Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • 1½ Cup Raw Rice
  • 1½ Cup Idli Rice
  • ⅛ Cup Urad Dal
  • 1 tsp Methi Seeds
  • ¼ Cup Poha / Cooked Rice
  • 1 tsp Sugar
  • Salt (As Required)
  • 1 Generous Pinch Cooking Soda

Instruction

  • 1.To a bowl, add 1 and 1/2 cups of raw rice.
  • Then, add 1 and 1/2 cups of idli rice. If you do not have idli rice, you can use raw rice itself, Sona masoori or ponni works well.
  • In a separate bowl, add 1/8 cup of urad dal.
  • To the urad dal, add 1 tsp of methi seeds or vendhayam.
  • Rinse and soak everything for 4 to 5 hours. I used 1/2 cup of leftover rice (soaked in water). But leftover cooked rice can be replaced with the same quantity of poha or flattened rice or aval.
  • After 4 hours, drain the water completely from the rice and urad dal. You can grind in a grinder or in a mixie, but I used a grinder. First, add the urad dal and methi seeds.
  • Grind it smoothly, by adding 1//8 cup of water. Then, transfer the ground urad dal batter to a tall vessel.
  • Now, add the raw rice, idli rice, and the leftover cooked rice. Grind it for 15 to 20 minutes, just add about 3/4 cup of water, the batter should be very smooth. It should be thinner than idli batter, but do not add more water and make the batter watery.
  • Now pour the ground rice batter into the urad dal batter. Add required salt, 1 tsp of sugar, and mix well. Cover it with a lid and let it ferment for 8 hours or overnight.
  • After fermentation, the batter would have become frothy and almost doubled. Add a generous pinch of cooking soda just before making the appam. Don't add too much cooking soda as it will lead to appam stick to the pan.
  • Mix well and if required adjust the batter with little water (free pouring consistency). The consistency of the batter should be slightly thinner than dosa batter.
  • Heat an appam pan and pour 1 ladle full of the batter. Hold the two sides of the pan and rotate in a circular motion to make a circle, leaving little batter still in the middle. The center part of appam should be thick and the sides should be thin and lacy. If preferred, drizzle 1 tsp of oil around the appam (if you use oil before, then the batter will not spread evenly) and cover it with a lid. Keep the flame low to medium. Cook till its bottom turns light golden brown and the edges turn crispy.
  • If you want soft, white-colored appam, remove it before the edges turn crispy. Do the same with the remaining batter.Serve this Kerala Appam Recipe with Homemade Coconut Milk or Kadala Curry.