A Taste of Sri Lanka: Breakfast

In Sri Lanka, a special breakfast and lunch item is a hopper or appam. There are many different kinds of hoppers such as egg hoppers and string hoppers or if you want something sweeter milk or honey hoppers. A regular hopper is basically a bowl-shaped pancake that is crisp on the edges. It's a complicated task to make a hopper, but as long as you have the patience and correct cooking tools you will be able to make it easily. To make a hopper you can either use a traditional hopper-pan that you can buy in any Indian or Asian store or use a small omelet pan, which will give you the same unique texture and flavor. We will be making an egg hopper or bithara appa that is best added with curry when finished cooking.

Here's the recipe for a plain and egg hopper:

Ingredients

2 cups white long grain Rice
3/4 cup thick coconut milk or evaporated milk
1 tbs Cooked white Rice
1 tsp dry Yeast
1/2 tsp Sugar
2 tbs luke warm water
1-2 cups thin coconut milk or diluted evaporated milk
Eggs


Soak rice in water overnight (or until soft).
Add yeast and sugar into luke warm water and set aside.
Drain water from cooked rice.
Blend the soaked rice, milk and cooked rice in a blender until thick and creamy(The consistency should be that of thick cream).
Transfer into a bowl and add the foamy yeast mixture.
Mix well. Close and leave in a warm place for at least 6 hrs.
Add thin warm coconut to the thick batter while stirring
(The consistency of the batter should be similar to pan-cake batter).
Add salt to taste.
Pour spoonfuls into heated, greased hopper-pan and
make sure that the inside of the pan is well covered with the batter.
Close with lid and cook until done.
To make egg hoppers, cover the inside of the pan with the batter by swirling it
(same as before) and then crack-drop an egg to the center,
close with lid and cook until done.
Add chicken curry for extra flavor.