Sri Lankan Egg Hoppers (Appa) with Chile Sambal

About This Recipe

Egg hoppers, or bittara appa, are one of Sri Lanka's most recognizable breakfast and dinner foods: a thin, fermented batter of rice flour and coconut milk is swirled around a small, curved hopper pan until it forms a bowl shape with delicately lacy, crisp edges and a soft, spongy center, into which a whole egg is cracked and left to set as the hopper finishes cooking under a lid. The batter relies on natural or yeast-assisted fermentation, traditionally helped along with a splash of toddy (fermented palm sap) or, more commonly today, a pinch of yeast and sugar, which gives the finished hopper a faint tang and helps it puff and crisp at the edges rather than turning out flat and dense. Getting the pan hot enough and swirling the batter quickly around the curved sides is the technique that separates a good hopper from a lopsided, thick one. Egg hoppers are almost always served with lunu miris, a raw sambal of pounded onion, chile, lime and Maldive fish, or a milder coconut sambal, and the combination of the soft, eggy center against the crisp lace edges and the sharp, salty sambal is what makes hoppers a beloved comfort food eaten any time of day across the island.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2 cupsrice flour
• 0.5 tspinstant yeast
• 1 tspsugar
• 1 cupcoconut milk
• 1 cupwarm water
• 0.5 tspfine sea salt
• 4eggs(one per hopper)
• 1onion(for the sambal, finely chopped)
• 3dried red chiles(for the sambal)
• 1lime(juiced, for the sambal)
• 1 tspMaldive fish flakes(optional, for the sambal)
• 2 tbspcoconut oil(for greasing the pan)

Instructions

1. 1

   Ferment the batter

   Whisk rice flour, yeast, sugar, coconut milk, water and salt into a smooth, thin batter. Cover and let ferment at room temperature 3 to 4 hours, or overnight in the fridge.

2. 2

   Make the sambal

   Pound or blend onion, dried chiles, lime juice and Maldive fish flakes with a little salt into a coarse, sharp sambal. Set aside.

3. 3

   Heat the hopper pan

   Heat a small curved hopper pan (or wok) over medium-high heat until very hot. Grease lightly with coconut oil.

4. 4

   Swirl and crack

   Pour a ladle of batter into the pan and quickly swirl it up the sides to coat, leaving a thicker pool in the center. Crack an egg into the middle.

   Work fast when swirling — the batter needs to set against the hot pan within a few seconds or the edges won't turn thin and lacy.

5. 5

   Cover and cook

   Cover with a lid and cook 2 to 3 minutes until the edges are golden and crisp and the egg white is set but the yolk is still soft.

6. 6

   Serve

   Gently loosen the hopper with a spatula and slide onto a plate. Serve immediately with the chile sambal.

Variations

• •

  Plain hoppers: skip the egg for a simple, lightly sweet version eaten with sambal or curry.

• •

  Sweet hoppers: sprinkle sugar over the batter instead of adding egg, for a dessert-style finish.

• •

  Milk hoppers: pour a spoonful of thick coconut milk into the center instead of egg for a creamy, sweet version.

Storage

Hoppers are best eaten immediately while the edges are crisp; leftover batter keeps refrigerated up to 2 days, though hoppers themselves don't reheat well and are best made fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions