Appam with Mutta Roast / Lacy Pancakes with Egg Roast

Appam or Vellayappam or Palappam as it is called is a famous breakfast item of Kerala. This is usually had with Chicken Ishtu (stu) or Nadan Chicken Varutharacha Curry or with egg roast. It is a must try combination. The lacy appam and the masala egg roast is something everyone who comes to visit Kerala are on the look out for. 

APPAM

INGREDIENTS

Serves 6

Short grain rice - 4 cups * see note 1

Coconut - 1 medium size

Cooked Boiled Rice - 1 1/2 cup

Dry active Yeast- 2 tsp

Sugar - 4 tsp* see note 2

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Water - 3 cups + more to make thin batter* see note 3

Gingelly oil - to smear on the appa chatti (cast iron kadai)* see note 4

Cast iron appam chatti/wok

METHOD

• Soak rice for 1 hour and strain.
• Grate the coconut. In a grinder, grind the coconut and cooked rice together for 15 minutes.
• Add the rice to the ground mixture. Grind till very fine.
• When the batter is almost done add the yeast and sugar. Grind for another minute.
• Let it ferment for 4 hours or till the batter has risen and turns frothy.* see note 5
• Heat the cast iron appam chatti or wok on high flame. Smear it with little oil.
• Lower the flame. Pour a laddle (almost 1/2 cup) of batter into the wok. Tilt the wok all around so that the batter coats in a round shape and the rest of the batter settles in the center.
• Cook on high flame for 5 seconds and then lower the flame. Cover and cook till the rim turns golden and starts leaving the sided. Gently lift the appam and place it on a plate.

EGG ROAST

INGREDIENTS
Eggs - 5 hard boiled and shelled

Onion - 3 1/2 cup thinly sliced, tightly packed
Garlic- 6 cloves thinly sliced
Ginger - 1 " piece finely chopped
Tomatoes - 2 medium size
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
Coconut Oil - 3 tbsp

Coriander Powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Chilly Powder - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Salt - as required

METHOD

• Heat oil in a cast iron skillet. Add onions and saute till slightly browned. * see note 7,8
• Tip in the garlic and ginger. Continue to saute in medium flame.
• Thinly slice the tomatoes and add them along with curry leaves to the onion mixture. Saute till the tomatoes are half cooked.
• In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients along with some water to make a paste. 
• Add the masala paste to the onion mixture. Saute for 1 minute. Reduce flame to low.
• Meanwhile cut the eggs into half. Separate the egg whites from the yolk. * see note 9
• Add the egg whites to the masala and coat the eggs with the masala.
• Continue to cook for another 1 minute on low.
• Serve it with appams or rotis.

Cooking tips:

1. You can use raw rice. I used short grain rice(ghee rice/neychottari).
2. Before making appam you can add more sugar if you like the appams to be a bit sweet.
3. The batter has to be in a runny consistency.
4. Any oil can be used but gingelly oil is the best for cast iron woks. If you are using a non stick appam maker then there is no need to smear oil.
5. The time taken for the batter to rise and turn frothy will depend on the climate. In warm weather it will ferment faster. Keep the batter in a warm place.
6. Cast iron appam chatti or wok is the best to get the right texture of the appam. It has a round deep bottom which helps in getting the nice lace. 
7. Saute the onions on high flame. Keep stirring.
8. You can reduce the oil used to 2 tbsp if you are using a non stick pan.
9. Usually the eggs are halved and served but in my house we avoid the egg yolk for health reasons.
10. Keep stirring so that the mixture does not stick to the bottom.

Sending this post to the Kerala Kitchen Event hosted by The Cooking Doctor

Puttu and Kadala / Steamed Rice Funnel Cake with Garbanzo Curry

It feels so nice to be back after a break. Everyone is busy with summer vacation and celebrating festivals. In Kerala, we celebrated Vishu (New Year as per Malayalam calender) on April 14th. It is so much fun with family and to see the sky lit with crackers. The Vishu Kani and the saddya (the feast) are the main highlights.

This post is about one of the famous Kerala breakfast which is common in every Kerala household. It is prepared minimum once a week in our house. There are so many varieties of puttu we make - Rice Puttu, Ragi Puttu, Irachi Puttu, Chemeen (Prawns Puttu) and Chiratta Puttu. There are many more varieties easily available in the market these days.

