Throughout southern India and Sri Lanka fine, homemade, steamed rice noodles are often served at mealtimes instead of rice and are known as idiappam (or string hoppers) in India and idiappa in Sri Lanka. Since making them is somewhat cumbersome, requiring a special mold and steaming equipment, I do the next best thing: I buy dried rice sticks from East Asian grocers and reconstitute them. These noodles could be served at breakfast with a little sugar and cardamom-flavored coconut milk and at major meals with curries—though in Sri Lanka I have had them with fish curries for breakfast to my great delight, and with fiery fish curries in Kerala for dinner.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Soak the rice sticks in a large bowl of water that covers them completely for 2–3 hours. Shortly before eating, drain them and put them back in the bowl. With a pair of kitchen scissors, snip the noodles into manageable lengths. Pour boiling water over them. Leave for a minute and drain.
