Aappam Recipe - How to make Appam without Yeast

Aappam Recipe. Appam is a a favorite breakfast of Tamilnadu and Kerala. Its known as hoppers in Srilanka as well. Its vegan, gluten free and makes a wholesome breakfast when served with vegetable stew, sweetened cardamom flavoured coconut milk and coconut chutney.

Traditionally, aappams are made without yeast. Back then, people had no access to yeast , be it dry or fresh. But instead of that, “Kallu” was added. “Kallu” is “Palm Wine” that is extracted from the sap of the palm tree is added to the batter to make it ferment well.

Since “Kallu” has been prohibited now, you can also use fresh “Padhaneer” sediments as a replacement. The calcium present in the padhaneer will make the appam look like a white cloud with pores, with the edges crisp and the centre soft and spongy. The aroma itself will be very distinct.

Once again the Appam pan that was traditionally used were made of Cast Iron or a typical “Illupa Chatti” was used to cook appams over wood fire. The texture and the aroma is incomparable to the ones that are cooked now-a-days using non stick pans and over gas fire. No matter how well you do it, there can be no comparison at all.

Appam happens to be my most favorite Sunday holiday breakfast during my childhood. All the grandchildren will look forward to have them piping hot with a generous helping of fresh sweetened coconut milk poured over the appams and then we all will head to the weekly “Sandhai”.

Only the fresh grated coconut and freshly extracted coconut milk will do for making appams. Though store bought coconut milk in cartons can be used, I will not recommend it and you are hugely missing out on the whole experience of enjoying appams. If you think its a lot of work to make homemade coconut milk, its very if you check out this video.

Homemade Coconut Milk Video:

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These are typical Appams that are made across Tamilnadu and it totally differs from the “Palappam” that is made in Kerala. If you do not have appam pan or a deep kadai, use regular dosa tawa. Just swirl the tawa to spread the batter on its own instead of spreading it with a ladle. Cook covered with a lid to make appam without an appam pan.

Normally I will grind the freshly grated coconut along with rice while grinding the batter. But after my friend J’s suggestion to make whiter appams, I have been adding coconut milk to the batter instead of grinding it. Though both methods are good to follow.

Aappam Recipe details below:

Aappam Recipe - How to make Appam without Yeast

Radhika

Appam recipe without yeast served for breakfast.

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Soaking Time 5 hrs

Total Time 45 mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine South Indian

Servings 15 appams

Ingredients

  

• Raw rice – 1 cup
• Idli Rice - 1 cup
• Fresh coconut milk - 1 cup
• Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
• Urad dal – ½ tsp
• Salt – little
• Sugar – 4 tsp optional

Instructions

 

• Take raw rice, idli rice, fenugreek, urad dal in a bowl.
• Wash and soak in enough water for 4 to 5 hours.
• Using either a wet grinder or mixie jar, add the drained soaked ingredients and adding water little by little, grind to a very thick paste or batter. Transfer into a bowl.
• Add salt, fresh coconut milk and mix into a batter.
• Close the bowl and let it ferment overnight.
• The next day, add sugar and if the batter is very thick, add little water to adjust the consistency, so that it resembles dosa batter.
• Mix well and let it rest for 5 to 10 mins for the sugar to dissolve.
• Pour a ladle full of appam batter in an Aappa Chatti or a deep kadai and swirl the pan around for the batter to spread evenly.Do not spread it using a ladle.
• You can see the pores appearing on the surface. The edges will be thin and the excess batter will come to the centre to form a small lump.
• Drizzle some oil around it and close it with a lid. Cook over medium flame for 1 to 2 minute.
• Open the lid and you can see the edges pulling. Gently peel the appam from the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Proceed with the remaining batter.
• Serve aappam hot with vegetable stew, sweetened coconut milk or coconut chutney.

Notes

Prep time does not include time taken for overnight fermentation of batter.