Indi Aappa
Sri Lankan String Hoppers (Idiyappam)
Also known as Noolputtu
You might know them as indi aappa in Sinhala or idiyappam, sometimes noolputtu, in Tamil. They are delicate steamed nests of rice-flour noodles. Press a soft rice-flour dough through a string hopper mould onto small woven mats, steam for a few minutes, and each little spiral turns tender and pillowy. Mild on their own and built to carry flavour, string hoppers are a beloved breakfast and dinner across Sri Lanka, served with kiri hodi, lunu miris, dhal curry or pol sambol.
Soft steamed nests of rice-flour noodles. The gentle Sri Lankan breakfast and dinner that soaks up coconut gravy and sambol.
- Total time
- 45 min
- 25 min prep · 20 min cook
- Serves
- 4 people
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice level
- Mild
- Country help
- USA · UK · AU · CA substitutes included
CeylonCooking
ceyloncooking.com/recipes/string-hoppers
Sri Lankan String Hoppers (Indi Aappa)
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Nutrition
Estimated values, per serving.
About This Dish
String hoppers are one of Sri Lanka's quiet everyday classics. They turn up steaming on the table at first light, then again as a gentle dinner. The Sinhala name is indi aappa. The Tamil name is idiyappam, sometimes called noolputtu, which means string puttu. They are made from little more than rice flour and hot water, but pressing and steaming turns that humble dough into soft, lacy nests. They taste clean and faintly sweet.
Making them is a small ritual. You scald rice flour with just-boiled water and knead it into a smooth, warm dough, then pack it into a string hopper press. That press is a brass or steel cylinder fitted with a fine perforated disc. Hold it over a little woven mat and squeeze, moving your wrist in tight spirals so the dough comes out as fine strands that settle into a flat round nest. Stack tray after tray into a steamer, and a few minutes later the kitchen fills with the clean, faintly sweet smell of steamed rice.
What people love about string hoppers is how little they ask and how much they give back. On their own they are barely seasoned, soft and almost neutral, and that is exactly the point. They are a soft, plain base for the bright, spicy, coconut-rich things that go beside them. A few nests pulled apart and dunked into warm kiri hodi, with a fierce spoon of lunu miris on the side, is one of the most comforting plates in the whole Sri Lankan repertoire.
One thing confuses a lot of people. A string hopper is not the same as a plain hopper. A plain hopper, appa, is a bowl-shaped pancake made from a fermented batter, crisp at the rim and soft in the middle. A string hopper is pressed rice-flour noodles, steamed rather than fried, with no fermentation at all. They share a name in English and a place on the breakfast table, but they are two completely different dishes.
String Hopper, Idiyappam or Noolputtu?
String hopper, idiyappam and noolputtu are three names for the same dish. Indi aappa is the Sinhala name. Idiyappam is the Tamil name, and noolputtu (literally string puttu) is another Tamil name you will hear, especially in the south. The English name string hopper most likely borrowed hopper from appam and added string for the noodle shape. So indi aappa, idiyappam, noolputtu and string hoppers all describe the same steamed nests of pressed rice-flour strands.
The whole dish rests on two things, the flour and the press. You want plain white rice flour or nutty red rice flour for traditional string hoppers. Better flour gives you silkier strands. The press, called an idiyappam press or string hopper mould, is a cylinder with a perforated disc that shapes the dough into fine threads as you squeeze. The little woven mats, called indi aappa mats, let steam pass through from below so each nest cooks evenly without sticking.
What It Should Taste Like
Soft, springy and almost neutral on their own. You get the clean, faintly sweet taste of steamed rice flour. They're made to soak up coconut gravy and sambol, turning rich, spicy and savoury the moment you pair them.
Ingredients
This recipe makes 4 servings. Change the number and every amount below updates with it. Substitutes for hard-to-find items are in the sidebar.
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String Hopper Dough
- Rice flourWhite or red. Roasted is best if you can find it.2 cups
- Hot waterJust off the boil.1.5-2 cups
- Salt1/2 tsp
To Serve
- Kiri hodi (mild coconut gravy)to serve
- Lunu miristo serve
- Dhal curry or pol sambolto serve
Method
Follow these 5 steps. Each one explains not just what to do, but why it matters.
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- 01
Toast and Season the Flour
If your rice flour is raw, dry-toast it in a pan over low heat for a few minutes until it smells warm and nutty, then stir in the salt. Plenty of cooks use pre-roasted string hopper flour and skip this step.
Lightly toasting the flour is a small move that makes a real difference. Raw rice flour can taste flat and a little chalky. A gentle toast wakes up that faint sweetness and helps the strands hold together without going gummy. Keep the heat low and keep the flour moving so it warms evenly and never colours. You want aroma, not a tan. If you buy flour labelled for string hoppers or idiyappam, it's usually already roasted, so just give it a quick warm through.
Tip: Sift the flour after toasting to break up any lumps. Smooth flour gives you smooth, even strands.
- 02
Scald the Flour into a Dough
Pour in just-boiled water little by little, stirring with a spoon as you go. Knead the dough while it's still warm until it's soft and smooth, holding together without cracking.