Rice Puttu

You will require:

Puttu Maker

Rice Flour - 2 cups

Scraped Coconut - 1 cup

Water - as required (approx 1 cup)

Salt - as per taste

METHOD

In a bowl tip in the measured puttu powder.Add salt to 1 cup of water and wet the puttu powder. 

Sprinkle water in small quantities to the rice flour and mix till you reach breadcrumbs consistency. It should not be too dry. The right consistency is reached when you press little flour in your fist and it  forms a shape and not crumble off. 

Keep approximately 2 cups water to boil in the puttu maker. By the time the water boils fill the puttu candles. First add 1 tablespoon of scraped coconut at the bottom of the puttu candle. Make alternating layers of coconut  and rice flour till you fill it up. 
When steam starts coming out of the puttu vessel/ pani place the puttu candle on the steamer and steam it (appox 5minutes) on high flame. The steam will start coming out from the top of the puttu candle. When the steam starts coming out well, continue to cook for 2 minutes on low flame.

Switch off the flame and wait for 2 minutes before you  use a skewer and push out the steaming puttu to a plate. *(note 6)
Serve hot with Kadala Curry / Sugar & Banana/ Stu

To make puttu flour at home:

Using raw rice: Soak raw rice for 1 hour. Drain away water well using a strainer.Then powder it in a dry mixer(no water at all). Do not powder it too fine.Fry the powder in a thick bottom pan for about 10-15 minutes till the vapour starts coming up. When you lift the powder with a ladle it should fall off easily and not stick to the laddle. Make sure you keep stirring. Remove from stove and let cool. This is very important before you store it.Transfer it to an airtight container and use when required. It can be stored for about 2 weeks.
Using boiled rice: With boiled rice  the puttu turns very soft. For this you need to soak for 1/2 hour maximum or only until the rice still breaks when you bite it. It should not get soaked more. Then dry it on a muslin cloth. And follow the same procedure as above.

To make puttu without a puttu maker:

Method 1:
In the olden days this method was used to make puttu. You will need a small round vessel with small opening ( as big as a coconut shell) and a coconut shell preferably a big one. Clean the outer surface of the shell well. There are 3 eye like black spots on the shell. Make 3 holes there. Then place another small round piece of shell at the bottom inside so that the rice flour does not fall off. Tie a piece of cloth at the lower sides of the shell so that the steam does not escape.Then follow the layering process with scraped coconut and rice flour. Heat water in the vessel. When the water starts to boil place the shell with the filling and close it with a lid or another coconut shell.This is called chiratta puttu. You will not get the funnel shape but you can enjoy the tasty puttu. 

Method 2:
You will need a round vessel, 2 thin sticks (as long as the diameter of the vessel), 2 muslin cloth or thin cotton cloth,a lid. Fill 3 cups of water in the vessel.Tie one muslin cloth on the top of the vessel. Place the sticks diagonally to form a cross '+'.  Tie it together at the centre.Place the other cloth on top of this. Slowly push the cloth down to make 4 dips. Fill the puttu mix and the coconut as per the procedure above. Place the vessel on the stove on high flame. Close it with a lid. Cook and enjoy the puttu. 

Kadala Curry/ Garbanzo Curry

INGREDIENTS
Kadala/ Garbanzo / Black Chickpeas - 2 cups
Onion - 3 (thinly sliced)
Chilly - 3
Tomato - 1
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Small Coconut pieces/ Thenga Kothu - 3 tbsp
Chicken Masala - 1 tsp (optional) 
Mutton Masala - 1 tsp (optional)
Coconut Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Water - as required

For masala
Scraped Coconut - from 1 1/2 coconut 
Coriander Powder- 3 tbsp
Curry Leaves - 5 sprigs
Clove - 4
Cinnamon - 2 '' piece
Fennel Seeds/ Perum jeerakam - 2 tbsp
Mace/ Jathipathri - 1

