Beginner
Korean
Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)
Source: Traditional
30 min3420 kcal
Dairy-free🌶️🌶️
String Hoppers (Idiyappam)
Rice dough pressed through a fine press into flat nests of noodles and steamed — light, plain and built to soak up dal and sambol.
Source
Recipe by Sri Lankan home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · Everyday Sri Lankan cooking — rice and three or four curries, coconut in nearly all of them, and a chilli level the island is not shy about.
Sri Lankan & South Indian · steamed staple — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article's canonical title is Idiyappam, the same dish Sri Lanka calls string hoppers or indiappa; it is shared with South India and the note says so. It confirms the pressed rice-flour strands and the steaming. Quantities and method here are this book's own.
Watch it being made · 3 videos
⏱ 45 min🍽 4 servings🔥 230 kcal🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
HalalVeganVegetarianGluten-freeDairy-freeNut-free
Steps
Mix the salt into the flour, then pour in the boiling water a little at a time, stirring with a spoon.
When cool enough to handle, knead to a soft, smooth dough that holds together without cracking.
💡 Too dry and it breaks into short bits in the press; too wet and the nests collapse. Aim for soft playdough.
Oil the string-hopper press, load it and squeeze spirals onto small steamer mats, one nest per mat.
Stack the mats in a steamer and steam 6–8 minutes, until the nests turn from chalky white to translucent.
Lift off and serve warm with parippu, pol sambol and a coconut-milk gravy (kiri hodi).
💡 Tips
- No press? Push the dough through a potato ricer with fine holes. Not traditional, but it works.
- They dry out fast. Keep the finished nests covered with a damp cloth until everyone sits down.
- Sri Lankans count them per person — six to ten each, with two or three curries.
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