Appam

Aappam or appam (ஆப்பம்) is one of the most comforting foods of South India. One can imagine this as a pancake made with rice flour.  It is a very popular food in Kerala, just like the idli of Tamilnadu. We can get this appam in almost all street side dinner shops in Tamilnadu and Kerala. The side dishes may vary from coconut milk to sambar or egg curry or non veg.  The yeast in the appam has many benefits.

Earlier I have made my mom's recipe for aappam and my own recipe 'easy appam with rice flour' .  The recipes vary from place to place and generation to generation because of the availability of rice quality and weather. Also it varies from family to family also and here is what I got recently from my chithis in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin.

Aaappam with coconut milk

Ingredients: (Makes 12 appam)
Raw rice / Everest basmati - 1 1/2 cup
Idli rice / parboiled rice - 3/4 cup
urid dhal - 1 tbsp
poha (aval) / cooked rice - 1 handful
coconut (shredded) - 3/4 cup
dry yeast - 1 tsp
sugar - 1 tbsp
salt - 1 tsp

Method:
Raw rice is the best. But I have used Everest brand rice that serves both ways and it is economical in my place. Soak  rices, urad dhal , poha  for 2 hours or overnight and grind with shredded coconut to a fine paste. Mix yeast, salt, sugar. Let it be a thick batter like dosa mavu.

Keep it closed and place in a warm place for 12-18 hours. I used to make this batter at night by 9 pm and leave inside oven (heat to 300 for 10 minutes and turn off oven) and in the next day morning there will be bubbles on the surface and the batter would  have risen. Mix well.

Now heat the aappam pan and wipe a drop of coconut oil all over the pan by using a clean cloth.

Check the thickness of aappam batter now. It should be in the more thin in consistency than that of dosa batter.If not so add some coconut milk or water.
Pour 2 ladles of batter,keep heat at medium to low.
Then Shake the pan in a circular motion so that the flour spreads and expands along the edges.(If batter is too thick and does not spread, add a little more milk or water to the batter for the next aapams ). The cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat.
I wait to hear a dripping sound of water(condensation of steam) .Now we can be sure that the aapam is cooked.Then by using a dosa spatula or spoon gently take out the aapam.

Serving suggestions:
Aapam goes fine with coconut milk.Take coconut milk 1/2 can and dilute it with equal amount of water.Spread 2 teaspoon sugar over aapam and add 4 tablespoon coconut milk over the aapam. Enjoy your aapam.
Number of appam using this recipe is 12

Alternate recipe:
(use these ingredients and follow the above instructions)
Raw rice - 2 cup
Idly rice / boiled rice - 1/2 cup
urid dal - 1 tbsp
shredded coconut - 3/4 cup
coconut water - 1/2 cup
salt - 1 tsp

Aapam (made by grinding rice)

 rice - 2 cup
cooked rice - 1/2 cup

urid dhal - 2tsp,
fenugreek (venthayam) seeds - 1/4 tsp.
salt - 1/4 teaspoon.
coconut milk or tender coconut water - 1/2 cup.
yeast - 1 teaspoon.
baking soda - 1/4 tsp.


Method:
Soak rice,urid dal and fenugreek seeds for 5 hours.Then add the cooked rice and grind in an "Indian Grinder" or "Indian mixie" to a fine paste. It should be like thick idly batter.
Add coconut milk/tender coconut water, salt and yeast to the batter.
Keep it closed and place in a warm place for 6 hours. I used to make this batter at night by 9 pm and leave inside oven (turn off oven) and in the next day morning when i take it out my kitchen will be filled with a nice aroma.There will be bubbles on the surface and the batter will have risen.

Before making appam add the baking soda and mix well. If needed add some water to get a runny liquid stage.

