Breakfast · Kerala

Appam with Vegetable Stew

Lacy, bowl-shaped rice and coconut pancakes with soft spongy centres, served with a mild, peppery Kerala stew of vegetables simmered in coconut milk.

Appam with Vegetable Stew

Prep 30 min · Cook 40 min · Total 70 min + 5 hr soak, 8 hr ferment · Serves 4

Ingredients

Appam batter

  • 1 ½ cups Raw rice
  • ½ cup Fresh grated coconut
  • ¼ cup Cooked rice
  • 1 tsp Instant yeast
  • 2 tbsp Sugar
  • ¾ tsp Salt
  • 2 tsp Oil

Stew

  • 2 tbsp Coconut oil
  • 4 Cloves
  • 1 inch Cinnamon stick
  • 4 Green cardamom pods
  • 1 tsp Black peppercorns, lightly crushed
  • 1 Onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 inch Ginger, cut in thin strips
  • 3 Green chillies, slit
  • 1 sprig Curry leaves
  • 1 Potato, cubed
  • 1 Carrot, cubed
  • 100 g Green beans, in 3 cm pieces
  • ½ cup Green peas
  • 1 cup Thin coconut milk
  • 1 cup Thick coconut milk
  • 1 tsp Salt

Method

  1. Grind the batter. Drain the rice and grind it with the coconut, cooked rice and about 1 cup water to a very smooth, thick batter. Stir in the yeast and sugar.
  2. Ferment. Cover and leave in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight, until doubled and full of bubbles. Stir in the salt and enough water to make it like thin pouring cream.
  3. Start the stew. Heat the coconut oil in a pan and fry the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and pepper for 30 seconds. Add the onion, ginger, chillies and curry leaves and cook until the onion is soft but not coloured.
  4. Simmer the vegetables. Add the potato, carrot, beans and peas with the thin coconut milk and salt. Cover and simmer until the potato is tender.
  5. Finish the stew. Pour in the thick coconut milk and heat through on low without letting it boil, so it stays white and silky.
  6. Make the appams. Heat an appachatti, wipe it with oil, and pour in a ladle of batter. Lift the pan by its handles and swirl once so the batter coats the sides thinly. Cover and cook on medium until the centre is spongy and set and the edges are crisp and golden. Don't flip.
  7. Serve. Ease each appam out with a spatula and serve straight away with the stew.

Tips

If the batter is sluggish in a cold kitchen, put it in the oven with just the light on. Fermented batter keeps 2 days in the fridge; bring it back to room temperature before cooking.