METHOD
Wash, pick stones and soak chickpeas overnight or about 6 hours.
In a cooker add coconut oil. When warm add onions, chilly and saute slightly.
Add chopped tomatoes and the chickpeas.
Add water about 1inch above the level of the chickpeas.
Add 1/2 tsp salt. Close and pressure cook till soft and well cooked. (Approx 4 whistles).
In a thick bottomed kadai fry the scraped coconut along with 5 sprigs curry leaves.
Fry till golden brown in colour. Switch off the flame and add the rest of the ingredients for the masala - coriander powder, clove, cinnamon, jathipathri and fennel seeds.
Grind the masala into a fine paste in a grinder.
When the chickpeas is cooked add the ground masala.
Add the chicken and mutton masala. Check salt.
Fry the coconut pieces in oil. Add it to the chickpeas masala.
Serve hot with puttu, pathiri or appam.

Cooking tips:

1. Mix the rice flour with water for approx 5 minutes to get the desired consistency.
2. For making soft puttu keep aside the mixture for 30 minutes. Then before making puttu sprinkle more water to the mix if it has become too dry.
3. The amount of coconut depends on the size of the puttu maker and how many layers you want :) The first layer has to be coconut. 
4. Once the steam starts coming out of the puttu maker reduce the flame to low. Continue to cook the puttu for 2 minutes.
5. You can also mix little coconut in the rice flour. 
6. It is recommended that you wait for sometime before transfering the puttu as it may crumble. 
7. The cooking time of the chickpeas may vary. Check after 4 whistles. If it's not cooked you will need to cook again till soft but not mushy.

Sending this recipe to Kitchen Chronicles event by Saras

Tyre Pathiri / Thick Flat Rice Bread Cooked On Cast Iron Skillet

I had earlier posted about Neypathiri. Here is a different pathiri /flat rice bread called the Tyre Pathiri. It is so called because it looks like a vehicle tyre(very thick).

Usually you will see a smaller version of this but this tyre pathiri is a Wyanad special.

It’s easy to make and yummy too.

It is cooked on large caste iron skillet usually on firewood. But as we do not have firewood I have made it on a gas stove.

INGREDIENTS

Recipe Source: My mom

Matta (Boiled Red) Rice – 2 glasses

Salt                                  - As required

METHOD

Soak rice for 2-3 hours.

Grind it with very little water in a thick consistency.

Add required salt.

Make a big ball of the rice paste. Place it on a banana leaf.

Now place another piece of banana leaf on top of this.

Now gently press it to make a round shape.

The pathiri is 1” thick and almost 5” in diameter.

Heat a cast iron skillet and place it on it along with the banana leaf.

Cook on low flame. Cover with a heavy round lid.(Preferably an earthenware lid)

As the banana leaf starts to brown turn it over with a spatula and cook on the other side.

When both sides are cooked place the pathiri directly on the skillet and let it become crisp on both sides.

Hold the pathiri upright with 2 wooden spatulas and turn it like a tyre to cook the sides.

Serve it hot with Kerala Style Chicken /Mutton curry/Veg Masala.

Ragi Rice Flour Puttu/ Combination Puttu/ Rice Flour Finger Millet Puttu

Puttu /Steamed Rice Flour cake is a famous Kerala Breakfast. But quite different from the ordinary puttu you all may have known/seen here is a healthier version of the Puttu- the Combination Puttu.Sounds good enough? :)

Ragi (Finger Millet) is well known for its health benefits. It is rich in Iron, minerals and protein.Finger Millets are tiny deep red grains with oodles of health benefits. And this puttu is an easy way to make kids have a healthy and yummy breakfast too!!

Rice Flour Ragi Puttu/ Combination Puttu/  Healthy Puttu

INGREDIENTS

Recipe Source: My sis in law - Nishna

Rice flour – 1 cup ( I used Malabar Puttu Powder)

Ragi Flour- 1 cup (I used Nirapara Ragi Puttu Powder)

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Water – 1 cup or as required

METHOD

Add salt to 1 cup of water. Sprinkle this water to the rice flour and mix till you reach breadcrumbs consistency. It should not be too dry. The right consistency is reached when you press little flour in your fist and it  forms a shape and not crumble off. Now take a separate bowl and mix the salt water with ragi flour.  Follow the same procedure. Now keep approximately 2 cups water to boil in the puttu maker. By the time the water boils fill the puttu candles. First add 1 tablespoon of coconut at the bottom then a layer of rice flour ( as in the picture) then again coconut and alternate it with ragi flour. Keep the Puttu candle on the steamer and steam the puttu (appox 5minutes). The steam will start coming out from the top of the puttu candle. Wait for 2 minutes and remove the candle from the steamer. Again wait for 2 minutes before you use a skewer and push the yummy steaming puttu to a plate. Serve this with ripe bananas-sugar-ghee combination or with Kadala (Brown Chickpea) Curry / other combination like Cherupayar curry/ Stu. For the non veggies puttu is a great combination with fish curry or even chicken curry!

