Appam -a South Indian Pancake

Appam, is a south Indian pancake. Its made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk. They derive their shape from the small Appachatti in which they are cooked.You don’t necessarily need the special pan and you can make do with a small wok or skillet They are fairly neutral in taste and mostly served with sweeten coconut milk  or curry. These appams are made from a batter using raw rice,cooked rice, coconut milk, yeast, salt and a little sugar.

Image below  : From right ,appam, rice,mutton varaval,sweeten coconut milk,sambar,cauliflower and potato masala and crispy fried okra.

1 cup raw rice

3-4  tbsp cooked rice

1 tbsp sugar

40gm grated coconut(white part only)

130ml luke warm water

¼ tsp dried yeast

125ml (1/2 cup) coconut milk

½ tsp salt

2 pinches of soda bicarbonate

  

Soak rice with water for at least 5 to 6 hrs. Drain.

Blend together , raw rice,cooked rice,grated coconut,dried yeast with lukewarm water until creamy .

Leave to ferment . Since the batter has been grinded with yeast with lukewarm water, it will rise within 3 to 4 hrs.

Heat a mini wok in low heat. I used a normal wok, if you have a non stick wok, would be better.For those who are making appam for the first time , using a non stick mini wok would be recommendable .

Grease the wok with oil.

Meanwhile, add in 125ml of coconut milk and bicarbonate soda into the batter.Mix thoroughly .

Pour about 1 ladleful (depending how large is ur ladle) and swirl around the wok ,and place the wok back on heat.Close with a lid and leave to cook. Usually the edges will start turning light brown within less than a minute.Lightly loosen the edges , make sure the centre hump portion is fully cooked before taking out.You can test by just pressing in the centre lightly with ur finger. One point that I would like to advise is in using center heated stove rather than the stove that has side heat.Use the smallest heat stove ,this will ensure  the appam will cook well in the center portion  while the side of the appam gets slightly brown.When using the stove that has larger heat, the sides cooks faster than the center ,and the sides might end up becoming too crisp!

A few points:

 Grease the wok each time before pouring the batter.

Stir the batter each time before pouring.

Wipe clean the lid each time before covering the wok. In between if there is steam on the lid, wipe clean and close back.

I usually prefer to take the wok from heat, pour the batter , give a swirl ,and then place back the wok onto the heat again.This way, I can control the heat of the steel wok ! Left over batter can be refrigerated. Serve with sweeten coconut milk or fish curry….or any gravy of ur choice ! I like to eat appam with sweet coconut milk.To make coconut milk , squeeze some thick coconut milk, heat for a few seconds and add in sugar and give a stir. Some don’t heat the milk but I prefer to heat it slightly! 

MALAYSIAN DELICACIES WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL 
MALAYALEES AROUND THE GLOBE