APPAM

Appam are bowl-shaped rice pancakes cooked on one side only in a curved iron pan. They are typically served with a coconut milk curry. A well-fermented batter will form small holes (like a lace) all over the appam while cooking. This makes the appams very light. 

INGREDIENTS:

Idly rice - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Instant Yeast - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water as needed

METHOD:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 4 hours. Drain.

2. In a blender/ mixer, grind the rice and coconut to a fine paste by adding water.

3. From the batter, take a ladle full of batter and pour it into a vessel/pan.

4. Add 1 cup of water and mix well. Cook that on low heat stirring continuously, until it becomes like a porridge. Let it cool completely.

5. Grind this porridge along with salt, sugar, and yeast. 

6. Mix it well with the remaining batter.

7. This batter should not be too runny like rava dosa batter not thick like a masala dosa batter. It should be a slightly thick pouring consistency.

8. Place lid and ferment this batter overnight. It will almost double in size on fermentation.

9. Heat a nonstick appam pan or appachatti over a high flame and pour ladleful of batter into the pan.

10. Immediately twirl the pan to spread the batter in a circle motion.

11. Place back the pan on stove, cover with lid and cook on low flame. Check after two mts and if it is done, remove from pan.

12. The edges will be crisp and will slowly leave the sides of the pan. Use a flat spatula to lift the appam off the pan and place on serving plate. You can cook for a while longer for browner edges but I prefer pure white appams.

13. Serve the warm appams with vegetable stew or kadala kurma/ kadala curry.