Now heat the aappam pan and wipe a drop of coconut oil all over the pan by using a clean cloth.
Check the thickness of aappam batter now. It should be in the more thin in consistency than that of dosa batter.If not so add some coconut milk or water.
Pour onto griddle, heated medium to low, to form thick pancakes about 4 inches across. Then Shake the pan in a circular motion so that the flour spreads and expands along the edges.(If batter is too thick and does not spread, add a little more milk or water ). The cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat.I used to wait to hear a dropping sound of water(condensation of steam) .Now we can be sure that the aapam is cooked.Then by using a dosa spatula (dosa karandi) gently take out the aapam.

Serving suggestions:
Aapam goes fine with coconut milk.Take coconut milk 1/2 can and dilute it with equal amount of water.Spread 1 teaspoon sugar over aapam and add 2 tablespoon coconut milk over the aapam. Enjoy your aapam.
We get nearly 15 number of aapam. You can store the rest of the aapam batter in fridge and use it later if you dont need this much number of aapams.
Aappam can also be served with egg curry or chicken curry or channa dhal curry or  kadala curry or  sambar.

Aappam (Using rice flour) - perfect recipe

Traditionally these pancakes are cooked in a small wok shaped mud pan. Luckily we have non stick aapam pans now.The pan is swirled so that the cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. Its also called Lace aapam or palappam.It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat. Since most of us do not have access to grinders as in India , try this method of using rice flour instead of grinding the rice.

Appam is one of the delicacies made on Christmas or Easter morning.

 I personally like this recipe very much. I think this is my very own recipe for aappam. I use left over dosa batter to make aappam, by adding rice flour and yeast to it.
I am sure this recipe will give a  100% perfect aappam.

Fermented aappam mavu.

Ingredients:
rice flour - 2 cups.
rice flour - 1 tablespoon
tender coconut water- 1/2 cup (optional)
fresh grated coconut- 1/2 cup
yeast - 2 teaspoon
sugar - 2 tablespoons
urid dal - 2tsp,

salt - 1/4 tsp,
baking soda - 1/4 tsp. (optional : add just before making aapam)

For serving with aapam:
Sugar - 2 tsp for 1 aapam.
coconut milk - 1 cup,


Method:
Mix 1 tablespoon rice flour with 3/4 cup water and cook on stove until thick. Then allow it to cool.

Soak  urad dhal for 1 hour and grind with 1/2 cup shredded coconut to a fine paste.

In a large bowl, mix the cooked rice flour, rice flour, urid dal  paste,salt, tender coconut water, yeast, sugar to form a batter of thick pouring consistency (like idly batter consistency).

Keep it closed and place in a warm place for 6 hours. I used to make this batter at night by 9 pm and leave inside oven (turn off oven) and in the next day morning when i take it out my kitchen will be filled with a nice aroma.There will be bubbles on the surface and the batter would  have risen.

Now add the baking soda and mix well.

Now heat the aappam pan and wipe a drop of coconut oil all over the pan by using a clean cloth.

Check the thickness of aappam batter now. It should be in the more thin in consistency than that of dosa batter.If not so add some coconut milk or water.
 Pour 2 ladles of batter,keep heat at medium to low.
Then Shake the pan in a circular motion so that the flour spreads and expands along the edges.(If batter is too thick and does not spread, add a little more milk or water to the batter for the next aapams ). The cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat.
I wait to hear a dripping sound of water(condensation of steam) .Now we can be sure that the aapam is cooked.Then by using a dosa spatula or spoon gently take out the aapam.


Serving suggestions:
Aapam goes fine with coconut milk.Take coconut milk 1/2 can and dilute it with equal amount of water.Spread 2 teaspoon sugar over aapam and add 4 tablespoon coconut milk over the aapam. Enjoy your aapam.

We get nearly 15 number of aapam. If you dont need this much number of aapams you can store the left out aapam batter in fridge and use it later.

Aappam can also be served with egg curry or chicken curry or channa dhal curry or even sambar.

Note:
Instead of cooked rice flour + urid dal + coconut paste,   we can simply use 1 cup of left over dosa batter and coconut paste alone, for an easy version.