THE SECRET TO SOFT APPAM

THE SECRET TO SOFT APPAM: Appam is best had with egg curry, chicken curry, mutton curry, beef curry, vegetable curries like chana masala, green peas masala and so on and on....I guess you could try it out with most. My favourites are vegetable masala in coconut milk, egg curry and chicken masala.  It would surely make your breakfast a delightful experience.

If you are thinking what an appam is.......... Appam is a fermented pancake that is made in every home in kerala. I am sure every keralite would love it. This is one of those recipes which are very simple but definitely has its tricks and turns. If you do not get your batter right, believe me your appam would definitely be a flop....so be very alert. But do not worry, it is very simple. You may require some practice to perfect them.

Appam batter is normally made with grinding soaked rice, coconut, sugar, coconut milk and yeast or soda powder. It is time consuming and at the same time very tricky. I swear I have tried making it so many times, even tried the instant ones but none of them came out so perfectly. It does not have the true taste of the mouth watering palappams but still better than the instant ones.

I owe a big thanks to my second sister in law for this. Her house owner had taught her this recipe. I have made few changes to it to enhance its taste like adding coconut milk.

INGREDIENTS:

White Rice or Raw Rice – 2 cups

Aval or Poha or Beaten Rice – 1 cup

Thick Coconut Milk – ¼ to ½ cup 

( around 5 tablespoons of coconut milk powder)

Yeast – ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon

Sugar – 1 tablespoon

Water

Salt

METHOD:

Soak the white rice and beaten rice for at the least 4 hours. You may even soak the beaten rice just half an hour before grinding it. Grind the soaked white rice and beaten rice together.  Dissolve yeast and sugar in lukewarm water. Mix in the yeast and coconut milk to the ground mixture. The batter is ready.  Leave it overnight.

In the morning, add salt to the well risen batter. The appam is ready to be cooked. To cook, add a sccop  or ladle of the batter to slightly hot pan at its centre. You may have to swirl or rotate the pan, if you are using an appam pan. If you are using a flat one, just spread it out like the way you would do for  dosa or pancake. Cover it with a lid. Remove from the pan, once it is well cooked.

NB: You may cook the appam using a appachatti or a non stick appam pan to get the shape of a palappam. You may even cook it in a normal pan; this would make your appam flat.

The consistency of the batter should be runny but not too runny. Even if the batter is slightly thick, you may add a bit of water just before cooking to get the right consistency. If the Batter is too runny, it may stick to the pan.

If your batter is too runny, you may add in nicely soaked and ground rice flour to get the right consistency. You may also add in the  appam or idiyappam flours that you get to get the right thickness. In such a case, leave the batter again to ferment or rise for an hour.

I have used instant yeast. In that case, if you add around 1/2 to 3/4 th of a tablespoon, your appam batter would be ready to cook within an hour or so, well depending on your climate too...

You may also use soda powder instead of the yeast and sugar mixture. In that case, add a pinch of soda powder around 15 to 20 minutes before you cook.

You may also use a mixture of yeast and soda powder. 

Check on your yeast and soda powder levels, it may hamper the taste of your appams. 

You may choose not to use coconut milk. In that case, you may not get it very tasty. 

Instead you may also try by adding one small shallot and few cumin seeds while grinding the batter, it definitely gives a different taste. The taste and smell might not appeal to everyone. 

UPMA or THICK SEMOLINA PORRIDGE

UPMA or THICK SEMOLINA PORRIDGE: Upma is one of the simplest dishes you can find on the south Indian breakfast menu. As a child I used to hate it. I had no idea how to make an upma even after my marriage. Then one day, I bought a roasted rava or semolina pack. On the back of it was mentioned the method of making the upma. I tried it and it was a success. I swear it tasted better than my mother’s upma. Well the difference was the addition of ghee or clarified butter. It was this ingredient that made all the difference. From that day, both my husband and I are fans of upma.

The way of having upma also differs from house to house. Some have with bananas or plantains. Some like to have it with just sugar. Some like to have a combination of both. Some like to eat it as such. But I love to have it with white coconut chutney. I swear I love this combination. Anyone who has tried that combination will surely love it.

I am posting the traditional upma recipe but you may add veggies like carrot and French beans to it.

