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Egg Hoppers for Breakfast

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Sri Lankan Egg Hoppers for Breakfast

Traditional Sri Lankan Cuisine

Sri Lankan Egg Hoppers for Breakfast

Egg Hoppers for Breakfast……these are what I enjoyed on my first morning in Sri Lanka just a few weeks ago; I wandered across to a small serving area in the hotel restaurant, where a traditional sari-clad lady was wielding small pans whilst pouring, ladling and cracking eggs – set in front of her were plates of deep lacy, pancake type baskets, some with eggs, some without. I am an adventurous person, so I grabbed one of the eggy baskets and asked her how I should eat it. She then suggested that I eat what I later learned to be an egg hopper with a selection of fiery sambols, some coconut gravy (kiri hodi) and a spoonful of creamy dhal. I did exactly as she suggested and thus fell in love with my first Sri Lankan Egg Hopper for breakfast.

egg hopper with pol sambol

My next egg hopper was a simpler affair with luni miris (a fresh chilli and onion relish) and pol sambol, but was just as delicious, and so it was that for the next nine days I enjoyed a variety of hoppers for breakfast and sometimes for dinner, all filled with spicy and exciting condiments and accompaniments. I was so captivated with these pancake baskets, that I added to my already considerably heavy luggage and brought a couple of hopper pans back home with me, complete with lots of Sri Lankan ingredients too! So, what is a hopper exactly? They are yeast raised coconut and rice flour pancakes that are cooked in small, deep pans with lids; you start the batter off the night before and once made, the batter can be stored in the fridge for up to two or three days.

Egg Hoppers

So, as an Egg Hopper lover, an avid cook and a person with boundless curiosity, I am happy to present to you today, my recipe for Egg Hoppers, as made earlier today for breakfast and very successfully too, I’m pleased to say. I DID make my egg hoppers in the traditional hopper pans, as brought back from Sri Lanka (see above), but if you don’t have access to the special pans, then a small wok will work, but you MUST find a lid that fits it, as covering the hoppers whilst you cook them is an essential part of creating the lacy, crisp and slightly steamed texture that is traditional with these pancakes. You can serve egg hoppers with less exotic accompaniments if you like, such as fried mushrooms, bacon and sausages, a sort of Full English Sri Lankan Breakfast if you like, but I DO recommend you try the traditional condiments of sambols, dhal, curry and even fresh fruit.

Egg Hoppers served

My tried and tested recipe is shared below and is part of my ongoing EggCentric Ambassadorship for British Lion Eggs and The British Egg Information Service; as an eggy ambassador I have been asked to share different recipes that use eggs, but that are simple to prepare and cook; this recipe may seem a little daunting at first, but if you follow my tips below, then I can guarantee all of your egg hoppers will be perfectly cooked and each one takes less than five to six minutes to cook from start to finish. If you need any more eggy recipe ideas, why not pop over to the EggCentric website here: Egg Recipes. I hope that you are inspired and tempted to try today’s recipe for Sri Lankan Egg Hoppers, and please do let me know by leaving a comment below if you make them or plan to make them, Karen 

EggCentric

Disclaimer: Commissioned work with British Egg Industry Council.

Top Tips how to make Perfect Egg Hoppers:

I was given a one-to-one tutorial by a lady who had been cooking hoppers for over 25 years in one of the hotels I stayed at in Sri Lanka, and here’s what I learned…..

1. Make sure that the pan is well-greased and is smoking hot when you first add the hopper batter.

2. As soon as you ladle the batter into the pan, you must tilt it and swirl the batter around so it coats the whole pan.

3. You must add the egg as soon as the batter has been added and is coating the whole pan; you can add a whole egg or a mixed egg.

