Appam is a type of pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut. It is a common food in Kerala. Since I am from a place, which is very near Kerala, it is quite common in our home too. During Christmas and Easter, mom usually make appam with mutton or chicken curry for breakfast.
The appam recipe which we follow is not the traditional Kerala appam. But it is similar to that and it tastes equally good. My mom in-law makes perfect spongy appam and this is her recipe. I have also mentioned few tips which I got it from her to make this appam. Every weekend I grind both Idli Dosa batter and Appam batter. I will preserve it for a week in fridge. Here, we go for the detailed recipe:
Ingredients:For the Appam Batter:
Raw Rice - 3 Cups
Cooked & Cooled Rice - 1.5 Cups(check notes)
Grated Coconut - 1.5 Cup
Coconut Water - 1.5 Cup(Optional)
Salt - as required
To Make Appam(approximately 10):
Appam Batter - 8 big laddle
Aappam Soda/Baking soda - a pinch(Optional)
Sour Idi Dosa Batter - 1 big laddle(check notes)
Water - as required
Method:
To make Appam Batter:
- Soak raw rice for 2.5 to 3 hours.
- Once it is soaked, drain the water and keep it aside.
- Initially add the coconut in the grinder and allow it to grind for few minutes. (You can also grind this coconut in mixie and add it with the rice while grinding in grinder)
- Now add the drained rice in the grinder, grind it by adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water.
- Sprinkle water now and then. Add the cooked rice at this stage.
- Grind the rice and coconut mixture together to a smooth fine paste. The batter should be like paint.
- Transfer the batter to a container and add required salt.
- Add coconut water(if using) and mix it once. Allow it to ferment for 10 to 12 hours. Now the batter is ready to make appam.
1. In a bowl take the required amount of appam batter, add a ladle of idli dosa batter and a pinch of baking soda. The batter should be in pouring consistency, so add water if required. Now heat the non-stick appam pan and pour a ladle full of batter in the centre of the pan.
2. By holding the sides of the pan, swirl the pan such that the batter spreads outwards. The remaining batter will be in the middle. Hence the appam is thick in the middle and lacy towards the end. Cover it with the lid and cook it for 2 minutes. Now the appam is ready. Remove it from the pan and place it in the serving plate.
Appam goes well with many gravies like chicken curry, mutton curry, egg curry, kondakadala curry and so on. You can also serve it with coconut milk and sugar.
- If you don't have cooked rice, then you can replace it with Idli rice. Soak 1 cup of Idli rice along with the raw rice and grind it together.
- Urad dal can be added to make the appam softer. Just soak 1/4 cup urad dal along with the rice and grind it together.
- I have used sour Idli dosa batter to make the appam soft and hence I have not added urad dal.
- I collect the coconut water whenever I break the coconut and store it in the fridge. While grinding the appam batter, I use it. It helps the batter to ferment.
- The sour coconut water can give spongy appam. So, I skip baking soda if my batter has coconut water added to it.
- Coconut water can also be replaced with tender coconut water.
Happy's Cook - Divya
i always do without this urad dal or idli batter and always felt somethign was missing.... will try this now :)
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