Bowl-Shaped · Fermented Rice Pancake
Egg Hoppers (Appa)
Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use
The bowl shape isn't decorative — it's a built-in cup for cracking a whole egg into the crispy-edged center before it sets.
A hopper is a bowl-shaped pancake made from a fermented rice-flour and coconut-milk batter, swirled in a small curved pan until the edges turn lacy and crisp while the base stays soft. Egg hoppers have an egg cracked into the middle as it cooks, sold hot from roadside "hopper stalls" alongside spicy sambols and curries.
Why it's made this way: The natural fermentation of the batter gives hoppers their characteristic sour tang and bubbly texture, and the quick one-at-a-time cooking method made them ideal for small family-run stalls.
Roughly what's in it
300kcal
10gprotein
35gcarbs
13gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.
More from Sri Lanka
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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