String Hoppers

String hoppers are steamed rice flour noodles pressed into soft nests, and a common part of everyday meals in Sri Lanka. Known locally as idiyappam, the dish is also made in southern India, where cooks use the same name.

What it really is

The dough is rice flour, water and a pinch of salt, kneaded until smooth. It is pushed through a press with small holes onto a steamer tray, where the strands set into fine threads. Each portion is lifted off as a round nest, pale and springy, with a mild taste. The noodles carry little flavour of their own, so the curry and sambol served with them do most of the work.

String hoppers are not a pancake. The bowl-shaped hoppers, called appa, are a different dish, made from a fermented batter. String hoppers are steamed rather than fried.

How it's served

• Warm, arranged in nests on a plate, often at breakfast or supper.
• With a curry such as dhal, chicken, fish or egg, and a coconut sambol of grated coconut, chilli and onion.
• Eaten by hand, pulling off a strand and dipping it into the curry gravy.

How to write it on the menu

• Write the name as string hoppers, with idiyappam beside it so guests recognise it.
• State that the noodles are made from rice flour, and how many nests come per serving.
• Name the curry and its protein. Fish, egg and milk are the allergens to check, so flag them when the curry contains them.
• The noodles themselves carry no declarable allergen, so mark the curry, not the nest.
• Say how hot the sambol is, since guests often ask.