Kerala Appam
Soft, bowl-shaped rice pancakes with a thick white centre and thin, lacy edges, made from a fermented rice and coconut batter.
Photograph credit: Freshly made Kerala appams with soft, fluffy centers and crisp golden edges. A classic… by Bigul Malayi · CC0 1.0 · Wordpress
Make Ahead and Storage
Best eaten straight away. The batter keeps in the fridge for 1 day.
Making Kerala Appam
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Drain the soaked rice. Grind it with the cooked rice, coconut, yeast, sugar and half the water to a very smooth batter, adding the rest of the water to reach the consistency of single cream.
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Cover and leave in a warm place for 8 hours, until bubbly and risen. Stir in the salt.
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Heat a small, deep non-stick pan or wok and wipe with oil. Pour in a ladleful of batter and swirl the pan so the batter coats the sides.
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Cover and cook over a medium heat for 3 minutes, until the edges are crisp and golden and the centre is set. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Choosing rice.
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A Few Pointers
- Do not stir the batter beyond folding in the salt; the bubbles give the soft centre.
- Keep the heat at medium so the edges crisp without scorching.
- A little extra water makes the rim lacier.
Why the Method Is What It Is
Why does the batter need all night? Because appam is a fermented batter, and the yeast or the long soak is what makes the centre soft and the edges thin. Rice, a spoonful of cooked rice, grated coconut and a little sugar are ground smooth and left to rise until the surface is covered in bubbles.
The batter should be thinner than pancake batter, like single cream. If it is too thick, the appam will not spread into the lacy rim. Add water a spoonful at a time until the batter runs off a spoon in a steady ribbon.
Use a small, deep pan with a lid (an appam chatti if you have one, otherwise a small wok). Heat it, wipe it with a little oil, pour in a ladleful of batter and swirl the pan so the batter coats the sides and pools in the middle.
Cover and cook for 3 minutes. The edges crisp and brown, and the centre sets pillow soft. There is no flipping. Slide the appam out onto a plate and make the next.
Good Alongside
Vegetable stew · Kerala chicken curry · Egg roast · Sweetened coconut milk
Questions About Kerala Appam
How long does Kerala Appam take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking, plus 12 hours of Soaking and fermenting, so allow 12 hours 40 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 4.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: a cooked weight is worked out with raw figures, so those lines run high. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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