SHAYALA'S SRI LANKAN EGG HOPPERS AND CURRY

Shayala McRae

Principal Pensions Research, London

What this dish means to me

Hoppers are crispy, bowl-shaped pancakes made with rice flour that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner! Hoppers come in different varieties, but the favourite in our house is the egg hopper, and I make these with this curry each year for breakfast on Father’s Day at my (non-Sri Lankan!) husband’s request.

Hoppers are not easy to make and ideally you should have a hopper pan to create them - you can buy these online, but I am also reliably informed that you can use a small bowl-sized wok as an alternative. The curry I have included here is just one option, you can instead serve with any other curry of your choice and / or a favourite sambol.

SERVES

6-8

MINUTES

175

DIFFICULTY

8/10

INGREDIENTS

FOR MARINADE:

½ cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 ½ tablespoons salt

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, crushed

1 teaspoon ground mustard seeds

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

½ teaspoon chilli powder

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

FOR CURRY:

1 tsp ground cumin

500g lean beef, cubed

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

¼ teaspoon fenugreek

1 onion chopped

10 curry leaves (or two bay leaves)

½ cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

5cm piece of lemongrass, bruised

1 cup chopped or canned tomatoes

1 cup thick coconut milk (from can or made up with powder)

3 cups water

FOR HOPPERS:

6 cups coconut milk (made up from powder which can be bought in some mainstream supermarkets but also in Asian supermarkets)

1 kg red rice flour, plain rice flour or Chinese rice flour

1 teaspoon yeast

3 eggs

4 teaspoons salt

5 teaspoons sugar

METHOD

CURRY:

Step 1

Mix together all marinade ingredients. Marinate beef in this for 1 hour in the fridge.

Step 2

Boil potatoes for about 10 minutes until they are soft but still firm. Drain and set aside.

Step 3

Heat oil in a medium pan on medium heat. Add fenugreek and cook for about 20 seconds. Add onion, curry leaves, cinnamon, pepper and lemongrass and sauté until onion is caramelised – about 1 minute. Drain meat from marinade and set marinade aside. Add meat to the pan, and sauté, tossing, until meat is sealed and brown – about 7 minutes. Add the marinade liquid, tomatoes, coconut milk and water and cook over low heat until beef is tender – about 1 hour.

Step 4

Once the meat is tender, stir in the potatoes and mix through.

HOPPERS:

Step 1

Put the flour and yeast in a large bowl. Add eggs and 400ml of the coconut milk to the bowl and mix well. Cover and leave to stand for 45 minutes.

Step 2

Then add remaining coconut milk, salt and sugar and mix well until the mixture reaches a thick batter consistency.

Step 3

Heat the hopper pan over a high flame, put 80ml of batter in it and swirl the batter round to coat the sides of the pan. Break an egg into the centre of the batter in the pan, cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to low and cook until the egg is cooked.

Step 4

Remove egg hopper from the pan with a spatula when the edges are slightly brown. Serve with the curry, traditionally dished into the “bowl” of the egg hopper or alternatively alongside it. You can also add a sambol of your choice.