4. To obtain the slightly spongy and steamed texture, you  MUST cover the hoppers as they cook.

Step by step how to make egg hoppers

Egg Hoppers

Print recipe
Egg Hoppers
Serves 6 to 8 hoppers
Prep time 24 hours, 30 minutes
Cook time 10 minutes
Total time 24 hours, 40 minutes
Allergy Egg
Dietary Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Meal type Breakfast, Lunch, Side Dish, Snack
Misc Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Occasion Barbecue, Casual Party
Region Indian
By author Karen Burns-Booth
Egg Hoppers are a popular breakfast dish in Sri Lanka, where they are served with or without eggs, but nearly always with sambols, curry, dhal and coconut gravy.

Ingredients

  • 400ml light coconut milk (with 100ml set aside)
  • 1 teaspoon easy fast-action dried yeast
  • 1 teaspoon jaggery (or Demerara sugar)
  • 150g white rice flour
  • 50g cornflour
  • 100ml fizzy water such as Perrier or soda water
  • salt and black pepper
  • 6 to 8 free range eggs (depending on size of hoppers)
  • coconut oil

Note

Egg Hoppers are a popular breakfast dish in Sri Lanka, where they are served with or without eggs, but nearly always with sambols, curry, dhal and coconut gravy. You can also have spinach and beetroot hoppers.

Directions

Step 1 Mix the easy fast-action dried yeast with the 100ml of coconut milk and the crushed jaggery or Demerara sugar, and leave to "ferment" for 30 minutes. Add the remaining coconut milk and mix well.
Step 2 Put the rice flour and cornflour into a bowl and pour the coconut milk and yeast mixture over the flour, whisk until you have a smooth batter then cover it (with cling-film) and leave overnight.
Step 3 An hour before you intend to cook and serve the hoppers, add the fizzy water (soda water) and whisk to thin the batter - it will be similar to a pancake or crepe batter. Season to taste with salt.
Step 4 Heat your hopper pan(s) over a medium heat and add a teaspoon of coconut oil, heat until smoking and add a ladle of the hopper batter mixture slowly into the pans; tilt the pan and swirl the batter around, so it comes right up to the rim of the pan. Break an egg into the pan, and then cover the pan and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes until the egg has set and the hopper batter is lacy and golden brown around the edges.
Step 5 Carefully ease it out with a palette knife, or with the metal implement that comes with the hopper pans, and keep warm whilst you continue to make more hoppers with the remaining batter and eggs. You can also add lightly mixed eggs instead of a whole egg.
Step 6 Season with salt and pepper and serve with assorted sambols such as luni miris (chilli onion relish), pol sambol (coconut and lime sambol), onion and chilli chutney and/or kiri hodi (a coconut gravy). Sri Lankans will also add curry, fresh fruit and dhal to their breakfast hoppers too.
Step 7 NB: If you have any batter left over, you can use it for egg-free and gluten-free pancakes or for plain hoppers. If you don't have a hopper pan, which is a small deep bowl pan with a lid, use a small wok instead with a lid that fits.

Hopper Pans

Eggy Notes:

• Eggs can be exciting – they are not just for boiling and scrambling, you can use them in interesting dishes that are innovative and tasty
• Eggs can help to make a healthy meal in minutes
• Egg based meals can fit in with a busy and active lifestyle
• Eggs are a great source of protein and vitamins and minerals, combined with plenty of veg they can make a healthy meal at any time of day
• Eggs keep you feeling fuller for longer and are a healthy fast food

Hoppers (appa) are a range of dishes based on a fermented batter, usually made of rice flour and coconut milk with spices. The dish is pan-fried or steamed. The fermenting agent is palm toddy or yeast. Hopper variants can be either savoury (such as egg hoppers, milk hoppers, and string hoppers), or sweet (such as vandu appa and pani appa). 

egg hopper

Egg Hoppers

Hoppers from Sri Lanka

Lion Eggs

My other EggCentric Recipe:

Coddled Eggs with Smoked Salmon & Dill

Coddled Eggs with Smoked Salmon & Dill

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. Janice says

    ooh yes please Karen, would love to have a go at making and eating these. They remind me of the roti telor we ate in Malaysia in the 80s, but they are so much prettier.

