Egg Hoppers (Biththara Appa)
Crisp-edged, bowl-shaped rice pancakes with a soft center topped with a fried egg — a classic Sri Lankan breakfast that's light, slightly tangy from fermentation, and perfect with sambol or curry.
45 min
start to finish
20 min
hands on
Some skill
difficulty
4
servings
Ingredients
For the batter
To cook
To serve
Contains egg, tree-nut. Cooking for an allergy? Check the label on every packet you use — brands differ, and we can only tell you what the recipe calls for.
Method
Pour the warm water into a small bowl, stir in the sugar and instant yeast and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the rice flour, tapioca starch (if using) and salt.
Whisk the coconut milk and oil into the dry ingredients, then pour in the yeast mixture and whisk until smooth; the batter should be fairly thin (roughly the consistency of heavy cream).
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and leave in a warm place to ferment until bubbly and slightly tangy, 6–8 hours or overnight.
Warmer kitchens will ferment faster; aim for a batter that smells mildly yeasty, not strongly sour.
After fermentation stir the batter; if it seems too thick, whisk in up to 2–4 tbsp (30–60 ml) water to reach a thin, pourable consistency.
Heat a small nonstick skillet, crepe pan or traditional hopper pan over medium-high heat and lightly brush it with a little oil.
Ladle about 1/3 cup (≈80 ml) batter into the center of the hot pan and, holding the pan tilted in a circular motion, swirl the batter so it runs up the sides to form a thin bowl; cook until the edges set and begin to crisp, about 1–2 minutes.
Crack one egg into the center of the hopper, immediately reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook until the egg white is set and the yolk reaches desired doneness, 3–5 minutes (3 minutes for runny yolk).
Loosen the edges with a flexible spatula and transfer the hopper to a plate.
Repeat pouring, swirling and cooking for the remaining batter, brushing the pan with a little oil between hoppers and adjusting heat so the edges crisp without burning; total cooking time for the batch will be about 20 minutes.
If edges brown too quickly, lower the heat; if batter sticks, increase heat slightly and add a touch more oil.
Serve hot, one egg hopper per person, with pol sambol or seeni sambol and chopped scallions if using.
Worth knowing
- If you don't have a hopper pan, use a small nonstick skillet (6–8 inches) and tilt it to spread the batter thinly up the sides for the bowl shape.
- Short on time? For a quick, non-fermented version whisk rice flour with 1 cup (240 g) plain yogurt and 1 tsp baking powder; cook immediately — the texture will be different (less tang), but you still get a tasty breakfast hopper.
- Store leftover fermented batter in the fridge for up to 48 hours; stir before using. Reheat cooked hoppers in a hot oven (350°F / 175°C) for a few minutes to crisp the edges.
Make it yours
Cooking without dairy, without an oven, for someone who won't touch chilli, or for six instead of four? Have the recipe rewritten around it — quantities, steps and all.
Gluten-freeDairy-freeOne panKid friendly
More Sri Lankan cooking
An original Restaurant Pro recipe — our own composition in the idiom of Sri Lankan cooking, not any restaurant's recipe. Written to be gluten-free and dairy-free as listed.