Why Sri Lankan hoppers should be given a better look-in because this is how the world looks at our humble appe

That celebrated chef Jamie Kennedy serves hoppers at his new restaurant in the Gardiner Museum should come as no surprise. His mother is from Ceylon, after all, and he uses her recipe to fashion dozens of edible "bowls" every week.

Hopper - an Anglicization of the Tamil word "appam" - is a fermented rice-flour pancake popular in south India and Sri Lanka. Indian food expert Madhur Jaffrey describes hopper as the love child of a French crˆpe and English muffin. I say throw in the tang of a San Francisco sourdough loaf and you really get the picture.

Two of the hoppers are plain, spongy at the bottom and lacy at the top, with a sour tang. A third cradles an over-easy egg. A fourth has been dabbed with rich, homemade coconut cream; when sprinkled with granulated sugar, it's quite possibly the world's best breakfast.

"Not just for breakfast," the waiter tut-tuts. "You eat hopper any time."

Whereas the Gardiner jazzes up its hoppers with an array of condiments, Hopper Hut has just two: incendiary onion sambal, kissing cousin to kimchi, and a more muted coconut sambal flecked with green curry leaves. Tear a strip of hopper, wrap it around some sambal, and feel the flavours of Sri Lanka rise through your palate. Hoppers are much like sour-dough pancakes or muffins, really.

The batter is fermented in the traditional way with a little palm toddy, which gives the hoppers a delicious liquor tang. The batter is left to rise overnight, then thinned with coconut cream and baked in a round cast-iron pan. The hopper has a soft, fluffy, well-risen centre, a golden brown crisp border and is lightly flavoured with a hint of palm toddy and sesame oil with which the pan is greased.

An egg is sometimes baked into the centre, sunny-side up. Hoppers are equally good with hot sambals a hot sharp 'relish' of ground chilies, grated coconut's shallots & cured fish or curries or with jam-the one rule is to eat them hot.

Toronto Star and others

Amy Pataki