(synthesiser music) (diners laughing)
(plates and cutlery clattering)
(title whooshing)
- Welcome to the channel.
Today's gonna be super awesome.
Cause we are joined by Karan, our mate, he's come back.
He's gonna show us four amazing things
from the Indian subcontinent
that hopefully will blow our normals' minds.
(upbeat rock music)
- So genuinely, so excited to be back here
in your sparkling new studio.
So I can't wait to get started.
Guys, it's first cloche.
(air whooshing)
- [Ben] Lift it on number one.
- I know what that is. - I've seen these before.
- Yeah I know, I do know what that is.
- This is a guessing game.
- Yeah. So you throw the ball.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- And sometimes you hit it, but it doesn't go off the hoop
and then you have to throw another one.
- You're not shy about cracking terrible jokes,
- What are we talking about? - Are you?
- Ah! - Ah!
- It's a (beep) coconut. (all laughing)
- [Ben] Why have you put coconut under the cloches,
number one?
- [Karan] It's such a versatile, and I won't even say
nut, or fruit, but it's such a versatile tree.
- Ingredient.
- [Karan] Each one of you give me one use
you think a coconut tree as a whole could have.
- Milk it.
- Cream it.
- Climb it.
- Climb it. - Turn it into alcohol.
That's always my favourite.
- Turn it into alcohol.
- Drink it.
Could you use these bits for like brushes and stuff?
- Exactly. I mean, that's for coir ropes, you know,
some of those brown twine ropes are made with coir.
- [Ben] Boys, how do you get into a coconut?
(coconut tearing)
(Ben laughing)
- You are so manly.
(Jamie laughing) (coconut thuds)
- What you doing now? Jamie, what you doing?
(cleaver banging)
- [Barry] Don't think that's...
Wow we would not do well on a desert island.
(all laughing)
(coconut slams)
- Oh.
- [Jamie] Oh! Oh! It's leaking!
(glass bowl clattering)
- And squeeze.
- Squeezing.
(all laughing)
- [Karan] There's that- (coconut slams)
- [Barry] I'm getting wet. (Jamie laughing)
So how's it meant to be done?
- So I wouldn't go vertically.
I'd go through the centre.
- Basically hit it and then keep rotating it.
(cleaver knocking)
(Barry gasping)
- Oh! - Imagine,
- Imagine if there was a little present in there
like a Kinder Surprise.
(Karan laughs) (coconut pops)
- Whoa. - Heyo!
- Well done.
(Karan clapping) - Nicely done.
- [Karan] Fantastic. Yeah.
Look at that.
- Now Karan's brought you another toy,
a hand version of something we've played with before.
(upbeat rock music starts) - Oh no!
- No, not that, we don't like this thing.
(shaver grinding) - Hello...
Oh, it's quite very satisfying.
- [Jamie] That sound.
- Very satisfying.
If you haven't got a cleaver, basically the back
of any heavy knife, even the handle of a wooden spoon
you just want that regular tapping around the middle.
This is more difficult to do.
If you haven't got one of these, Karan,
how would you, or could you do it?
- [Karan] To get the same consistency is gonna be hard.
But what you could do is crack into it, peel the skin out,
and then put it through a food processor.
So the next step is making one of my absolute
favourite ingredients, coconut milk.
Most people think coconut milk is this whole,
sort of processed thing that comes in tins.
Basically what it is, is you get that fresh coconut,
get it between your hands and squeeze
through that little mesh.
You could use muslin, clear what comes out,
that first extraction.
South India, known as the first extraction.
Sri Lanka, very similar, is what people often
refer to as the cream of coconut.
But that is the pure gold, which depending on how
moist the coconut is, you know, you'll get a little bit,
or you get a little more.
(coconut dripping)
(Barry grunting) - Come on!
- And that's why it's liquid gold,
because this will not be cooked with.
It's kept aside.
It's known as the first extraction
and that's only for sort of stirred into-
- Finishing cream.
- Your cream, it's in desserts in Asia, south Thailand.
If you have desserts, it's that thick coconut cream.
Otherwise, it's just at the end of a curry,
or end of a dish of sweet something,
and that shell over there, I'm gonna use that to serve
one of the dishes we make later.
- And that is how you milk a coconut.
- Onto number two. (air whooshing)
(relaxed music begins) (air whooshing)
The second tasty thing is under the cloche, off you go.
(both humming appreciatively)
- Mm. Mm, mm.
Ah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Oh, ah yeah.
- Have a whiff of that.
- Whoa. - Yeah.
- Yeah. Okay.
- It's dried shrimp.
- [Barry] I think it's more like sardines, dried sardines.
