Hoppers, kottu & roti - Sri Lankan food - Eat - Explore

In Anuradhapura we walked into the old town for dinner at a relaxed local restaurant / take-away (we needed head torches though as there’s no street lights!).

At this unremarkable looking location we had a food feast!

First up was ‘hoppers’ (appa / appam). These are basically a Sri Lankan pancake! Its basically made from fermented rice flour and coconut milk. The mixture is then ladled into a small wok and swirled around to make a bowl shape.

Mostly hoppers are savoury, but also come sweet, however the local (and my!) favourite is ‘egg hoppers’. An egg is cracked into the bowl-shaped pancake.

The hoppers are then served with a spicy dipping sauce (‘lunu miris’).

There’s also another type of hoppers - ‘string hoppers’ which are made from a thicker mixture, shaped through a press to create thin noodles which are then steamed.

The next tasty treat was ‘kottu’ - the unmistakeable sound of its preparation (aka loud clanking metal on metal) leaves a lasting impression.

Kottu is a local favourite fast food. It looks like fried rice but is actually make with roti flatbread (specifically godama roti).