Mrs Amarasakara's hoppers

Hoppers are bowl-shaped pancakes, and you'll need a special pan to make this recipe. It takes about six hours, so Peter recommends preparing it in the morning, perhaps before work, and leaving it in a warm place so it is ready in the evening.

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 1 coconut, to yield 200 ml coconut cream and 400 ml coconut milk, with the water reserved
• 200 ml hot water
• 2 cm thick piece sourdough bread, broken up into pieces
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 500 g rice flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt

Standing time 6 hours

Instructions

To make the coconut milk, crack the coconut and reserve the coconut water.

Grate the coconut and place the flesh in a blender with the hot water and, using the pulse action, process until well combined and the flesh is soft.

Line a strainer with muslin and place over a bowl. Pour in the blended coconut, then gather the sides of the muslin and squeeze tightly to extract as much liquid as possible from the flesh. You will need 400 ml coconut milk. The first time you squeeze the coconut you will get the first extract of coconut, or coconut cream. Reserve 200 ml of this for later.

Repeat the process to get the second extract of coconut, or coconut milk. You will need 400 ml of this.

Combine the bread, coconut water, second extract of coconut milk, bicarb soda and whisk in the rice flour until it forms a thick batter.

Set aside to rest for 6 hours, or until the mixture has doubled in size.

Once the batter has rested, heat the inside of a hopper pan with oil and place on high heat.

While the pan is heating, add the first extract of coconut milk to the batter and stir to form a thick pancake-style batter. Season with salt.

Once the hopper pan is hot, add a ladleful of the batter and swirl to coat the sides of the pan, making sure a pool of batter remains at the base.

Cover pan with a lid and steam it for 2-3 minutes or until the centre is firm and the sides are golden and crisp.

Lightly tap the sides of the pan to loosen the hopper, scoop out and serve hot.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.