Aapam

Appam  is the Queen of Kerala. It is a fermented flat bread made out of rice and coconut. In tamil, it is known as 'Aappam'. The Srilankan's prefer to call it as ' appa ' or ' hopper ' . Appam is specially popular among the Syrian christians of Kerala.

There are so many types of Appam are there , like palappam, velayappam, kallappam, vatayappam and so on....

Here is some classification to appam - but the nomenclature will differ from person to person

Palappam : It is made by grinding rice and mixing with yeast and coconut milk.

Kallappam : Traditionally made using toddy but people substitute it with yeast. It is made by grinding rice, grated coconut, shallots and cumin seeds.

Velayappam : It's more or less like Palappam - batter is made by grinding together grated coconut and rice. coconut milk is not used.

Appam : The simplest of all which is made using rice flour, yeast and coconut milk.

Preparation time : 1 day + 5 mins
Serves : 2

Ingredients :

Raw rice : 1 cup
Grated coconut : 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup (fresh/ frozen/ dessicated coconut)
Yeast : 1/4 tsp
Salt : 1/2 tsp
Sugar : 1/2 tsp
Milk : 1/4 cup

Method :

Wash and soak raw rice for 4 to 5 hours.
Grind the rice together with grated coconut till you get a smooth paste.
Take the batter into a bowl.
Take a small bowl , and add some milk to it, warm it up (not heating , just warming), add yeast , sugar and salt to it. Mix it and leave it for 10 mins. you will get foam/ froth on top after 10 mins, mix it and add this mixture to the batter.
If required - add little milk at a time to get the batter with pouring consistency.
Leave batter in dark place for 8 to 10 hours (or over night) and let it ferment.
When you are ready to make Appam's, heat appam kadhai on medium heat, when hot pour the batter with a ladle in centre and then quickly rotate/ swirl the pan to spread the batter thinly through out the pan.
(what has not stuck to the walls of the pan should pool in the middle or bottom -- Appam should look like a bowl with thick bottom)

Cover the pan and cook for 2 to 3 mins or until the appam is golden and crispy on its edges and fluffy at the bottom.
Gently run a spatula under the appam to release it from the pan.
Serve hot.
Enjoy your dish with egg fry or with any gravy curry.

You can even make this appam on a flat tawa or pan i.e similar to dosa tawa or you can make appam in palappam chatti (deep round pan)

This is how appam chatti/ appam khadai / appam pan is like.....

This is the appam pan with lid.

Thank you , do post your comments !!!