Appam
-Appam is a pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk. t is eaten most frequently for breakfast or dinner.Another form of Appam is "Kallappam", where "Kall" (Tamil/Malayalam) means toddy is used for fermentation.



Ingredients
Raw rice - 1 1/2 cups (any rice like sona masuri) soak in water for 4-5 hours
Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Cooked rice - 2 tbsps (optional)
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsps
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Method
Drain the rice and grind it along with grated coconut and cooked rice in a mixer grinder. Add water little by little while grinding. You can add upto 3/4 cup of water. The ground batter need not be too smooth. When you run the batter between your fingers, it can feel a little coarse but not too coarse. Even if the batter is super smooth, its fine.
In a stainless steel vessel, add 1/4 cup of the ground batter and 3/4 cup of water. Place it over very low flame and go on stirring constantly. It will begin to thicken, continue stirring vigourosly till it appears like a transparent thick mixture. Turn off heat and bring to room temperature.
Add the cooled cooked batter to the remaining ground appam batter and mix well such that there are no lumps. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water, if necessary. This batter should not be too runny like rava dosa batter not thick like a masala dosa batter. It should be a slightly thick pouring consistency.
Place lid and ferment this batter overnight. It will almost double in size on fermentation.
At the time of preparation, add salt, sugar and baking soda. Mix well but do not over beat the batter.
Heat the non-stick appam pan on medium flame for 2 mts. There is no need to add oil while preparing appams. Add 2 to 3 drops and use a tissue to grease the pan all over. Lower flame, pour a ladle full of batter or a little more than 1/4 cup of batter in the center of the pan.
Lift the pan (off the flame of the stove) and twirl the batter in a clock wise direction so that the batter spreads out in a circular shape. Do not twirl more than twice. There will be more batter in the center than the sides, which is fine. Place back the pan on stove, cover with lid and cook on low flame. Check after two mts and if it is done, remove from pan, otherwise continue to cook with lid for a little while longer. It should cook within 2 1/2 mts to 3 mts.
The edges will be crisp and will slowly leave the sides of the pan. Use a flat spatula to lift the appam off the pan and place on serving plate. You can cook for a while longer for browner edges but I prefer pure white appams.
Prepare appams with the rest of the batter. There is no need to add oil for preparing appams in a non stick pan.
Serve warm appams with vegetable or chicken stew, egg roast or sweetened coconut milk.
Tips

Left over fermented batter can be refrigerated upto 2 days and not beyond that as it has coconut.
If using toddy, add 1 cup toddy instead of water.
If using active dry yeast instead of cooked appam batter, add 1 tsp yeast to 1/4 cup of luke warm water and 2 tsps sugar. Leave aside for 15 mts and the yeast will dissolve, froth and double in size. Add this to the ground appam batter and mix well. Place lid and let it ferment overnight in a warm place. Next add morning, add salt to the fermented batter, mix and prepare appams.
There is no need to flip the appam to cook the other side.
Left over batter that has been refrigerated and used on the second day can be sligthly diluted with very little water.