Appam - Palappam, Vellayappam, Vattayappam

Look at the steam going up as sweet aroma and filling my living room and kitchen. It truly is divine and goes so well with Kadala curry ( black channa dal), Egg roast, Egg curry, Mutton stew, Chicken stew, Veg stew, Veg kurma or even just plain old coconut milk and sugar, which was my favorite one as a child.  I would still enjoy the coconut milk and sugar had it not been for the yearly physical examinations ;) and blood work.

With this recipe, I could guarantee you would get crispier side Appams ( also called Palappams) and softer on the center and extremely soft vellayappams and vattayappams !!!

What you would need to get started - Ingredients 

1. Raw Rice           - 2 cups
2. Grated Coconut - 1 cup
3. Cooked Rice      - 1/2 cup
4. Semolina            - 2 tbsp
5. Sugar                  - 1-2 tsp
6. Yeast                  - 1/2 tsp
7. Coconut water   -  1 can ( just follow the one in the pic below)
8. Coconut milk    -  as needed - I use coconut milk instead of water for grinding, this makes the batter super soft.

Here are pics of the ingredients I use, if you need to see them.

Method:

1) Soak the raw rice in water after washing well for about 4-5 hours.
2) Just 10 mins before you decide to start grinding the rice, add 2 tablespoons of warm water to the yeast with 1/2 tsp of sugar and close it with a lid.( we do this just to see if the yeast is active, if its a new packet that you are opening, you can add it directly to the rice while grinding)
3) 15 mins before you start grinding, add 1/2 cup of water to the vermicelli to a saucepan and keep stirring till it is cooked and then cool it before you add it to the rice mixture for grinding along with rest of the ingredients.
4) Grind all of the ingredients to a smooth batter.

For the vellayappam ( smaller appam) and the vattayappam , make the batter a little coarse, the batter should be runny.

Overall, the consistency of the batter should be like the dosa batter for the Appam and like the idli batter for the smaller appams.

Hope this helps !



If you use brown raw rice, you would appams like the ones below, I believe they would be more healthier.... brown or white - either ways, the appams are awesome !!!

Some vellayappam and mutton curry :-)

While making vellayappam ( small appam) make sure, you don't flip it, you should just pour the batter, then cover and cook till like 25-30 seconds, depending on the flame ( use medium flame).

I use a transparent lids to cook this, so this way without lifting the lid, I know if the vellayappam is cooked or not.

Here is a video... sorry about the quality -

Not sure, if it works or not ;) let's check, after I publish the post.

Potato Sagu

This recipe is so so so good. It goes so well with chappathi and poori. We had it with poori for breakfast last Sunday, it was so good, I had to make it again and we had it chappathis. This potato recipe is such a winner

Potatoes - 3-4 medium size ( boil and crumble it to smaller pieces using a fork)
Oil  - 1 tablespoon
Mustards seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Channa dhal - 1teaspoon

Onion- 1 large ( chopped)
Tomato - 1 medium
ginger - 1/2 " chopped
green chillies - 3
Curry leaves - 7-8
Tumeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Asafetida - 2 pinch
Besan flour  - 1 tablespoon, made to a paste with little water.
1.25 cup water
salt - to taste
coriander leaves

Heat Oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds, once it splutters, add curry leaves, urad dhal, channa dhal, give a quick sauté.
Add the chopped onions and fry till they become translucent and then add the chopped ginger.
Add the chopped tomatoes, chopped green chillies and turmeric and sauté. Add the asafetida , salt and the besan flour paste.
Add the cooked and crumbled potatoes. Taste for salt.

Hmmm.... Enjoy it hot with some chapathis or Poori.

Chettinadu Egg Curry

This egg curry goes well with tomato rice, coconut rice, appam, chappathi etc... It has a very nice aroma because of the freshly ground ingredients and is a little on the spice side too. We had this with appam the other day and we really enjoyed it.

Eggs - 6 boiled, peeled and slit like shown in the picture. Keep it aside.

Ingredients

Ginger , garlic - chooped 1 tablespoon
Onion - 1 large ( Chopped)
Tomatoes - 2 medium ( ground to a paste)
Curry leaves
Tumeric - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 3-4 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Dry roast and grind the following ingredients:

1. Cloves - 3-4
2. Cinnamon - 2" piece
3. Dry Red Chilli - 3-4
4. Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoons
5. Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoon
6. Fennel seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
7. Poppy Seeds - 1 teaspoon
8. Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup

How you make it...

Dry roast the ingredients from 1-6 till you get a nice aroma. Then add the poppy seeds and grated coconut and and fry for a few minutes. Once it cools to room temperature and grind to a smooth paste , adding 1/4 cup of water.