This scalding step is what makes string hoppers tender. The hot water is doing the real work here. Boiling water partly cooks the starch in the rice flour, so the dough holds its shape and the strands steam soft instead of brittle. Add the water gradually because flours drink different amounts. Stop when the dough feels like soft, pliable clay. Too dry and it cracks and clogs the press. Too wet and the strands sag and stick together. Knead it warm. Once it cools, it stiffens and gets harder to press.
Tip: Cover the dough with a damp cloth as you work. That keeps it warm so it doesn't dry out and crack between batches.
- 03
Press the Nests
Pack the warm dough into a string hopper press. Hold it over a small woven mat and squeeze in tight, circular motions. The strands fall into a flat, round nest. Repeat until you've filled as many mats as your steamer holds.
This is the part that looks like magic the first time you see it. Press the dough through the fine disc and it comes out as a curtain of thin threads. The circular wrist motion layers them into a neat little nest about the size of your palm. Keep the strands fine and even. Don't pile them too thick or the centre will steam slowly while the edges overcook. Your first nest or two will look messy, and that's completely normal. The rhythm comes quickly.
Tip: Give the disc and the inside of the press a very light oiling before you start. That way the first batch glides through instead of sticking.
- 04
Steam Until Set
Stack the loaded mats in a steamer. Steam over boiling water for about 5 to 8 minutes. The strands should turn from opaque white to glossy and feel firm and springy when you touch them.
Steam, never boil, is what gives string hoppers their soft, clean texture. The gentle even heat cooks the pressed strands through without making them soggy or gluey. You'll see the colour shift slightly and the surface take on a faint sheen. That's your sign they're done. Oversteaming dries them out and makes them tough, so pull them as soon as they feel set. The woven mats let steam rise from underneath, so each nest cooks evenly and lifts away cleanly.
Tip: Don't crowd the steamer trays. Leave a little space between the mats so steam can circulate and every nest cooks at the same rate.
- 05
Lift, Rest and Serve
Leave the nests for a minute, then gently peel each one off the mat and pile onto a plate. Serve them warm with kiri hodi, lunu miris and whatever curry or sambol you've made.
Let them rest a minute, it matters. Straight from the steamer the strands are fragile and tear easily, but a minute of cooling firms them just enough to peel off the mat in one clean nest. String hoppers are softest and best fresh and warm, so we make them in batches and serve as soon as the steamer empties. Have your gravies and sambols ready first, so the nests go straight from steamer to table.
Tip: Serving a crowd? Keep finished nests in a covered dish or warm oven so they stay soft while the next tray steams.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Using cold water instead of just-boiled. The dough won't bind and the strands turn brittle.
- Making the dough too dry. It cracks the strands and clogs the press.
- Oversteaming. It dries the nests out and makes them tough instead of soft.
- Piling the nests too thick. The centre stays raw while the edges overcook.
Serving Ideas
- With kiri hodi, a mild coconut gravy, for a gentle classic breakfast.
- With lunu miris and strong milk tea to start the day.
- Alongside dhal curry and pol sambol for a light dinner.
- With fish or chicken curry and seeni sambol for a fuller plate.
Building a whole plate around it? Start from our sri lankan breakfast menu, which sets out what to cook alongside it and in what order.
Storage and Make-Ahead
Eat string hoppers fresh and warm, that's when they're best. Keep them covered at room temperature for a few hours, or refrigerate up to 2 days. Revive with a minute back in the steamer, because microwaving tends to toughen them. Press and steam the dough straight away rather than storing it.
Two Ways to Cook It
Buy pre-roasted string hopper flour to skip the toasting, and use a piping bag with a fine nozzle if you don't have a press. Pipe smaller, thinner nests, they steam faster and are more forgiving. Serve with a simple kiri hodi and lunu miris.
Use freshly milled red rice flour. Scald and knead it warm by hand, then press the nests with a traditional brass idiyappam press onto woven indi aappa mats. Steam them in a stacked clay or aluminium string hopper steamer and serve with kiri hodi, lunu miris, dhal and pol sambol.
Lighter and Healthier Version
String hoppers are already one of the lighter things you can put on the table. They're steamed, not fried, naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, and made from little more than rice flour and water with no added fat. A few small choices make them lighter and more nourishing still.
Choose Red Rice Flour
Swap white rice flour for red rice flour. It adds fibre, minerals and a deeper, nuttier flavour, and keeps the dish wholegrain. The method is exactly the same, the strands just steam a shade darker.
Naturally Fat-Free to Cook
Because string hoppers are steamed, they need almost no oil. Just wipe the press disc lightly so the dough glides through. The dish itself adds no frying fat.
Watch the Accompaniments
Most of the richness on a string hopper plate comes from the coconut gravy beside it, not the nests. Use light coconut milk in your kiri hodi, or thin it with water, to keep the whole meal lighter.
Gluten-Free and Vegan
Made from rice flour and water, string hoppers contain no wheat, dairy or egg, so they suit gluten-free and vegan eaters as they are. Pair them with a vegan dhal or coconut sambol to keep the plate plant-based.
Frequently Asked Questions
Idiyappam needs only three things: rice flour, hot water and a little salt. White or red rice flour gets scalded with just-boiled water into a soft dough, pressed through a fine mould into thin strands, and steamed into soft nests. No fermentation, no frying.
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