Kerala Paalappam / Appam

Weddings/ special occasions , Xmas / Easter ..... Or even a normal Sunday breakfast gets so special when you have these Appams paired with a stew. We usually make a large batch of it and have it for breakfast and tea. I sometimes have it for lunch/ dinner too :) . I just don't mind having it at anytime of the day because my craving for Appam is that strong :).

One wouldn't go wrong in its making, if the fermentation is done properly. If you happen to make it, you could try combining it with Chicken Curry, Fish Molly, Motta curry (Egg Curry), Green Peas curry , Mutton stew , Mutton curry, Beef curry etc. as a side. They taste so yumm that you would never want to put a full stop to having it.

Make your weekend breakfast special by trying out these lacy beauties and let me know if you liked it.

Ingredients

1. 2 1/2 cups of white rice/raw rice / pachari , soaked overnight and washed thoroughly
2. 1/2 cup of thin coconut milk
3. 1/4 cup of thick coconut milk
4. 1/2 cup of grated coconut
5. 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice
6. 3/4 tbsp of yeast
7. 1/2 cup of luke warm water
8. 5-6 tbsp of sugar
9. 1/4 tsp of salt
10. Water to grind the rice into a batter

Method

• In a bowl, take the luke warm water , 2 tbsp of sugar and the yeast. Mix it and keep it aside for about 5-10 minutes for the yeast to rise.
• In a blender/grinder, grind the white rice, cooked rice, coconut milk, grated coconut, remaining sugar and the risen yeast , using enough water to form it into a paste.
• Transfer the ground paste into a large bowl. The batter should be thin and runny. So, add more water if you feel the batter is too thick in consistency.
• Place it in a warm place to ferment. It would take anywhere from 3-5 hours or even more. It would totally depend upon the weather conditions at your place.
• Once the batter has risen. Add salt to it and mix it with a ladle.
• Heat the appa chatti. Once hot, turn it down to medium. Pour a ladle full of batter into the appa chatti and swirl it to attain the round shape. Cover and cook for about a minute or untill the center is thoroughly cooked. Remove it onto a plate. Serve it with Kadala Curry, Chicken curry or any other side of your choice.

Tips

1. The bowl , should be large enough else, the batter would overflow when it ferments.
2. Do not stack the Appams untill they cool down a little. Else they would stick together.
3. If you would like the lacy ends of Appam to be crisp and brown, keep it a little longer to cook. The brown ends are hard to attain if cooking on a stove with coil. Stoves with flames help to obtain the brown ends of appam. The pictures above were taken in two different batches having cooked the Appam on different stoves and it clearly shows the difference. Brown or not, they both taste equally good.
4. You could use rice powder instead of raw rice to avoid heavy grinding.
5. If you make Appam frequently, then you could avoid using yeast, everytime you make it. Just store 2-3 laddle full of Appam batter in the fridge. The next time you make the Appam batter, add the stored Appam batter from the previous batch to the fresh Appam batter instead of adding the yeast mixture. It would take a little more time to ferment but wouldn't affect the quality of Appam. 
6. If you have some leftover Appam batter, then you may either refrigerate it for next day or may be convert it into Vattayappam by adding additional coconut, sugar and cardamom, for your tea time snack.