Heat oil in a kadai, add the mustard seeds to it, once it splutters , add the onions and fry it till it becomes translucent, add the chopped ginger garlic and curry leaves, continue sautéing and then add turmeric and the ground masala.

Keep sautéing so that it doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the pan and then add the ground tomato paste and let it cook till the onion clears on the top.

Add the boiled eggs, to the gravy and let it cook for 3-4 minutes, the gravy will seep into the egg, through the slits made on it.

Enjoy this with some appam, chapathis, tomato rice, coconut rice or even some plain hot rice...

Thengapaal Ozhicha Kozhi Curry

Hmmmm.... When I think of this curry, or when mummy tells me she is making this curry. I can almost get the taste and smell of the curry right where I am. Thats how good this curry is . The best part is, its simple to make too.

We make this curry usually for appam, iddiyappam or chappathi.

Here is how we make it.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 kg

Onions - 2 

Green Chillies 5-6

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tablespoon

Shallots - 3-4 (paste)

Curry leaves 

Corriander leaves.

Thin coconut milk 1- 11/2 cups ( I use the can coconut milk here)

Thick coconut milk - 1 cup

salt, pepper to taste

Whole spices (Cinnamon - 1 stick, Cloves 3-4, Elachi 3-4, Dennel seeds - 1/2 teaspoon)

Corriander powder 2 table spoons

Fennel Seeds powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Garam masala powder 1/2 teaspoon.

Tumeric powder  - 1 teaspoon

Asafetida powder  - a pinch

Tomato (1- optional)

Marinate the Chicken with some salt, turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and keep aside.

In a pan, heat some oil, add the whole spices.

Add the onions and sauté till translucent .

Add the ginger garlic paste , shallot paste and sauté.

Add the green chillies, curry leaves.

Add the powders, make sure it does not burn. At this point you can add 2-3 tablespoons of water, just to make sure the masala powders are cooked without getting burned.

Add the chicken pieces and the thin coconut milk. Add salt.

Cover and cook till chicken is cooked.

Add the thick coconut milk. Bring down the flame and switch off.

(If you are using can coconut milk. Cook the chicken with 1/2 cup water instead of thin coconut milk and towards the end add 1/2 - 3/4 can or more of coconut milk into the curry and switch off when it starts boiling.)

Tempering (Optional)

Add 2-3 tablespoons oil in a skillet, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves and sliced shallots and sauté. Switch off flame and pour over the chicken curry. Garnish with coriander leaves. Seve hot with some Appam , idiyappam or chappathi

Grilled Cheese and Chicken Sandwich

Pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup

Kadala Curry ( Black Channa Dal )

Kadala Curry with Gothambu Puttu

I like this kadala curry with a  tangy taste to it . In Kerala, most people like it with some coconut pieces or some ground coconut paste. But this recipe I use here is slightly different, I add tomatoes and also avoid coconut. I was looking for a recipe different from the normal Kerala style, I came across this one on youtube, made modifications to it. This is  a good one and worth trying.

So here it is...

Kadala - 1 cup

Onions - 2 medium, chopped

Tomatoes - 2 medium chopped

Ginger- 1 tsp chopped

Garlic - 1 tsp chopped 

Shallots - 2-3 ( optional )

Dry Red Chillies - 2-3

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera Seeds - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 2-3 split

Curry leaves - a handful

Powders: 

Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Corriander powder - 1 tsp

Tumeric -1/2 tsp

Special ground Masala powder - 1tsp ( if you don't have this made its ok, just make the powders as 11/2 tsp chili powder, 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder, asafetida powder -1/4 tsp, fenugreek powder 1/4 tsp)

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Oil 3-4 tablespoons

How we do it...

1) Soak the kadala overnight

2) Cook in the pressure cooker . Move aside 4-5 table spoons of cooked kadala and grind into smooth paste and keep aside.

3) Heat oil in skillet, add mustard seeds, after it splutters, add Jeera seeds, sliced Shallots, dry red chilies. Saute.

4) Add chopped onions, ginger garlic, green chillies and sauté well. Add the powders. Saute

5) Add the tomatoes. Cook well

6) Add the Kadala and the kadala paste and cook well . When it boils. Switch off flame.

 Enjoy it with Hot Puttu or chappathis. :-)

A special Egg Curry

This gravy is actually the base for the brinjal gravy that is served as an accompaniment to the Tamil Nadu Biriyani. I kept trying different recipes for the Brinjal gravy but never found the taste I was searching for until I ate at Charles and Preethi's place. Charles' mother prepared the brinjal gravy that day and it was the best and the perfect taste I was looking for. I will share with you the recipe of the brinjal gravy at some point in the blog. Well so that is the story of the base of this egg gravy. My guests loved it ! So, definitely I will be making it again.