RAGI FLOUR KERALA APPAM RECIPE

Apr 29, 2024
By Mary Anthony
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Appam is a thin Pancake made with fermented rice and coconut traditionally cooked in an ‘appachatti’, a deep pan similar to wok but considerably small. They are popular in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Srilankan Cuisines. They are served best for breakfast or dinner with Egg curry or Vegetable stew or Kurma.

INGREDIENTS

Ragi flour or sprouted ragi flour – 2 cup
Poha / ice flakes – 1 cup
Freshly grated coconut – ½ cup
Instant dry yeast – 3/4 tsp
Salt – 1tsp
Sugar – 1 ½ tbsp
Water – roughly 3 ½ cup

METHOD

Take the poha in a mixie jar and grind into fine powder.

Add ragi flour + grated coconut + sugar + yeast + salt and grind

Now gradually add water and make a smooth thin batter.

Transfer to a big bowl and mix well with hands .

Cover and keep aside for fermentation .

Ferment for 4 to 5 or 6 hours till the batter ferments well . [ depends weather ]

Once done , don’t mix the batter after fermentation .

Use the batter and make appams.

METHOD FOR MAKING APPAMS

Heat a non stick or cast iron appa chatti.

Pour a ladle of appam batter to the hot appachatti .

Swirl the chatti in clockwise direction till the batter spreads.

As the batter is thin, it will spread evenly.

Pores and air pockets will get formed immediately .

Cover and cook the appam on medium flame. It will cook in its own steam .

No need to flip it and no oil should be used.

Open and check .

Once done remove and serve .

TIPS FOR MAKING KERALA APPAMS

For soft Appam , use fresh coconut gratings to get spongy and soft Appam.
Instead of water to grind batter, use coconut milk for a rich appam with coconut aroma .
Sugar gives slight sweetness , crispy texture and bright colour.
If you don’t have yeast is optional then ferment the batter overnight .
You can take a part of grounded batter 1/4 cup and heat it, it becomes like a paste. Now add it and grind the batter once again. This may also be used as a method if you skip yeast.
While pouring the batter the appachatti should be very hot , only to get perfect pores and crispiness.
Batter consistency should be thin, for easy spreading swirl.
Swirl the pan only once to get a thin coating along the edges , which helps in getting thin crispy edges and spongy centre.
Sometimes very little rice batter is cooked to get a paste texture called kappi and added back to the batter This process is called Kappi kachinnu, it helps will the fermentation and makes the appam softer. This is a process very popular in Kerala, similar to tangzhong used in bread baking.
Consider buying two aapam pans if you have a big family or everyone dines at the same time. Coz cooking aapam does take some time.
Egg aapams can be made by breaking an egg on top of the swirled batter .You can mix it up with a ladle or let it remain as bull’s eye. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper powder .