Appam!

The classic Kerala food because of which the world forgives us so many of our faults :)

This is my mother's recipe (there are mild variations from house to house) she makes excellent appams - and I have added my own modifications to it.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup uncooked rice
2. 1 cup cooked rice (or 1 cup paper avalakki (beaten rice/poha/aval) moistened with water - this is my experiment - and turned out successful - made the appams crispier, see photo. To balance, you could add half a cup cooked rice and half a cup poha)
3. 1 cup coconut grating (this is half a coconut)
4. Yeast - 5-7 grains
5. Coconut water (optional) My mother stores coconut water in a bottle each time she breaks a coconut, and stores it in the fridge.

Procedure: The Soaking and Grinding

1. Soak the uncooked rice in water and leave it for 8 hours. I usually do this in the night so that I grind in the morning. In winter I keep it for fermenting during the day. Sona Masoori works fine.
2. Then grind the soaked rice, cooked rice/avalakki, and coconut gratings in a grinder. If you have coconut water, add it while grinding. Grind in a mixie if you are using these measurements - one cup rice is too little for a 2 kilo wet grinder. In the mixie it may not come as smooth, but it is okay if the batter is slightly grainy.
3. Heat a little bit of water - and when it is lukewarm, add a few grains of yeast into it - around 5-7 grains will do.
4. When the mixture is well ground to a smooth paste, transfer it in a big open-mouthed vessel, leaving enough space for the batter to rise.
5. Now add the yeast to it, a spoon of sugar and salt and mix real well.
6. Cover the vessel with a thin cloth (old tee shirts are ideal) and leave it to ferment in a warm place, for 8 hours. I usually keep the vessel on the top of my fridge stabilizer, just like I do with dosa batter - remains warm throughout. The other option - heat a glass of water in the microwave/oven, take it out, switch off, and keep the batter inside, open. The steam inside keeps it warm for a while. I did this twice for the appam in the photo, morning and evening, because it was made on a winter day.
   When the batter is ready and smells fermented (that slight toddy smell!), stir well and make sure it's pouring consistency, more watery than dosa batter. Add salt to taste.

Procedure: The Making of the Appam

1. Now heat the non-stick appam pan, the deep one as in the picture (ask for Appam Pan at the shop). Pour a deep-spoon-full of batter into the center when it is hot and the steam has started to come.
2. Take the pan off the fire immediately and twirl the batter around until it spreads in a circle, evenly - see picture. I didn't want that thick soft center - if you want that, add more batter so that some of it will flow down to the center. If the pan is too hot, this mix won't spread, if it's not hot enough, all the batter will flow to the center without cooking.
3. Cover and cook. If your pan's non-stick is not working too well, cure the pan in the beginning by adding a little oil, heating the pan and draining off the oil.
4. Take the appam out when the edges start to brown.

See also Vegetable Stew - that's what goes best with this!

Vegetable Stew

This goes best with appams, but tastes great with just bread too. And it's one of those put-everything-together-and-boil recipes - and absolutely no oil! If you have tinned coconut milk, then even a child can make this so easily :)

Ingredients

1. Potatoes - 3 - small chunks
2. Carrots - 2 - small chunks (will take longer to cook, the bigger they are)
3. Green chillies - 3 or 4 (the coconut milk tones down the chilly a lot - some people add whole pepper in this dish if they want it spicier)
4. Ginger - one big piece, you can just crush and add
5. Curry leaves - a stalk
6. Coconut milk - from one coconut. You could just use canned coconut milk instead, thin it with water. You can add the thicker milk at the end to give it the desired consistency. (To make coconut milk, the hard way - :) - scrape coconut, add to mixie jar with water and extract milk. The first time, the milk will be thicker, keep it aside. Then add more water and repeat - the second milk is what you use to cook the vegetables.)

Procedure

1. Very simple! Add the following in a deep vessel - potatoes, carrots, chillies, ginger, curry leaves - and add enough second coconut milk to submerge them all.
2. Cook! Add salt after a while when the veggies are half cooked.
3. In the end, when vegetables are cooked, add a bit of the first milk - this is just to thicken the gravy.
4. You can also use the leftover first milk to pour over the appam - delicious!

See also Appam recipe.