Now trending: the Sri Lankan breakfast hopper

Made from a batter of fermented rice flour and coconut milk in a curved pan, the hopper is a crispy pancake shaped like a bowl with a spongy middle. It is really nice and light and even though it is called a breakfast hopper (don’t be deceived by the heading), Sri Lanka loves all day hoppers – breakfast to afternoon snack or dinner. The love of all things hoppers, even though still unknown, has now started to transcend geographical boundaries with tourist and locals taking this humble pancake to the restaurants of the world.

Where did the hopper come from?

Hoppers known as appa or appam locally, owes its heritage to South India where close ties between the two nations also translated into the transfer of cuisine. Interestingly even Indonesia has a variant knows as kue apem or kue apam, a cake of steamed dough made from fermented rice flour, coconut milk and palm sugar usually served with grated coconut. Yum.

How do we eat it?

Sri Lankans…