Appam is a thin pancake that is prepared from Rice batter mixed with coconut milk. It is a staple breakfast in Kerala and in Srilanka. What makes it so special is the lacy, thin outer layer and its central layer which is soft and pillowy. The consistency of the battar is really important to achieve this right texture. Normally Raw Rice (pacharisi) is used as main ingredient. I have used brown basmati rice and the story behind is explained below 😉
Few months back I suddenly became health conscious and thought of substituting pretty much everything ‘White’ in pantry with brown color 😀 Went on an impulse shopping mode and brought 5kg of Tilda Brown Basmati Rice, flaxseeds,chia seeds etc. The next day my breakfast was a smoothie with all these seeds and lunch was brown rice pulao. After that lunch I nearly forgot that I had this rice in stock. After all these months thought of emptying that remaining rice. Instead of preparing the usual brown rice pilaf,salads and stuff I decided make appam battar out of it. Am so glad it turned out well. Generally Kadala Curry (Gravy prepared using Black Channa), coconut milk, coconut chutney,stew,kuruma are some of the usual sidedishes for appam. I had made Baked Beans Masala to go with Appams. You can check the recipe for the curry
However there are few things to keep in mind while preparing batter with brown rice.
- I don’t have grinder here in London and I always use my Preethi Mixie to prep batter. It took around almost 20-25 minutes to prepare the battar
- I didn’t add yeast while fermenting the batter
- If you can’t prepare coconut milk at home you could use canned Coconut milk
- I added baking soda 20 minutes before breakfast. If you are living in warmer places and the battar has fermented really well then kindly skip the step of adding baking soda
- Add that 1 cup of coconut milk only in morning or just before you start preparing Appams. You don’t have to add them during ferementation
- Have this appams when they are still warm. They tend to go a bit hard once they are cooled for a longer time
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 1 and half cups Basmati Rice Brown
- 1/4 cup Raw Rice
- 2 tbsps Urad Dal
- 1 tbsp Methi Seeds
- 1/2 cup Coconut Grated
- 1/2 tbsp Salt
- 1/2 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tbsp Baking Soda
- 1 cup Coconut Milk
Ingredients
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- Soak brown rice,raw rice,methi seeds, urad dal together for 2 hours
- Grind them to a smooth paste
- Add water and grated coconut while grinding them
- The consistency of the battar should be thinner than Dosa battar
- Add salt, sugar and leave it to ferment for atleast 8-10 hours
- I prepared the batter on friday night and on Saturday morning at around 8:00am I added baking soda and coconut milk to the batter
- Mixed it well and let it to sit untouched for half an hour
- Later in a non-stick Appam pan, pour 2 ladles of batter and then close the pan with lid
- After around 2-3 minutes once the appam is cooked, serve it hot with gravy of your choice
- I prepared baked beans curry as side dish. You could check the recipe here
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2 comments
I tried the recipe but the batter did not ferment well. I wanted to know what you mean about raw rice here? Is the rest of the brown rice cooked?
Hi Ritika, Raw Rice is the rice that is generally used to make Appam Batter. It is the white rice that is usually served for Lunch in our house. It is called Pacha Arisi in Tamil and in most grocery stores it will be generally mentioned as Ponni Rice.You have to soak brown rice + a handful of this white raw rice together and then grind to batter as mentioned in the post.And no you don’t have to cook the brown rice.
It is believed that adding leftover cooked rice while grinding Appam batter will help in fermentation.If you check Kerala style Appam recipes you might notice they would have added cooked rice.. Not sure what proportion and what type of rice you used. Sometimes if the batter is too watery or if there is less salt it might not ferment well. Unlike dosai batter for Appam you can add a bit of yeast to make the batter more frothy.That way you don’t have to waste the unfermented batter..