

• Name it Hoppers, with appa in brackets if you wish, and say whether it is plain or egg. The egg hopper is a separate item and contains egg.
• Name the batter: rice flour and coconut milk. Guests with a coconut sensitivity need to know it is there.
• Ask the kitchen what the pan is greased with. Butter or ghee adds milk; oil does not.
• State what comes standard with it, such as one curry and one sambol, and price extra curries separately.
• Do not list string hoppers under the same name.