Tips:
To make puttu flour at home:
Using raw rice: Soak raw rice for 1 hour. then drain away water well. Keep the rice in a strainer for some time so that all the water gets drained away. Then powder it in a dry mixer(no water at all). Then you need to fry the powder in a thick bottom pan. About 10-15 minutes till the vapor starts coming up and when you lift the powder with a ladle it should fall off easily and not stick to the laddle. But make sure you keep stirring.
Using boiled rice: With boiled rice  the puttu turns very soft. For this you need to soak for 1/2 hr max or only until the rice still breaks when u bite it. It should not get soaked more. Then dry it on a cloth. And follow the same procedure.

Ela Ada/ Vazhayila Ada / Steamed Jaggery Rice Cake

Ela Ada is one of Keralites favorite breakfast/evening snacks made out of rice flour, coconut and jaggery. But the speciality here is that it is encased in a banana leaf and steamed! Ela Ada is a traditional Kerala dish. Ela means leaf. The leaf used here is banana leaf. It has to be slightly wilted on low flame to remove the stiffness.

Whenever I make Idiyappam(steamed rice noodles), I make Ela Ada as it is my son’s favourite. Now my little one likes it too. It' easy to make and very yummy. The aroma of steamed banana leaves and jaggery along with rice flour is mouth watering!!

There are basically 4 steps to making Ela Ada:

• Preparing the dough
• Preparing the filling
• Wrapping the Ada
• Steaming

INGREDIENTS

Recipe Source: My Mom

Rice Dough

1      ½  cup rice flour/Pathiri powder

1 - 1 ½ cup boiling water

Salt – As required

Filling

Jaggery – 150 gm

Coconut – 1  cup

Cardomom – 2-3

Wrapping

Banana leaves

METHOD

Preparing Rice Dough:

Boil water in a pan. Add salt.

Add this water slowly to the rice powder and make a soft dough. First you will need a ladle to mix the dough. Once it cools a bit make it into a dough like chapathi dough with hand.

Add water carefully. Do not add the water all at once. Keep adding slowly and mix with hand.

Preparing the filling

Take  3- 4 tbsp water in a pan. Keep to boil. Add the jaggery and let it melt.

Once melted filter it to remove sand and other dust particles.

Keep it again on low flame. Add the coconut and powdered cardamom and let it become thick.

Remove from flame and let cool.

Wrapping the Ada

Wash the banana leaves. Place it on low flame for few seconds. You can see the leaf soften.

Cut it into rectangular shapes.

Make small balls of the dough.

Now take one cut banana leaf and keep one rice ball on it.

Keep dipping your hand in little water so that you can spread the dough to make a circle.

Place the filling and close it. Wrap the leaf around it.

As you do these, keep an Idli maker on the stove with water to boil on high flame(Keep it closed).

When the water boils, open the lid, place the banana wraps and steam for 15 minutes.

Remove the cooked Ada’s from the Idli maker and serve hot.

Tips

You can use fine rice powder like the pathiri powder.
You can also soak rice overnight and grind it to a thick paste by adding very little water and make Ada's.

The amount of water used to make the dough using rice flour cannot be exact as it depends on the rice/rice flour you use.

To make circles of the rice dough place another banana leaf on top of the dough and press it with a steel lid. It’s easier and comes even on all sides :)

You can use sugar instead of Jaggery.
Add bananas( Nendra variety) to give a different taste to the Ada's.

Banana leaves give a nice aroma and taste to the Ada’s but if you can’t get them, you can use parchment paper.

