Stop! Hopper Time!
You sang that didn’t you? I bet you did. *insert harem pants here*
No? Oh well, never mind. TOMORROW IS PANCAKE DAY!! One of the many things I love about living in Britain!
However, this year I thought I’d deviate from the norm by making a Sri Lankan favourite…. Appa! Or the English term, ‘Hoppers’. Not quite sure how it gained that name, but I like it!
So, what exactly is a ‘hopper’? Well, Madhur Jaffery describes them as ‘the love child of crêpe and a crumpet’. It’s a bowl shaped pancake with crispy lace-like edges and a soft spongy middle; the texture not to dissimilar to ‘idli’ (those UFO shaped steamed rice cakes!).
Traditionally they are made from a fermented batter of rice flour and coconut milk, and if you are really old school your raising agent would be palm toddy or crumbled stale bread! Some even use bicarbonate of soda for quicker rise. Though, I opted to use yeast to help the fermentation along.
Hoppers are common in South Indian and Sri Lankan (SL) cuisine; it’s usually a breakfast or dinner grub in SL, and it’s so well loved you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t enjoy a good hopper session!
Sri Lankan cuisine seems to have captured the public’s attention recently, so I couldn’t think of a better time to share this! Hoppers in particular keep incessantly popping up on my social media. From the Pavilion Café in Hackney’s Victoria Park (thanks Heshan for the mouth watering pics!!), to the Hoppers restaurant opening its doors in Soho a couple of months ago (which you many have noticed we visited in December if you follow us on the good ‘ol Instagramzz! Go have a nosy at our walls! 🙂 I think Ang may have fallen in love with a Sri Lankan dessert called Wattalapam… like I needed any more confirmation as to why we are best buds lol! Also, while you are at it have a look at Weligama, a SL pop up on Druid Street, London, set up by chef Emily Dobbs. Girls is doing some serious twists on the traditional hopper, just check out her Instagram!
As you can see you can eat it with anything; I like it with a spicy curry, whilst my Sudu Amma (my Aunt) loves it with a simple Lunu Mirris (literally translated to ‘Salt Chilli’ in Sinhalese). Essentially a hopper is a willing carrier for anything you wish to adorn it, whether it be curries/kari’s, sambols, treacle/jaggery or fruit… really ANYTHING!
Well, lets hop to it then! 😀
Well, that health kick lasted long.
In fact! Did you know that a little bit of dark chocolate can actually suppress your appetite?! Yup, a TV show told me so the other day (so it’s obvs true). Apparently the bitter tasting flavanoids (plant-based compounds/nutrient, or ‘phytochemicals’), present in cocoa beans and dark chocolate with a high % of cocoa, can help make you feel fuller for longer and want to eat less! Of course, this is only true for dark chocolate that hasn’t been processed with alkali (‘dutched’), or loaded with milk and sugar. Whatevs, I’ll take it!
I mean, sure it probably doesn’t really count if you bake the chocolate into something sweet, but it’s a start for someone who’s not quite used to the bitterness of 85% chocolate on it’s own!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! *cue party poppers*
However, yesterday those 2 beautiful weeks of slobbish indulgence came to an end, and I found myself facing that post-holiday slump. You know the one. When you’re slapped with the reality that you can no longer wake up after lunch and spend the whole day watching movie after movie in your Star Wars pyjamas. *tear* And let’s not forget, when you realise you have to set an alarm again. Ugh.
January is usually the month of setting resolutions, or personal goals, as I prefer to think of it. Whether to do with family, friends, work, health, lifestyle… we all do it.
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