- Or like bonito. - Or dried...
(both laughing)
- Ah, not that bad.
It's more meaty.
It's more meaty than shrimp. - Yeah.
- More meaty as opposed to fishy?
- [Karan] Not as intense as well.
You've actually guessed it.
- [Barry] Oh.
- In your earlier guesses. Skipjack tuna, bonito-
(Jamie claps)
So Jamie guessed them.
- (mimicking Barry) No, it's not.
- [Karan] It is dried fish.
It's known as Maldive fish.
Very often when I say it, people say,
"What did you just say? Mouldy fish?"
- [Ben] From the Maldives. (laughs)
- [Karan] It's a bit, it could be mouldy,
if it's been dried badly, but it's from the Maldives.
So it's exactly the same fish that gives you katsuobushi,
from Japan, the little dancing fish flakes
or the other kinds of, you know,
dried fish would go into dashis and stocks.
- Yeah.
- So just an umami, rich, super packed with flavour.
- Proper flavour bomb.
- And what are they gonna do with it today?
- So we're gonna make a very traditional pol sambo.
Pol meaning coconut, a sambo is a kind of relish.
It's very simple.
So it's got five ingredients.
Chilli, so dried chilli flakes,
Maldive fish, little bit in there, large pinch.
- Does sound like mouldy fish. - Yeah, it does sound really-
- When you say quickly.
- [Karan] Little bit of salt, and let's start grinding.
(mortar and pestle grinding) (relaxed music continues)
Now in with the onions, we'll bash them up a little bit,
and then let's go in with a coconut now.
(mortar and pestle tapping)
Bring it all together with some lime.
The idea of the segment is also zero waste.
(spoon clatters)
You know, we try and use everything.
- [Ben] It is quite literally the perfect condiment
in terms of the way you season stuff.
- Yeah. - The seasoning triangle.
You've got salt, you've got sugar, and you've got acid.
You've also got umami and you've got fatness from coconut.
It literally ticks all of the boxes on paper.
Does it taste any good?
- Oh! Hello.
- Oh! - Oh God.
- Woo.
- Okay. - Very bold.
Hello Mommy.
- That wasn't the reaction I was expecting.
- That's giving me everything.
- First of all, you're like, oh, freshy, zingy, lovely.
And then you're like- (fist slaps)
Get down!
(all laughing)
- I'm really enjoying this.
But I'm guessing it's not meant to be eaten on its own.
(spoon clatters)
- Exactly. Hoppers, egg hoppers.
This is, I mean, very traditionally in Sri Lanka.
All you would have is a hopper and this, and nothing else.
Sometimes on the side with some rice.
- I'm on the rollercoaster again.
(all laughing)
- I presumed we were going to cook it.
We were going to put it into a stew or something like that.
And it was gonna add an umami taste.
What actually that's done, is gone in raw,
but because it's not pungent,
it just adds an amazing overall flavour.
And it's not super fishy, but it's just,
it elevates everything within there.
(spoon clatters)
- [Karan] I mean, why do you even think it's fishy?
I don't taste the fish in there. Do you?
(Barry and Jamie laughing)
- No. And I think it's like
when you add good anchovies into lamb meatballs
- Hundred percent- - Or something like that.
- [Karan] Exactly that.
- [Ben] Just roundness.
- [Karan] Exactly. (chuckles)
- You ready for number three?
- Yes. (air whooshing)
(pencil scribbling)
(air whooshing) (moderate tempo rock music)
- Scut-
- Oh, we've been doing so well.
(Jamie laughs)
- [Jamie] I mean, it looks like soy sauce.
- [Barry] It does. It's not.
- It's not?
- It's not soy sauce, doesn't smell like it.
It looks more syrupy.
- Oh, it is, - It's more...
- look at the viscosity.
- Oh, it could be from a tree.
(Jamie laughing)
- It looks like sap.
- [Ben] Dip a didge.
(smacking noises)
- Holy moly.
That is wonderful.
- Oh my goodness, it's so sweet.
- Birch syrup. - Bold.
- You're making lots of very interesting noises.
- The coconut trees have sap. - Is it coconut?
- Is it coconut sap?
- [Ben] What is it Karan?
- I mean, I think you are 90% of the way.
Coconut sap was a very good, very close guess.
So there's a tree called the Kithul tree, in Sri Lanka.
That is called Kithul Treacle.
So from the flower of the Kithul tree,
you then snip it and you collect the sap,
which you then boil down, with sort of wooden fires.
And that's where the smokiness comes from.
- Ooh.
- [Karan] So you can go to friends,
and you can go to villages,
and people will just give it to you in all these-
- Tap your own, reduce it down.
