Appam

This is another breakfast item from the God’s own country – Kerala. It has been a favorite of mine from my childhood days. I still remember my mother swirling the kadai to spread the batter over in the form of a boat that’s what we used to call it when we were young. A very simple and easy dish which is a little sinful if you add coconut milk to it – but what is an appam without coconut milk in it. So let’s forget the sin and enjoy this steamed delight. To make this dish you need an “Appachetti” however if you are first time user just use the smallest of the small kadai you have with you. In fact you could try using the garnishing spoon too I have tried it once it worked well.
You need the following for the Appam batter
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Boiled Rice – 1 cup
Urad dal – ½ cup
Methi – 1 tsp.

Wash well and soak all the above mentioned ingredients for 8 – 10 hours ideally overnight. Grind all of them into a smooth batter. Add salt to taste and allow it to ferment for another 8 – 10 hours. The batter is now ready for use.

Method
Take the required quantity of the batter and add ½ to 1 cup of coconut milk to it along with a pinch of cooking soda. Mix well and check the consistency. Rest the batter for 5 minutes. Heat the appa chatti and add around 2 – 3 big spoonfuls of the batter in the centre. Take the chatti off the fire and swirl it till the batter is spread evenly across all the walls of the chatti. The excess batter would seat itself in the centre of the appam automatically. So this portion would be heavier and spongier than the rest of the appam. This swirling is important since the appam will take the form of the chatti or kadai which you would be using. Cover it with a lid and allow it to cook. It would take roughly 3 – 5 minutes per appam. Open the lid and check if the centre is done. Then the appam is ready to serve. The appam is typically served with stew, payaru curry, kadala curry and of course coconut milk.