Most commonly served as a breakfast dish with coconut milk, appam has a soft center that absorbs the milk while its crisp edges give a slight crunch, making the dish irresistible.
Appam
Most commonly served as a breakfast dish with coconut milk, appam has a soft center that absorbs the milk while its crisp edges give a slight crunch, making the dish irresistible.
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw rice
- 2 cups idli rice or parboiled rice
- ½ cup urad dhal
- ½ cup aval (flattened rice)
- 2 tsp methi seeds
- salt to taste (I use 2 tsps)
Instructions
- Soak the raw rice and idli/parboiled rice together. Soak the urad dhal, methi seeds and aval in separate bowls. Soak everything for at least 2 hours.
- Add soaked methi seeds and the water used to soak them into a wet grinder. Grind until the methi seeds are flattened.
- Once the seeds are flattened, add urad dhal. Grind for 5 minutes.
- Then, add the soaked rice, aval and grind into a smooth batter by adding water as needed. The batter should be similar to the consistency of dosa batter.
- Add salt to the batter and mix well with your hands.
- Transfer the batter to a tall container. The container should be about ⅔ full.
- Ferment the batter for 7-8 hours or overnight. The batter should rise as it ferments.
- To make appam, take a spoonful of batter and pour over a hot appam pan.
- Rotate the pan to make a circle or flower shape.
- Cook on medium flame. Insert a toothpick into the center of the appam to check if it is cooked. The toothpick should come out clean.
- Serve hot with fresh coconut milk.
Notes
- To make coconut milk: Add 1 cup grated coconut, 2 cups warm water and 2 cardamom pieces to a blender. Blend until smooth and filter using a strainer. Add sugar as per taste to the coconut milk and serve. To make the coconut milk lighter, add cold whole milk as needed.
- See below for additional varieties or sides that go well with this dish.