Coconut Groundnut Chutney

Coconut Groundnut Chutney is a delicious chutney quite different from the usual coconut chutney. It goes well with Idly, Dosa, Rava Idli or even upma. 

INGREDIENTS

1	Coconut	1 medium size grated
2	Groundnuts	2 tbsp
3	Roasted broken chana dal	5 tbsp
4	Chilly	3
5	Ginger	1 tbsp
6	Coriander	½ cup
7	Mustard seeds	1 tsp
8	Urad dal	1 tsp
9	Curry leaves	5 strands
10	Salt	As required
11	Coconut oil	2 tbsp
12	Water	¼ cup

METHOD

•  Grate coconut
•   Add groundnuts, roasted broken chana dal, chilly, grated ginger, coriander, few curry leaves and salt
•  Blend this to a fine paste.
•   Heat oil. Add mustard seeds.
•  When it splutters add urad dal and fry for 4 secs in low flame.
•  Add curry leaves
•   Add the blended mixture and mix well
•   Add water. Check salt.
•   When the chutney is warm remove from the fire. It need not boil.
•   Check salt and serve with Idly or dosa.

Idiyappam/Noolputtu

Idiyappam is a delicious easy to make breakfast / dinner item. Its basically rice noodles made by steaming. I love to have it with Kerala Nadan Chicken curry or Stu.

INGREDIENTS
Recipe Source: My mom

1. Rice powder - 2 cups

2. Hot water – 1 ½ - 2 cups.

3. Grated coconut - 1/2 to 3/4 cup

4. Salt - 1/4 tsp or to taste

5. Idli mould.

6. Noolputtu Maker

7. Idli maker

METHOD

·         Boil water.

·         Add salt and mix well.

·         Slowly add this water to the rice powder and mix with a ladle.

·         When it’s a bit cool mix with hand and make it into soft smooth dough.

·         Make a ball of the dough and fill it in the Idiappam maker.

·         Keep the Idli maker on the stove with 1 1/2 cups of water.

·         Sprinkle some grated coconut on the Idli mould.

·         Press the Idiappam maker slowly, over the Idli mould where the grated coconut is sprinkled making small circles.

·         Make similar ones in all the moulds.

·         Sprinkle some more grated coconut over all the Idiappams.

·         When the water boils keep the Idli moulds in the Idli maker and steam it for just 5 minutes.

·         Remove from the mould and serve hot.

Appam with Chicken Stew

Appam is one of the popular breakfast of Kerala and one of my favourites too. No one at home  gets tired of eating this yummy combination.  INGREDIENTS APPAM

• 1/2 cup Cooked Rice  • 1/2 kg Raw Rice  • 1 Coconut (grated)  • 2-1/2 cup Water  • 3 tsp Sugar  • 1/2 tsp Yeast  • Salt to taste

How to make Appam:

• Soak raw rice for about 4 hours and drain. • Blend with cooked rice and grated coconut in a mixie. • Mix sugar, yeast and salt in boiled water. Leave it for half an hour. • Add this mixture to the above grinded mixture. • Leave the mixture for fermentation for 8 hours. • Stir the mixture well and pour a curry spoon of mixture into the non stick appam pan. • Put a lid on the pan and heat it for 2 minutes. • When the outer crust turns golden the appam is ready. Serve it hot with stu. STU Recipe Source: My mom Onion- 3 large sliced thin Ginger -1 inch piece Chilly - 2 slit into half Cinnamon - 1 inch piece Clove       3 Potato       6 medium Chicken       1/2  kg Coconut Milk       3 large cups(thin milk) Corn flour       2 teaspoon Coriander leaves    A handful Coconut oil       2 teaspoon Pepper       ½ teaspoon Ghee       2 teaspoon Salt               As required METHOD Heat oil in a pressure cooker.  Add Cinnamon and Clove.  Add onions and sauté for a minute. Add chicken stock powder and stir well.  Add pepper and ghee.  Stir well and add potatoes.  Optional: You can add 1carrot,  2beans and 3 boiled egg whites to make it  healthier.  Stir well for 2 minutes. Add chicken pieces. Stir well and add salt.  Add coconut milk. Pressure cook (4 whistles). Add corn flour (diluted in ¼ glass water) and coriander leaves. Tasty stu is ready…