Hoppers, Aappa (Sin) or Appam (Tam) are the elusive (as most home cooks will testify), rice and coconut milk based, bowl shaped, crispy crepes served in every roadside restaurant across Sri Lanka. Also described as a pancake, hoppers are made from a fermented batter of rice flour and coconut milk. Although the origins are a point of contention between cuisines, the credit probably goes to South India, more specifically the Kerala region where is it commonly made. Having said that, I would like to state, wherever it originated, Sri Lanka perfected the hopper. If you have not had a good Sri Lankan hopper, you have missed out in life! Hoppers are so popular in Sri Lanka it could well earn the place of “national dish” if there was one. If one lived in Sri Lanka, getting one’s hands on a decent hopper is not difficult as it is so widely made. But when one is living abroad, it becomes far less likely; more like impossible. After awhile one finds the longing so strong that one foolishly starts to believe in the possibility of recreating the Hopper (I capitalize to show the reverence due to this amazing creation). Thus start the journey (or at least my journey) of head (and pan) banging frustration, the occasional elation of some sign of success, the failed successive attempt, the vow to never try again, and then back to the foolish optimism; when the cycle starts all over. Then one day you just do it… perhaps all the stars aligned that day, perhaps you finally got all the ingredients and steps right… and you birth The Hopper! Now, whether I will be able to recreate this same result is yet to be seen, but for now I will revel in this small victory to the point I am feeling gracious enough to share my recipe. The recipe and method I used will be in two parts as the first part kind of failed (surprise, surprise) and then I administered a quick fix which worked. Here it goes:

Part 1

Ingredients

1 Cup Basmathi rice (soaked for 3 hours)

1/4 cup flour

1 slice bread (I used sourdough rye ~25g)

1 cup coconut water

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

150 ml coconut cream (UHT from carton)

1 tsp salt

water sufficient to dilute (if needed)

Soak bread in the coconut water (note this is not coconut milk this is the water inside the coconut when it is broken). Drain soaked rice completely. Blend the rice with the bread, gradually adding the coconut water. Blend till you have a very smooth batter. Add sugar and baking soda and leave to ferment overnight.

The batter did not froth. (cue head bang). Add coconut milk, salt, and dilute with water to a runny consistency. attempt making hopper. Not successful.

Part 2

Ingredients

1 tsp Instant dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

a little warm water.

Activate yeast by mixing the sugar in a little warm water (not too much as you don’t want your batter consistency to change too much when added into), after it froths up add it into your batter and leave in a warm place for 1 hour. This should make your batter froth up nicely. I turned on the oven and turned off the heat and left my bowl inside to give the yeast ideal conditions to work.

To make your hoppers you will need proper hopper pans. As far as I know, these seem to be only available in Sri Lanka, although the non stick pans themselves (the ones I use) are made in India…

Heat the pan well, remove from fire and add a ladle of batter into the pan. you should hear a good sizzle if the pan is heated properly. In one swift motion (the sizzle will continue), swirl the batter around the pan. there should be enough batter left at the bottom center to make a mound. Cover pan and cook till the edges (crust) along the side have a nice golden colour and the center mound is fully cooked through. To make an egg hopper, repeat procedure with slightly less batter and break an egg into the center. I like to salt and pepper it before closing the lid. I find it easier to have the egg broken and ready in a small bowl, and I choose small eggs to ensure the eggs cook quickly without burning the hopper crust. Hoppers are best enjoyed with a good Sri Lankan fish or chicken curry, a seeni sambal (see my blog post on Lamprais) or Katta sambol: a sambol make from Maldive fish (see post on Maldive fish) and onions.

So for my next try I’d probably add the yeast before the overnight fermentation and omit the baking soda as that didn’t seem to help. I believe the colour I got, which I have never been able to before, is thanks to the sourdough rye and I shall be continuing to use this in the future. I was told that the coconut milk should be added before the fermentation. I was hesitant to try this as I have had experience with the milk going bad in less than overnight time periods, thus I decided to add the milk in the morning. This may have been the contributing factor to the batter not frothing… I will have to test that another time.

I have several people to thank for my success today. My classmate from school Ruvini who patiently answered the million questions I pried her with like a toddler who has just learned the word “why?”, and Palitha and Portia from the Sri Lankan Food Lovers Facebook group whose adventures in the hopper journey I have been following diligently.