| Spongy appams with sweetened coconut milk |
Appam is a spongy and lacy pancake prepared with fermented rice batter. It is a popular breakfast in Kerala . Appam is made in a special pan called "appachatti". Appam is usually served with sweetened coconut milk, kurma or stew. This is Kerala Style of making appams.
- 1 cup Rice (mavu arisi or raw rice)
- 1 cup Grated coconut (loosely packed)
- 1/4 tsp Instant yeast
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Salt or as needed
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Wash and soak rice for 6-7 hours.
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Grind rice and coconut to a smooth paste.
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Take a ladle of the ground batter, mix it well with a cup of water.
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Cook that on low heat stirring continuously, until it becomes like a porridge. Let it cool completely.
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Grind this porridge with a little rice+coconut batter.
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Then mix it with the rest of the batter. The consistency of the batter should not be too thick nor too thin.
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Add sugar, yeast and little salt. Mix well and leave it to ferment for 5 hours.
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Mix the fermented batter well.
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Heat an appam pan. Sprinkle little water and check if it is hot enough. If it makes a sizzling sound, the pan is hot enough to make appams.
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Pour a ladle of appam batter. Hold the handle with your hands and rotate the pan in a circular motion.
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Then put it back on the stove. When you find holes forming on the corners/sides, reduce the heat to low and cook covered.
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Once cooked remove the appams with the help of a spatula and serve hot with any stew or sweetened coconut milk.
Recipe Video
Check the video for 2 methods of making appams.
Preparation
Grind rice and coconut to a smooth paste. (you can grind it in mixie also)
Take a ladle of the ground batter, mix it well with a cup of water.
Cook that on low heat stirring continuously, until it becomes like a porridge. Let it cool completely.
Grind this porridge with a little rice+coconut batter.
Then mix it with the rest of the batter. The consistency of the batter should not be too thick nor too thin.
Add sugar, yeast and little salt. Mix well and leave it to ferment for another 5-6 hours.
Picture below shows appam batter before and after fermentation. Mix the batter well.
Method
Heat an appam pan. Sprinkle little water and check if it is hot enough. If it makes a sizzling sound, the pan is hot enough to make appams.
Pour a ladle of appam batter. Hold the handle with your hands and rotate the pan in a circular motion.
Then put it back on the stove. When you find holes forming on the corners/sides, reduce the heat to low and cook covered.
Once cooked remove the appams with the help of a spatula and serve hot with any side dish mentioned below.
Some side dish for appams
Potato stew (coming soon)
Any spicy non veg gravy
View Comments (22)
I am sorry I didn't understand your recipe...why do you cook batter like porridge????
To get spongy appams. You will be mixing just 1 ladle of batter with water and cook to a porridge consistency. After it cools completely, we have to mix it with the rest of the batter. Another variation is adding cooked rice but I found this better and it always gives me spongy and soft appams.
perfect and delicious..
Is yeast compulsory or optional
You can add baking soda instead. You can also try the tip given by Sandhya Sebastian in the comment below. I will also try that.
Hi Iam from Kerala. Your recipe is good. Usually I follow the same method. But instead of yeast I use 'pulimavu'(take 2 teaspoons of fermented appam batter and mix it well with half teaspoon sugar and keep it refrigerated). Use this 'pulimavu' for fermenting the batter and you will get soft and spongy appam. You can keep the refrigerated 'pulimavu' for weeks.
Thank you Sandhya for this nice tip. I will try this for sure next time.
How much pulimav should we use in the above recipe instead of yeast?
Just a tsp of pulimavu. If you add pulimavu, you do not have to add yeast or baking soda.
What is mavu arisi?you mean raw rice flour or any specific rice...
It is a variety of rice. It is easily available in Tamil Nadu. If you cannot get that, you can use idli rice.
I use raw rice/sona masoori and comes out good.
I use raw rice/sona masoori and comes out good.
Hi dear. I am a great admirer of your blog. So helpful it is. Thank you so much... Hats off to you ... Great work too. I have tried so many recepies from this blog and they have come out so well too. Thank you so much again. I have 3 doubts regarding appams.
1. idly rice for this style will come out soft ?
2. Can I use the normal idly batter and continue Kerala style appams jus with kanji , coconut milk and yeast ?
3. Both Kerala style and tamilnadu style use coconut milk for appams. What's the difference ?. Raw rice is mandatory ?
Thank you for liking my blog and recipes. Regarding your doubts
1. You can use idli rice but I use mavu arisi (a variety of rice) for appams.
2. You cannot use idly batter and make appams
3. Adding Coconut milk not only gives soft appams but also very delicious and flavorful appams.
Thank you so much... Thanks a lot.
Hi Padhu,
Can we use store bought coconut milk?
Yes, you can.
Shelf Life for this batter??
You can refrigerate it for 1-2 days. Not more than that.
First time my appam came right thanks to this recipe! It was delicious and we did not get enough! Planning to make more next time. I made with local Walmart Great Value enriched white rice.
For 4 people, how many appams does this recipe make?