- Arak bottles. And you know, I always bring a bottle back.
And then when that sort of reduced even further,
it becomes jaggery, which,
- Yes! - is almost a solid block.
A bit like in sugar or Palm sugar.
- [Ben] Again, another ingredient that we're
hugely familiar with the concept of a sap from a tree,
whether it's birch or maple, but I'd never heard of this.
- [Karan] But you know, one of the simplest desserts
and probably one of the most favourite desserts
in Sri Lanka is curd and treacle.
So they use buffalo curd,
or buffalo yoghourt, it's a set yoghourt, and treacle.
Unfortunately Kush couldn't find a buffalo
or buffalo milk.
- Oh. (laughing)
(Ben laughing) - So he's got you some yoghourt.
- We've also got agave, honey, and maple as well,
as a comparison.
- [Ben] Drizzle it over yoghourt, simple simple breakfast
or dessert.
- [Jamie] Cheers.
- Cheers.
(music crescendos)
- Oh.
- Oh, I like that.
I like that a lot.
- It's got another dimension in that smokiness to it.
- There's levels, isn't it?
- So it's almost like a grown up version
of agave or maple, and also very low in GI.
So good health benefits.
- And I think that's the beauty of this one.
I can see 101 places where you are already
cooking something that you're familiar with.
You just take out what you usually use,
and sub in with this, for a different dimension.
- Hundred percent.
- It is so much more complex,
and it has more going on than just sweetness.
I really like that.
(classical music begins)
(contestants cheering and chatting)
- Oh no, come on. - What's it gonna be?
- No no no! - Yes! (laughing)
- Brilliant! - What are you doing?
(classical music continues) - No!
- This is the worst thing you can ever say-
(classical music ends) (bold music begins)
(contestants shouting) (torch hissing)
- Guys? Any help?
- Zhuzh it.
(contestant yelling)
(bold music ends)
(upbeat rock music begins)
- Last one. (Jamie drumming)
Number four.
- Oh, is that a cooking instrument or just an instrument?
- I think that's half of a cymbal.
- Okay. You say, oh wow.
Look at the texture of that. - Yeah.
- It feels like a pan to use on fire.
- That's not gonna work on induction, unfortunately.
(Jamie laughing)
- Is it something you cook like a big pancake in,
and then it forms that, what's the bowl you get?
- A hopper. - A hopper.
(Barry slaps counter) - It's a hopper.
- The clues are there. - Is it a hopper?
He's been wearing the hat for the whole time-
(all laughing)
- The hat, the T-shirt, every level of branding.
- It's been staring at me.
- There you go. You're absolutely right.
And I'd be very upset if you weren't by now.
We're number four, you hit the nail on the head.
That's a hopper pan.
And that is the traditional hopper pan. It's aluminium.
So really good conductor of heat,
but also very light, gets hot really quick,
gets cold really quick. In my opinion,
the best way of making the traditional Sri Lankan hopper.
But if you want the crisp edges, the little pooled sort
of fluffy middle, this is the only way to go.
- And we couldn't invite Karan into the studio
without getting him to cook. So-
- What's he gonna cook?
- He's gonna make us a hopper.
(air whooshing)
- So guys, let me tell you what a hopper is.
It's obviously what our restaurant gets its name from,
but effectively it's a bowl-shaped pancake
made with fermented coconut and rice.
You use a special kind of rice, a short grain rice
as well as a longer grain rice, we then soak them, ferment,
and then grind them with coconut and a touch of yeast to it.
This is the batter. It's completely gluten free,
(bowl clatters)
and it's a delicious, delicious pancake.
So you can have that plain.
You can have that with an egg in the middle,
or you can have it with coconut milk.
The only way, because your ear is so sort of
sensitive to heat, the only way to know
if it's hot enough is to actually stick it
close to your ear. You've gotta be careful about this.
You lose your attention and you'll go, you know,
you have a nice red ear. (dishes clattering)
It's also important you preheat the lid.
So I even put it on there, just to get it hot enough.
(air whooshes) So it goes in,
you hear that little sizzle, swirl all the way around,
and then you see that little bit
will pool in the middle,
and the edges are really nice and thin.
It goes down there on there, lid on.
And now just wait. (air whooshing)
You will find that some of them stick,
you will find some don't-
- [Barry] Oh.
- There you go. (utensil scrapes)
First one's always (plate thumps)
a little funny.
- And I guess once your batter's made, fermented,
and pan's up to temperature, they're pretty quick to cook.
- Quick to make, unless you get the first one stuck.
I'm gonna go in with an egg.