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted Semolina – 1 to 1 ¼  cup

Water – 2 cups

Ginger – ½ “ piece

Dried red chilli – 2

Green chilli – 2

Red Onion – 1

Mustard seeds – 1 tablespoon

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Ghee or clarified butter – ½ to 1 tablespoon

 METHOD:

Clean and slice the onions. Clean and cut other veggies like carrot and beans (which are optional). Slit the green chilli into two.

Take a heavy bottomed pan. Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds along with dried red chillies. Add ginger and sauté till it turns light brown. Add the onions and green chilli and sweat them. Add salt. Add other veggies along with the onion.

When the green chilli turns translucent, add curry leaves and ghee along with water. When the water boils and bubbles up nicely add the semolina. You need to add the semolina and stir at the same time. This ensures that no lumps will be formed and it gets cooked evenly.  Keep stirring till the semolina gets cooked and becomes dry. This will take hardly a minute or two. Turn off the stove and serve!

NB: Always add salt before you add semolina. The salt should be on a higher side before you put the semolina so that once you cook with the semolina it gets the correct taste. If you put salt after you cook it, it won’t get uniformly distributed. 

MAC & CHEESE WITH VEGETABLES and PEPPER

MAC & CHEESE WITH VEGETABLES and PEPPER: Mac and cheese is one of the most popular pasta foods especially in western countries. They call it as THE COMFORT FOOD. This is a true heaven for the cheese lovers. It is normally not a very healthy option on a daily basis especially for people above the age of 30 because of the high fat content. If you are a big fan of this food you may try out the lean version that is the one with low fat cheese and enriched with vegetables.

I have not used the low fat version cheese, in fact I have used cream cheese (I eat this once in a blue moon....I swear!) You may choose the array of vegetables you love. You may even add cooked shredded chicken.

Macroni is the almost C shaped pasta. You may even try it with other pasta shapes. Pasta is an authentic Italian dish.

INGREDIENTS:

Macroni – 1 to 1 ½ cup

Water

Salt to taste

Carrot – 1

Potato -1

Any other vegetable you like ( broccoli, cauliflower, capsicum, etc)

Cream cheese or cheese spread – 1 heaped tablespoon

Shredded chicken – ¼ cup

Butter – 1 tablespoon

Pepper powder to season

Herbs and leaves of your choice for garnishing

METHOD:

Cook the pasta in hot boiling water along with salt till the pasta becomes tender but firm. Clean and cut the vegetables into small pieces.

Take a heavy bottomed pan and add butter. You may use half butter and replace the other half with any vegetable oil. Add and sauté the vegetables and with shredded chicken. Cook well.

Add cream cheese or cheese spread and mixes well. Add pepper powder and cooked pasta. Ensure that the pasta and veggies gets a generous coating of cheese. You may garnish with coriander leaves or any other herb. Serve hot!

BROCCOLI EGG SCRAMBLE WITH GARLIC

BROCCOLI EGG SCRAMBLE WITH GARLIC: I was thinking about trying out the broccoli garlic combination for some time now. Started making having that in mind and I ended up with the broccoli egg scramble with garlic. I had no idea how it would taste. But after cooking it, it actually tastes good and it is so simple. Since, I cooked it for the first time, the quantity measurements are for one small serving. So adjust accordingly. You can have it for breakfast or as a side dish.

INGREDIENTS:

Broccoli florets– ½ cup

Garlic clove minced – 2

Egg – 1

Chilli powder or pepper – ½ teaspoon

Oil – ½ tablespoon

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Clean and separate the broccoli florets. I do not usually take the stalk. Mince the garlic.

Heat oil in a pan and add the minced garlic and salt. Saute till garlic turns brown. Add broccoli and chilli powder. Sauté till the water starts oozing out of the broccoli. Add egg. Scramble till the egg is cooked. Serve!

KOZHUKATTA or SWEET RICE DUMPLING

KOZHUKATTA or SWEET RICE DUMPLING: This is one dish which can be eaten as breakfast, snack and even as a desert. I am sure every keralite would have had a number of times. Well, there are variations to kozhukatta. The one that I am presenting here is the sweet one. At my husband’s place they call it thuru vecha kozhukatta (no idea why they call it that way....hopefully some Trivandrum person will be kind enough to explain that).

 I also remember my mother making the non sweet version (even my elder sister in law makes it. She loves it that way). But both the versions are different.

