Ingredients-Coconut Milk:

• Grated Coconut – 1 cup
• Grated jiggery – 1/3 cup
• Salt – a pinch
• Cardamom powder – 1 pinch

Ingredients-Appam:

• Raw rice – 1.5 cups
• Idli rice – 1.5 cups
• Aval/Poha – ¼ cup
• Whole Urad dal – ¼ cup
• Methi / Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
• Salt – as needed
• Appam Satti/Kadai with lid (I used non-stick)

• • • Take the grated coconut and add it in the blender/mixie adding 1 cup of water. Grind it well and then strain. The strained milk is call as the first milk or thick milk. Run the strained coconut bits again in the blender with 1 cup of water for a minute and then strain. The second strained milk is called second milk or thin milk. Set aside.

• • • Mix 1/2 cup of water with Jaggery. Keep it on the stove on medium flame. Let the Jaggery melt completely. Remove off stove and strain the impurities from the Jaggery.
    • Take a pan and add in the Jaggery water, pinch of salt, pinch of cardamom powder and the second extract of thin coconut milk. Heat it on a very low flame for 2 minutes until its slowly boiling. Switch off the flame.
    • Add in the first extract of thick coconut milk and mix well. Serve with appam.

Appam Batter

Preparation

• • • Wash and soak both the Rice and Poha for 3 hours.
    • Wash and soak Urad dal with Fenugreek seeds for 3 hours..
    • Grind the Urad Dal + Fenugreek seed first in the wet grinder using ½ cup of water (I normally use soaked Urad Dal water and don’t throw them away. Coz it helps to get more volume)..
    • Stir the batter for every 5 minutes and check if water is needed and add water. Total amount of time for Urad Dal batter to grind is 25 to 30 minutes. The amount of water I have used is approximately 1 cup. It may vary depending upon the quality of the Urad Dal. Grind until you will get a smooth batter.
    • Important: Don’t pour all the water at once. You have to slowly add . At the end check for water and if needed sprinkle it.
    • Now, add Rice and Poha in the grinder using ½ cup of water in small quantity portions. Add the Rice little by little while grinder is running. Total amount of time for rice batter to grind is 15 to 20 minutes. Stir the batter for every 5 minutes and check if water is needed and add water.
    • I have used approximately 1.5 cups of water. It may vary depending up on the quality of the rice. Grind until you get a smooth consistency batter.
    • Transfer the Rice batter to the Urad Dal batter and add salt and mix well with your hand. Close the Vessel with the lid. Keep in mind that there needs to be some space above the batter and the vessel top to allow the batter to ferment and rise.
    • Keep it in a warm place for fermenting up to 12 to 14 hours. In my house (as I live in a cold country) I kept it in the baking oven [very important- “Do not turn on the oven “and no need to light on inside the oven]. After fermenting the batter should be very soft and thick. If you live in warm country like India, you can keep the batter in a counter top for fermenting.
    • The batter should be little watery than the Idli batter. After fermenting, before making Appam mix the batter well.

Appam

Preparation

• • • Heat the Appam Satti/Kadai, mix the batter well. Pour the ladle of batter and roll it until the batter reaches the side of the Kadai and forms a thin layer in the shape of Kadai. Leave little batter still in the middle. Keep the Kadai on the stove cover it with lid. Cook it for few minutes in medium flame.

• • • Serve the hot and tasty Appam with Coconut milk.

Note:

• • If the batter is too thick, it won’t get cooked properly in the middle, so dilute with water for a pouring consistency.
  • If using hard iron Appam satti, sprinkle some oil.