Apr 24, 2008

Appam - Stew- God's own Country's delicious Breakfast

Appam is getting ready in Appachatti



Appam (pronounced [apːam]), or hoppers, are a type of food in Sri Lankan and South Indian cuisine. It is called Aappam (ஆப்பம்) in Tamil Nadu. Appa is the singular of appam. It is eaten most frequently for breakfast.

Plain hoppers are bowl-shaped thin pancakes made from fermented rice flour. They derive their shape from the small appachatti in which they are cooked. They are fairly bland, and always served with a spicy accompliment. These hoppers are made from a batter using rice, yeast, salt and a little sugar. After the mixture has stood for a couple of hours, it can be fried in the appachatti with a little oil.


Ingredients for Appam

Raw Rice- 2 cups

Grated coconut – ½

Cooked rice- 1 tablespoon

Yeast solution

To prepare yeast solution

1 teaspoon dry yeast
Warm water -1/4 cup
Sugar – 1teaspoon

Mix sugar and warm water. Add yeast and keep aside for 10-15 minutes or until a froth appears on the surface. Mix well until sugar and yeast granules are dissolvedand well risen. Always use fresh yeast.

To prepare Appam batter

Grind raw rice, grated coconut and cooked rice together. Batter should not be too watery. You can add coconut water while grinding. Add yeast solution and mix it well. Keep aside for fermenting for 6- 8 hours or overnight. Appachatti is used to make Appam.
1, Heat non stick appachatty.

2, Grease the appachatty with little oil.

3, Pour one ladleful of appam batter to the appachatty.

4, Lift the pan ( from the stove ) and slightly twist around to spread the batter in the pan to make circular shape ( see the photos below ).

5, Close appachatty with a lid and cook on low heat till the edges are golden brown. When the Appam is ready the edges resemble crisp lace and centre soft . Traditionally this is eaten with Stew/ chicken curry / egg roast/ coconut milk/ sugar .
Appam batter






Recipe of Stew

You will need

Potato -2 , cut into cubes ( Microwave high for 3 minutes )

Onion – 2, cut into cubes

Ginger-1 inch piece, thinly sliced

Garlic- 10 cloves, sliced

Green chillies- 3 , cut lengthwise

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Salt – to taste

Cooking oil – 1teaspoon

Coconut milk- 2 cups of thin coconut milk and 1 cup thick coconut milk.

Method

Heat oil in Kadai. Add onion, fry until the onion start turning brown. Add ginger, garlic, curry leaves and green chillies. Saute for 5 minutes. Add potato , thin coconut milk and salt . Cook on a slow fire for another 15 minutes. Finally add thick coconut milk and mix it well. Serve with Appam. It's a favorite breakfast dish of all Keralites also popular in Srilanka .



2 comments:

Meera said...

Appam looks lovely. I have nonstick appam chetti that helps me making this appam. can't make it in a simple kadai as it gets stuck.

Shabri said...

Looks delicious. What's the difference between thin and thick coconut milk? Where I live I get only one kind of coconut milk, sold in a can.