 My grand mom used to make it in the traditional way. She used to soak the rice and cumin and grind them and scraped coconut is also used. But I am not sure of the traditional way of making it. My mom used to make it the easy way. So, I am following her footsteps. J

This sweet rice dumpling can be made of sugar or palm jaggery (chakkara) or jaggery (sharkara). I have used palm jaggery here. I will try to post the non sweet version soon.

INGREDIENTS:

Rice powder – 1.5 cup

Hot boiling water - 2 cups

Jaggery – around ¼ cup

Scrapped coconut – around ¼ cup

(The following ingredients are optional.)

Cumin seeds or jeerakam– ¼ teaspoon

Cardamom seeds or Elachi or elekka– 2 to 3

Dry ginger or chukku – a pinch

Salt – a pinch

METHOD:

Mix the scraped coconut and Jaggery along with the spices (which are optional). Take the rice powder in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt. Add hot boiling water little by little and mix at the same time. This will ensure you do not have any lumps and the water gets absorbed evenly. Close the bowl with a lid. Leave for few minutes.

Knead the dough with the hand. Be careful as the dough is hot. The dough will have the consistency of a bit loose chapatti or slightly loose pastry mix. It should not be watery.

Once kneaded, make balls out of it. Once you make a ball, immediately flatten it on the palm of your hand (dip your fingers in water before flattening if the mixture is sticky). Add the coconut mixture to the centre and bring back the flattened dough ends to form a ball.

Once all the dumpling balls are made, place it in a steamer and steam for about 5 to 7 minutes and serve. You may serve it hot or cold.

NB: Once you roll the dumpling ball, you may roll it between your palms to ensure they get a proper round shape.

When you flatten the dough, do not make it too thin as the ball may break and leak the sugar or jaggery juice into your steamer.

Avoid putting cumin and dry ginger together; I personally do not like the taste. You may do it, if you like the combination.

Depending on your sweetness level adjust the jaggery or sugar.  

CHICKEN FILLET SANDWICH

CHICKEN FILLET SANDWICH: This is a wholesome sandwich which can be used as tiffin for kids or adults alike. It can even be used as a snack.  This serves 4 people.

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken Fillets – 2 to 3

Bread slices – 8

Red Onion -1

Tomato – 1 small

Coriander leaves - 2 to 3 sprigs

Pepper powder – ¼ to ½ tablespoon

Garam masala powder – 2 to 3 pinches

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Slice the onions and dice the tomatoes. Chop the coriander leaves. Dice the fillets too.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and fillets together and sauté till the fillets are cooked.  Do not brown, just cook.

Add salt, Garam masala powder and pepper powder at this stage. This would help it to cook fast and get the flavour. Some ready to cook fillets would have salt already, so check the levels.

Add tomatoes and coriander leaves and sauté for less than a minute. The filling is ready.

Now, take the bread slices. You may brush it with a bit of mayonnaise or cheese. Otherwise also it is fine, as the filling is not completely dry. Add the filling between the slices and serve. You may even microwave the whole sandwich to get the bread also hot.

AVAL UPMA or BEATEN RICE UPMA

AVAL UPMA / BEATEN RICE UPMA: The best thing about this is it can be used as an evening snack and breakfast. It is very healthy and tasty.  This can be made with white or red beaten rice. I prefer red because it is healthier as it has vitamin B. This is a simple one and you should definitely try it.

INGREDIENTS:

Aval – 1 cup

Red Onion – 1 medium

Mustard seeds – 1 tablespoon

Whole dried red chillies – 2

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Ginger – 1” piece

Water to wet the aval

Salt

Oil – 1 teaspoon

METHOD:

Chop the ginger into very small pieces (otherwise you might end up biting into a ginger piece. I don’t really like the idea of it).  Slice the onion.  Wet the aval by sprinkling water to it. Do not pour water, only sprinkle. Do not add too much water or else it will start to dissolve the aval. Heat oil in a pan and crackle the mustard seeds.  Add the whole red chillies and curry leaves. Add ginger and sauté for less than a minute to get rid of the raw smell. Immediately add the onions and sauté. Add salt and mix well.  As soon as they sweat, add the wet aval. Mix well. It is ready to serve. Serve hot, it tastes better.

Note: Always add salt before adding the aval. Otherwise, it will not get uniformly distributed. In case, you need to add salt later, always add salt mixed with water.