I love eggs. My previous post was dedicated to eggs because they are just so good. No recipes or knowledge or nutritional facts, nope, just photo’s, drool-worthy images. We all know eggs are good for you bar a bit of cholesterol but all in all they’re good and cheap and just well….tasty.

Unfortunately in Sri Lanka I often come across over-cooked eggs. This is a shame – it makes them rubbery, strips them off their goodness and ends up in unappealing looking eggs with blueish yolks.

Unless you find a good Egg Hopper kade (my local shop knows exactly how I like them and gives me extra lunu miris; a hot onion and chilli sambol (recipe repeated below)), or have them at a good hotel in Colombo where you can specify how you like them. Often I have had them hard-boiled and folded, nowhere near as tasty but still ok.

Alternatively you can make them at home. They are quite time consuming to make because you need the special aluminium hopper pans and certain types of rice flour & yeast but life would not be living without some trial & error, no? 🙂

So here goes the recipe for Egg Hoppers.

Best made in special hopper pans:

MAKES 16

Ingredients:

For the Egg Hoppers:

• 1 tsp. active dry yeast
• 3 cups rice flour
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• Vegetable oil, for the pan
• Eggs

For the Lunu Miris

• 2 tbsp of chilli flakes
• 2 or 3 fresh red chillies (optional)
• Half a tsp of salt
• 1 or 2 red onions (very finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp ground maldive fish (optional) – again I leave this out but others swear by it.
• Juice of a half a lime or lemon (or more)

Method:

For the Lunu Miris:

1. Grind the all the ingredients above except lime (or lemon) in a mortar and pestle (wangediya). Again you may find the food processor does wonders, but be sure you turn the mixture into a pulp. Crunchy is good 🙂
2. Squeeze in the lime juice, mix and serve when fresh.

To make the hoppers:

1. Combine yeast and 1 3/4 cups warm water (approx. 50 Celsius, 110 Fahrenheit) in a bowl; let sit until foamy, 8–10 minutes. Combine 1 tsp. salt, flour, and sugar in a bowl; add yeast mixture and stir into a batter. Cover, and let rest for about 2 hours. Add coconut milk and baking soda; stir until smooth. Chill batter for 1 hour.
2. Heat a hopper pan or an 8″ nonstick skillet over high heat and grease lightly with oil; add 1/3 cup batter, and immediately swirl batter around to cover inside surface. Cook until batter begins to set, about 1 minute.
3. Crack the egg into the centre of the pan. Cover, and cook until set and edges are crispy, about 2 minutes. Remove egg hopper from the pan and repeat with the remaining batter. Serve hoppers with lunu miris.

And there you have it – Egg Hoppers, food porn on a plate and it’s tastes tremendous too.

With lunu miris if you dare!

Lush for breakfast, snacks or a late dinner. ENJOY!