    Reply

  6. Delana says

    These look amazing!! The pinkish colored one in the image was intriguing. I’m in America so I’ll have to research where I can get a hopper pan here. Love your blog and I really enjoy seeing the pretty China you use in your pictures. Thank you for your lovely posts and delicious looking recipes! Delana

    Reply

    • Karen Burns-Booth says

      THANKS so much for your kind words Delana, and I am so pleased that you have enjoyed my recipes and posts! I think you will be able to buy some Hopper Pans in the US from Amazon.com – Karen

      Reply

  7. Jen Morrow says

    Oh, yum! These look like a cross between crepes and a fried egg – both delicious! Thanks for including the recipe and instructions, I am ready to make these for breakfast tomorrow.

    Reply

  9. Sheri says

    Hey these are great! They look so good and are easy to make. I had not seen these or actually thought about making eggs like this before. I do not have a pan like this but something similar for tiny pancakes so I will be trying this out!

    Reply

  10. Dom says

    these are absolutely beautiful… and I’m sure will become mine and The Viking’s new favourite breakfast food. They’re a great idea and are eggs in eggs which is just wonderful!

    Reply

  15. Grace says

    I came across your blog when looking for an egg hopper recipe and I’m so grateful that you’ve posted this! I haven’t been able to find a good hopper recipe since I returned from Sri Lanka last year (take me back – it was incredible!). I fell in love with egg hoppers – and everything else I ate, isn’t the food incredible? – and brought a hopper pan home with me, which I haven’t used nearly as much as I want to. One question – do you know of a good corn-free substitute for the corn starch that would work in this recipe? Corn doesn’t agree with me so I try to avoid it whenever I can.

    Any good recipes for the fillers for the hoppers??

    Thank you!

    Reply

  16. Sally says

    Hi Karen,
    I just found your recipe and I’m going to try it! My husband just got back from Sri Lanka and he bought me 3 hopper pans, the same as yours. So exciting! I ate these in a sweet version at a Sri Lankan restaurant here in KL the first time. I thought they had a sort of coconut custard in the bottom but I now see it was probably just the thicker batter where it pools in the bottom of the pan. They were just sprinkled with jaggery and I think they are now my favourite dessert! So very excited about trying your recipe.

    Just one thing though, under the list of allergies, you should add yeast, as it’s in the batter … egg is in fact optional.

    Reply

    • Karen Burns-Booth says

      Thanks Sally!
      Welcome to the world of hoppers, I am an addict now!
      I was fortunate to have a lesson with a lady when I was in Sri Lanka and was able to have a couple of test runs before I came home there too!
      The thicker batter at the bottom, similar to a thin crumpet, is exactly that, where the batter, which is yeasted, settles as it cooks…..
      I am not sure what you mean by a list of allergies? The yeast is listed in the ingredients and the eggs are of course optional…..
      Good Luck with your first batch,
      Karen

      Reply

  17. Claire Kennedy says

    Hi, having recently returned from Sri Lanka, i was desperate to make hoppers! I just made these hoppers, they were amazing, i actually tried 3 different recipes i found on the internet, your recipe came out on top! Thank you so much for sharing! How do you make the beetroot hoppers? the pink ones in the pictures above on this page?

    Reply

    • Karen Burns-Booth says

      Hi Claire,
      I’m so pleased my recipe worked as well for you as it did for me!
      I haven’t made the beetroot hoppers yet, but I’ll have a look to see how they can be made and let you know here if I am successful.
      Karen

      Reply

  18. Seileen Mullen says

    Karen – I used your recipe after scouring the web and ordering a pan from through EBay from Colombo. My egg hoppers were fantastic. Thank you!! Love to post a pix if I can. Seileen

    Reply

  19. Patrick Fletcher says

    I’m in Weligama, Sri Lanka right now and just had my first egg hopper! So good, I had to Google it when I got back to my hotel and your recipe came up …

    Reply

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