AAPAM

AAPAM

Aappam is a dish basically from Kerala yet known to all south Indians. It’s famous for its soft spongy texture and of course the sweet juicy taste of coconut.  There are quite a few ways to attain the required texture. You can add cooked rice or bread slices. You can also add some yeast to ferment.  The aapam comes good even if u don’t add aapa soda which some might not prefer due to health reasons…. Surprisingly I came to know you can also use Sooji. I got this tip from a chettinad chef. So here comes my yummy aapam in chettinad style. You can have it with coconut milk (mixed with sugar and cardamom powder) or tomato chutney or vadakari. If non vegetarian have it with mutton paya.

INGREDIENTS:

Sago	¼ cup
Coconut milk	1 cup (first milk)
Oil	As required
Cooking soda	A pinch
Salt	To taste
Fresh grated coconut                                                           ¼ cup

FOR BATTER:

Idly rice	1 cup
Raw rice	2 cup
Broken black gram	½ cup
Fenugreek	2 tsp

 METHOD:

• Wash the given ingredients under  ”for grind” together 2 – 3 times and soak in enough water for 4-5 hrs.
• Drain the water and grind them to dosa batter consistency. Add required salt and let it ferment overnight or 7 – 8 hrs.
• Cook sago in 2 cups of boiling water in a heavy bottomed pan. Stir continuously or else it will stick to the bottom and as well might form lumps.
• Now to the fermented batter add coconut milk, cooking soda, grated coconut and the cooked sago. Mix well.
• The batter should be thinner than dosa batter so add little water if required.
• Heat a aapa kadai. Add little oil and water and rotate the wok so it evenly coats the kadai.
• Now pour in 2 ladle full of batter and tilt the wok so that the batter spreads evenly.
• Cover with a lid for 2 – 3 minutes. The edges should be crisp and the centre should be soft and spongy.
• Serve hot.

NOTE :

• You can either add coconut milk or the grated coconut.  I added both for the richness and I love the sweet taste of it.
• As i said you can add cooked rice also. if so, make a paste of it and then mix with batter. similarly, if using bread wet it then squeeze out the water. Make a paste of it and mix it with the batter.