Kerala Appam Recipe – When I first saw appam, I thought it was the same as Dosa. We in North India have always seen Idli, Dosa and Uthappam as the only 3 South Indian dishes. So, it was expected of us to categorize anything that looks like any of these 3, into one of them. Though Appam looked like Dosa, it tasted a lot different and that is when I asked my husband, what this was. Since then, appam became one of my favorites and I would anyday prefer it over dosa. The combination of hot appam with fresh Coconut chutney was simply awesome.
My mom-in-law is a specialist in this. Her chutney and appam has a different taste. The fact that her style of preparation was unique, is what I could attribute the taste to. The appams were soft with slightly crispy edges and the chutney was just perfectly spicy.
It took me some time to learn the art from her. But I still feel that I am far away from her when it comes to the uniqueness and taste.
If you are on a trip to Kerala, you will find appam being served with a lot of different curries like Kadala Curry (Black Grams), Potato Stew Curry, Chicken curry, Egg Curry etc. Whatever the combination is, you are sure to enjoy it to the last bite.
So let us jump straight into learning the recipe.
Ingredients
- Rice - 2 cup
- Coconut - 3/4
- Baking Powder - a pinch
- Salt - as per required
Instructions
- Soak raw rice in water overnight or you can also soak it in the morning and grind it in the evening.
- Drain the water from rice. Take one portion of this rice and grind it to a fine paste and set aside.
- Take one cup of this batter.
- Take a pan and put this batter into it.
- Add water and mix well.
- Keep the pan on the stove and stir the batter continuously in a low flame.
- Keep stirring until it thickens and the mixture looks like a gel.(This is a traditional process that is followed to get soft appam)
- Once done let it cool and set aside.
- Add this mixture to the rest of the batter and mix well until it dissolves completely in the batter.
- Now grind the rest of the rice along with grated coconut and make a fine paste.
- Add this to the earlier batter and mix well.
- Add salt and baking soda. Mix again.
- Add some water so that the mixture loosens a little and takes uniform consistency.
- Allow it to ferment for 8 hours by keeping it covered.
- Once the batter is fermented add water to make the consistency of batter loose and easily pourable.
- Heat appam kadai or appachatti.
- Pour 1 big laddle of batter to the centre of kadai and immediately turn and tilt the pan in circular motion so that the batter spreads in circle.
- Cover and let it cook for 2 min. Covering with a lid is important as the steam from it will help the center part to get cooked.
- Open the lid, and once the sides are crisp, remove and serve.(Don't flip it)
- Make the rest of the batter the same way.
- Serve hot along with potato stew, chicken curry, egg curry, kadala curry or dry coconut chutney.
Notes
You can also make appam in dosa tawa, if you don't have an appam kadai or appachatti. Spread batter like dosa and close tawa with a lid to cook.(You will get a tasty appam except the proper shape. The process of heating batter also called as KAPPIKACHAL in Kerala is must in order to get a soft appam.
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