Appam (Rice flour Pancake - Kerala Cuisine)

No Kerala style stew is complete without appams. It must be a torture to both stew and the appam. It must be like pulling the twins aparts. It's like asking you to chose between Tiramisu and Trifle Pudding! That's quite dramatic, isn't it!! Having watched Bollywood all my life, you couldn't expect any lesser! :) But that also means I just love eating hot appams with this nice flavorful stew! Appams (Plain hoppers) are nothing but pancakes made from riceflour and coconut milk with a spongy center. They are nice, sweet, succulent and crispy, all at the same time. 

And yeah, there is another version! If you are a bulls-eye or sunny-side-up lover, then Mutta- Appam (Egg Hopper) is your kind of thing. You have the egg broken right in the centre of the appam. Nothing like alternating between dipping your appam into stew and an egg!


Treat your friends to a nice dinner from 'God's Own Country - Kerala'!

You need:

Rice Flour - 2 cups

Rapid Rise Highly Active Yeast – 1 tsp

Sugar – 3 tbsp

Rava/ Semolina – 2 tbsp

Thick Coconut Milk – 1/2 to 1 Cup (I use Thai brand canned coconut milk)

Water – As needed

Salt – 1 tsp 

Preparing the batter:

1. First you need to make the rava paste. This is the only step that requires any work at all, rest all is just mixing the ingredients. For making rava paste, take 2 cups of water and 2 Tbsp of rava in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil stirring continuously and then boil it on simmer flame till it is reduced to almost half. Stir continuously so that the rava doesn’t lump up or stick to the base.  When the mixture changes to a thick paste, almost to the consistency of custard or porridge, remove it from heat and allow it to cool completely.
2. In a large bowl (since it will rise to almost double when fermented) combine rice flour, sugar, cooled rava paste, rapid rise yeast along with 1/2 cup coconut milk and salt. Add around 1/2 to 1 cup water or more and whisk everything to form a smooth and thick batter. The batter should be thick because after fermentation it will rise and become thinner in consistency.
3. Leave the batter in a warm place for around 3-4 hours and allow it to ferment. I prefer to pre-heat the oven to the 150 F for 5 min and switch off the oven. Then place the bowl with batter in the oven and keep the door closed. 
4. Once the batter is ready, adjust the consistency by adding water. It should be similar to that of a dosa batter. 

Making the appams:

1. Heat a non stick pan on medium flame. The pan should be slightly deep in the center. Like a small non-stick kadhai. 
2. Pour ladle full of batter into pan and swirl the pan lightly, spreading batter to the sides of the pan. And a little should batter should be left to collect in the center of the pan. 
3. Cover with lid and allow it to cook for around 3 minutes on medium heat. When the center of appam is done (basically the entire appam should be spongy and not have any white uncooked patch) and the edges start detaching, remove the appam carefully from the pan. There is no need to flip it to the other side to cook or brown.  If you like your appams more crispy and golden brown, add a little more sugar to the batter.
4. To make mutta-appam (egg appam), just break and egg in the centre of the appam once it has been cooked for a while and the centre is a little firm. You need the center of the appam to be cooked a little so as to not get have a puddle of batter uncooked beneath the egg. It's like serving an egg sunny side up in the center of an appam!

* I use Fleischman Rapid Rise Yeast for quicker fermentation. If you are using Ordinary Active Dry Yeast, then mix the yeast in lukewarm water (105 F-115 F) with 1 tsp of sugar. Keep it aside for 7-10 min. till the mixture gets frothy. Make sure the water is not too hot as it will kill the yeast and the fermentation will not happen in 3-4 hours. If such a thing does happen, just let it ferment naturally for 9-10 hrs in a warm place.

 **As always, I insist, please use a whisk to make the batter. It will lump-free with no effort at all! :)