Sri Lankan Egg Hoppers....Who knew?- but such a cool idea!

Recently- I'd read about a dish prepared on the Streets of Colombo (....NO - not the TV Dick...the Capital of Sri Lanka, formerly called Ceylon) called Egg Hopper- a single sunny side-up egg, sitting inside an edible bowl.
The edible "bowl"- is made from a Dosa-like batter, made with Coconut Milk, Rice Flour, Jaggery, and a fermented compound- sometimes as simple as yeast, and cooked in a very, small wok sorta pan over direct flame.
Similar to the Soup-in-a-Hollowed-Out-Loaf-of-Bread concept....
or an Ice Cream served in a Waffle Cone,
the idea of eating the serving vessel, has always intrigued me, both from a Food-Event-Catering concept, to a neat way of eating-while-schmoozing-and-standing.
Egg Hopper- a Sri Lankan Street Food delight- I'd like to start making on my own- where can I find the right cooking pot? by R. Kramer, on Flickr
Here's some more backstory to The Egg Hopper-
https://www.lavenderandlovage.com/2016/05/sri-lankan-egg-hoppers-breakfast.html
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2bRPRSf]"Egg Hopper"- a Sri Lankan Street Food delight by R. Kramer, on Flickr

The original article I'd read about Egg Hopper's
came from the lovely food blog- Tasting Table...which if you don't get "delivered" on your iPhone- I'd highly reccd. signing up for.
https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/national/egg-hopper-sri-lankan-dish

Now- since we don't have any Sri Lankan Restaurants here in Chicago....
I'll be forced to experiment at home- to get it right- but first-
I need to source out a proper Egg Hopper Cooking Pot-

Egg-Hoppers (I WANT ONE!-Please help!) > a Sri Lankan Street Food by R. Kramer, on Flickr
the closest I found on Amazon was a very small Stainless Steel Wok with a Handle.


I may try asking Mr. Patel ("Uncle"- as we call him) on Devon Avenue...if he knows where I can buy one....

In the meanwhile- any other readers knowledgable about Egg Hoppers?

Zis what you need??

https://www.lankandelight.com/hopper-pan/

Geo

Ideally-
one handle-
so as to be able to move the batter around more effectively
to coat the inside of the pan
to create the "bowl" to nest the egg in....
Egg-Hoppers (I WANT ONE!-Please help!) > a Sri Lankan Street Food by R. Kramer, on Flickr

The two-handled pans are quite standard; I have several of them. I'd be happy to loan you one to try out, if you want to come out to Oak Park and borrow one. Depending on timing, I can maybe even demonstrate technique for you; it can be tricky getting the batter the right consistency, and learning how to swirl it properly in the pan.

This is my recipe; I have a few Sri Lankan cookbooks and keep a mostly-Sri Lankan cooking blog: http://serendibkitchen.com/2018/01/25/hoppers-appam/

Note -- if you're going to make hoppers, you really ought to have them with seeni sambol, so you might want to make that first!

That is a MOST EXCELLENT offer,
to which I've responded via a Private Message.

I really appreciate your generous offer to aid a
curious cook to learn a new technique

I'll be sure to post what I learn!

Any other Sri Lankan Cooks lurking....with knowledge of Egg Hoppers-
and how they are well made! ?

They do not have a long handle. This is a typical south indian dish too, served in Kerala. I have one of those pans. Its very tough to cook in them because the dough is very sticky and they stick easily. Recommend getting a non stick version. I don't see a non stick but you can buy them off ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Indian-7-Size- ... :rk:8:pf:0

Hi Mary Anne!

Hi!

Well....thanks to the wonderful world of lthforum-ites.....I now know much, much more about Egg Hoppers and many other things Sri Lanka-ian,
thanks to celebrated Author/Professor and fellow-food-centric-kinda-Gal-
Mary Anne Mohanraj.
10:00am Saturday in OakPark- learning about Sri Lankan Culture,Cooking + Egg Hoppers w/Mary Anne Mohanraj / of Serendib Kitchen blog fame by R. Kramer, on Flickr

After setting a time and date to meet at Mary Anne's home in Oak Park- for a class in Egg Hoppers I also found a way to invite a few fellow Food-Lovers- Monica Eng- of WBEZ Curious City fame and Food Blogger renown- as well as visiting friend Niala Boodhoo- who happened to also know Mary Anne- (small world indeed)- before she set out to work in Champaign....for the Public Radio Station there.
Here is, some of what transpired.....
Learning HOW-TO-MAKE-Egg-Hoppers, from a Sri Lankan Chef/Writer and lovely person. by R. Kramer, on Flickr
10:00am Saturday in OakPark- learning about Sri Lankan Culture,Cooking + Egg Hoppers w/Mary Anne by R. Kramer, on Flickr

I learned that the batter can be made from a pre-packed mix-
or made from Scratch.
I learned that the best- is to let the mixture age/ferment for more than just a few hours for a more lacy-sided "Hopper" basket.
I learned that the "Appam" batter- is also the name of the pan to cook them in.
I learned that Appam- is also a Kerala term used throughout Tamil Nadu as well as Sri Lanka.
I learned that - for me- a one handled pan would give a better feel for pan swirling- than the 2-handled pans Mary Anne uses in her home.
I learned that many of the pans Mary Anne had sourced were Teflon- and that seems to be mostly what I found online as well.......
I learned- that I LOVE CHICAGO and it's community of fellow foodies-
and will now get a proper Egg Hopper pan- and practice-practice-practice.
10:00am Saturday in OakPark- learning about Sri Lankan Culture,Cooking + Egg Hoppers w/Mary Anne by R. Kramer, on Flickr
Brinjal Eggplant "pickle"- a wonderful jam like eggplant accompaniment to a Egg Hopper- and also a Quesadilla !

Egg Hopper almost ready by R. Kramer, on Flickr
and
an oops- a practice Egg Hopper being prepared by R. Kramer, on Flickr
and
It's called an "Egg Hopper"- a Sri Lankan "Dosa-style" Pancake- with a sunny-side up Egg cooked inside... by R. Kramer, on Flickr

FWIW- Mary Anne was not a participant in nth- but worked with someone who alerted her to a query about Sri Lankan food- and that caused Mary Anne to jump on to nth to help me in my Food Quest.
I'm very indebted to her- and thank her for taking the time to invite us all to he home.
Niala , Seena & Mart Anne together by R. Kramer, on Flickr
Namaste.

this is so great! i take only a tiny bit of credit for prodding Mary Anne to join LTH so she could see and enhance the hoppers thread!

annak wrote:this is so great! i take only a tiny bit of credit for prodding Mary Anne to join LTH so she could see and enhance the hoppers thread!

Take a LOTTA CREDIT!
Mary Anne's a very cool person to "know"-
and I'm so pleased that you took the initiative to cast her gaze to lthforum.
Actually- I betcha-
if there was an organized system- a whole "school"
could be created for those with mad-skills in say......Gefilte Fish Making,
or Smoke-'em-if-ya-got-em w /Gary Wivott,
etc.
Not saying its gotta be monetized on a grand scale- but
there's
a way we can all benefit- and make some $$$ too-
from sharing the collective-knowledge
possessed up-in-here.

Randall, didn't we talk about this when you were here? We're actually working on a maker space project in Oak Park, applying for a big grant, etc. I don't know yet if it'll incorporate a commercial kitchen -- probably not. But there's still a lot of kitchen things that can be done on a counter + sink, such as preserving, knife skills, etc. If you want to be involved, drop me an e-mail and I'll loop you in.