So this will obviously take a little bit longer.
Little cracking of pepper.
So many variables here. (utensil clatters)
You've got the pan, which needs to be seasoned,
which needs to be at the right heat.
Too hot, you're gonna burn it.
Too cold, it's gonna stick and never come off.
Then you need to get that heat right?
Because it needs to wrap around all the way up.
Otherwise you'll find the edges haven't cooked
and they were too cold.
So you need to have the right size wok or the right size
hopper pan for the right size hob.
- But why did you name your restaurant after these?
So hoppers are obviously very iconic of Sri Lanka,
(air whooshes) and very iconic street food.
When we were conceptualising this and you know,
it was this big, massive brainstorm between my
brother-in-law who founded JKS restaurants.
You know, he came up with the idea
of doing a Sri Lankan restaurant.
I had travelled to Sri Lanka, had friends there,
loved south Indian food.
So we sort of came together.
We started thinking about it.
This was almost a working title,
that then just stuck on.
- Actually. Yeah, we know about those. Yeah.
- Was it the same? - Yep.
- Yeah.
- Fact that it literally lifts off the plate and it's
3D food and it is just, it's unique.
And I think if you haven't had one before,
(utensils clattering) it always gets that wow.
- Come in guys, come in, dig in.
- Don't have to ask me twice.
- Remember that pol sambo we had?
Rip in, get your pol sambo
and look at that as a serving dish guys.
That's just- - Yeah.
- Upcycled coconut every part of it.
- Every part of the coconut. - Yes, yes, yes.
Yes, yes, yes.
- It's almost like marshmallowy in the middle.
(relaxed music)
- Oh, there we go.
I'm on. Here we go.
- Oh yeah.
There's a slight char on the crispy edge.
But a light fluffy bottom.
- Look at that coming up. - Steaming hot.
Now that is a bowl-shaped pancake.
For a coconutty hopper.
- [Ben] It's so good.
And for me, flavours are great.
It's the textures that make it, because you have got
that fluffy middle, and then there's crispy edges.
- Ah.
- Look at the colour on that.
- [Barry] Yeah, look at that.
Oh! - Oh!
- [Karan] Right guys.
So we cracked that egg. - Yeah.
- [Karan] I'm gonna go in
and make something super special out of it.
Green chilis, mate.
- There you go.
(lid clatters)
- [Karan] Wait for that cheese to melt.
- [Jamie] Aw.
- [Ben] Dig into that one.
- [Barry] That one looks really naughty.
- It's gonna be hot.
- [Karan] Chilli cheese, omelette hopper.
- There you go. - Hot, hot.
- There you go. - Ooh.
- Hot. (Karan laughing)
- [Barry] Okay.
- I hope we've shared
some really interesting stuff with you.
- I've had an amazing time.
- One of the best discoveries ever here, blimey.
- Thank you so much for coming in and showing us.
- And if you want any
of those ingredients we've experimented with today,
you can actually get them in the links down below,
so the Cash and Carry, we'll link to that.
It's actually where we also got the very first
meal kit that we tried from Hoppers and it was phenomenal.
- [Jamie] And you got another project,
that's going on at the moment,
that was quite close to your heart. What's that?
- So we've celebrated Sri Lanka
and Sri Lankan food here today.
And I think it's only right to sort of acknowledge
the situation going on in Sri Lanka.
As we speak today, there's been this massive political
and economic crisis over them.
And there's been people who are right at the bottom
of the ladder and they have lost livelihoods.
20 pounds can buy a family of four enough rations
for an entire week.
So we're gonna do a special at the restaurant
that's 20 pounds
and all that money goes to a family in Sri Lanka.
We've got partners on the ground who are gonna be going out
and distributing this stuff themselves.
We want a hundred percent transparency.
There's gonna be no admin fees,
to the extent that we can avoid it.
And you know, even if it's not with us, just read
about what's happening and try and contribute,
because it's such an amazing country
and such amazing people,
but they've just had such a hard time.
- We've had a tiny taste of Sri Lanka today.
So thank you for that.
But we're also gonna contribute to the charity down below,
all the links downstairs, go and check it out,
read up more.
And if you can, it'd be lovely if you could too.
- Thank you guys.
- A massive thank you to you. - Incredible.
I'm gonna go eat more of this.
(all laughing)
- [Karan] Fantastic. I'm gonna keep-
- [Ben] Can I play with your hoppers pan, please?
- Yeah. I wanna go.
(testing beep)
- If you get stuck on a desert island,
because your FedEx planes crash
you can turn it into a friend.
- Into a friend, yeah. Yeah, exactly.
I think that, that might not be an original idea.