Appam & Vegetable Stew

Appam is a south Indian breakfast item. It is eaten with either stew, egg curry or chicken curry or else coconut chutney.

It reminds me of my childhood days in Kerala.  Anyways (deep sigh), lets get back to business.

I had this misconception that appam is very difficult to make and so, I never even cared to find out about the process until one day I saw my sister-in-law making it. Realized it is doable.


Well, like everything else, I make it from scratch. No store brought rice flour for me.

Ingredients:

Pachari, (white raw rice) – 2 cups (I use idli rice)

Coconut – 1 cup

Yeast – 1 tsp

Sugar – 1 tbsp

Cooked rice – ½ cup

Salt - as required

Warm water

Preparation:

Clean rice and soak it for 5 hours.

Now drain and transfer to a mixer.

Add the coconut, cooked rice, sugar, yeast and little warm water and grind to a paste.

Transfer to a big vessel and allow to ferment for 8 hours.

When the batter is ready, add a little bit of salt.  Mix well.

Warm the appam chatti (appam maker)

Pour a ladleful of batter into the appam chatti and rotate it.

Cover and cook.

Fluffy, tasty appam is ready.

Appam goes very well with vegetable stew. Very easy to make and nutritious. Here goes.

Ingredients for Stew:

Potatoes (cut in small cubes) – 2 nos. 

Beans (cut in 1" long piece) – 10-12
Green peas – ½ cup
Carrot (cut into small pieces) – 2 nos.

Cinnamon – a small stick
Cloves – 2 nos
Cardamon - 4 (remove the skin)
Onion (chopped) - 1 medium size
Ginger (cut into thin long piece) - 1" piece
Garlic (chopped) - 1 clove
Green chillies (sliced) - 2 nos.
All Purpose Flour - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp.
Curry Leaves - a few

Preparation:

In a non stick pan, add oil. When the oil is hot, add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.

Now add ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Then add green chillies.

After a few seconds, add onion and saute till it becomes transcluscent.

Now add the potato cubes, carrot and green peas. Add salt and water. Mix, cover and cook till    vegetables are well cooked.

Mash some potatoes so to thicken the gravy.

In a bowl mix the flour and milk together until all the lumps disappear.

Pour this to the vegetables.

Add garam masala and black pepper powder. Mix and simmer in low flame for 5 min.

Vegetable Stew ready.  Happy eating!

Idiyappam- A Traditional South Indian Breakfast Item

Idiyappam is something that I make more often for breakfast. It is very easy to make and requires only few ingredients.

Idiyappam is made with rice flour. You can make your own rice flour or else it is available in any Indian store. My mother is a great believer in home made stuff. She makes things like pickle, rice flour, masala mix etc. herself.  It tastes different and is much more delicious than the store brought stuff.

So,  to make your own rice flour, you need to wash and soak white rice 'pachari' overnight. Drain completely.  Then grind it into a fine powder in a grinder. Roast it for a few minutes till you get the aroma, cool and store in an air tight container. Quite a lot of work,  right? Go for the store brought and be happy :)

Idiyappam is a traditional South Indian breakfast and goes well with chicken curry, egg curry, green peas etc. I prefer either egg curry or green peas curry. It is delicious, healthy and extremely easy to make. What else can you ask for, right? So lets get straight to the recipe. Shall we?


Ingredients:

For Idiyappam (this makes 10-12 medium size idiyappams)

1 cup rice flour
warm water as needed
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup grated coconut

For Green Peas:

1 cup green peas (soak overnight)
1/2 of a medium size onion
Ginger 1"
Garlic - 1-2 cloves
Vegetable oil 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
2-3 Green chillies
1/2 tsp coriander powder

Preparation:

Idiyappam:

Boil 1 cup water. Take the flour in a bowl. Add the salt and sugar. Mix. Now add the warm water little by little and mix it with a spoon.  Keep adding the water till a dough is formed. Now knead it with your fingers. It doesnt need lot of kneading. Cover and keep it aside for 10 min.

Slightly oil the idli plates and keep aside.

Transfer the dough into a 'seva nazhi' and press it onto the idli plates. Top it with grated coconut.

Boil some water in an idli maker. When it starts boiling, put the idli plates back and steam for 10 min.

Idiyappam ready!

Green Peas curry:

Soak the green peas overnight. Add some salt and cook them in a pressure cooker.

Once cooked, slightly mash the green peas and keep aside.

Slice the onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies.

 

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When it splutter, add ginger, garlic, onion, green chillies and curry leaves. Saute till onion changes color and becomes transcluscent. Add turmeric powder. Mix.

Now add the cooked green peas. Add water if needed. Add salt if needed. Cover and cook for 10 min in low flame.

Serve hot with a cup of tea :) Have a great morning!!