Appam with vegetable stew | No yeast no soda recipe

The more you are away  from your kith and kins , the more you feel for them. You tend to stay close to your roots to regain that comfort and soothing feeling that you miss by staying abroad.Well, to me Food is the main way I chose to cherish the interlaced memories to transport me to my childhood.If you hail from a family where food plays a vital role , you'll probably agree with me. When I make a lemonade for my boy , I get to remember the day amma made us lemonade and I mimicked the famous commercial of that time .....Lehar Mirinda Good Good Good.... and there my brother and sister laughing continuously dropping their glasses and there amma giving us a blast ....though that evening ended up chaotic, I just love those memories.

While doing groceries last week , I picked up few fresh coconuts. From there it all started ... Wanted to make something so very authentic , just the way Mom made for us. What else I can think of other  than Appam and Vegetable stew. Fresh ginger, green chilles, curry leaves, coconut oil  .... mmmm. Also amma has her trademark recipe for appam. Usually yeast or cooking soda is a must for the recipe. But she never added all these, still she makes fluffy , soft appam with beautiful lace all around.When others made using raw rice alone , her trade mark is to use a mix of raw rice and boiled rice(idli rice).

Sometimes spicy onion chutney will accompany these appams , sometimes cardamom scented coconut milk and some lucky days (when she had extra time) uttelrly delicious vegetable stew will be there on the table. I just wanted to recreate here and so I made all together. Enjoyed these pillowy soft appams to the fullest . Simple pleasures of life !!!

 I would recommend you to use fresh coconut milk for best flavor and taste . Never go for store bought ones or canned milk. Simplicity is the best part of this stew.Fresh ginger , green chilli and curry leaves are the key for success here.

Recipe for Appam

Raw Rice ............................... 1 cup
Idli Rice ................................. 1 cup
Urad Dal ................................1 tbsp (dehusked one)
Coconut (grated ).................... 1/4 cup
Beaten Rice/ Poha/ Aval........... 1/4 cup (Thick variety)
Salt .......................................... to taste
sugar ....................................... 1 tsp
Sesame oil / coconut oil ............ to make appam

Method 

• Wash and Soak both the rice along with Urad with enough water for 4 hours.
• Wash and soak poha with just enough water to cover for 15 minutes.
• Blend together poha and coconuts and  reserve.
• Grind the soaked rice mixture using a wet grinder or any blender to a fine paint consistency.
• Towards the end of grinding add the reserved poha coconut paste to the rice mixture, grind together and get the batter done.
• Transfer to a big container with enough space to ferment and rise. 
• Keep covered in a warm place for 12 hrs( I keep it in my oven with light on)
• After the batter is fermented , mix salt and sugar.
• Now the batter is ready for making appam.
• Add some water to make a coating consistency batter. When you dip a ladle , the batter should just coat the ladle, that's what we need.
• Heat a curved pan and grease well with some oil and wipe off the excess with a paper towel.
• Pour one big ladle of batter and gently lift and rotate the pan to resemble a basket shape.
• Cover and cook in medium for 3 minutes. Open the lid and drizzle little oil around the edges.
• Again cover and cook for 2 minutes or until edges turn gold and the center is fully cooked.
• Transfer to a plate and again grease the pan and continue to make the next appam. 

Vegetable Stew 

Mixed vegetables ........................................ 1 1/2 cups , cut into cubes( I used carrots, beans, potatoes and green peas)
Green Chillies .............................................. 2 or 3 adjust to taste, slit
Ginger ......................................................... 1 inch piece , peeled and cubed
Onion............................................................ 1/4 cup , finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste .........................................1/2 tsp
curry leaves ................................................. 2 sprigs, fresh
Cinnamon ................................................... 1 inch
Cardamom ................................................2
Cloves .....................................................2
Salt ............................................................. to taste
Coconut oil .................................................1.5 tbsp
Thick coconut milk ...................................... 1 cup
Rice flour .................................................. 1 tsp.

Method

• Heat oil in heavy bottom pan.
• Crush cinnamon, cardamom and cloves and add to the pan.
• Add in the chopped onions, curry leaves, green chillies.
• When onions are translucent , stir in the ginger garlic paste and cook for 2 more minutes , followed by vegetables. 
• Add a cup of water ,salt and 1/4 cup coconut milk, cover and cook till the vegetables are cooked still crisp a bit.
• Mix 1 tsp rice flour to 1/4 cup water and make a lump free mixture.
• Add this mixture to the vegetables and allow it to cook for 5 minutes .
• Finally stir in the 3/4 cup thick coconut milk and remove from heat.

Cardamom Flavored Coconut milk

Fresh grated coconut .............................1/2 cup
Warm Water ...................................................3/4 cup
Sugar ..................................................1 tsp
Cardamom .........................................2

Method

• Blend water and coconut together and strain the milk from coconut with a fine seive.
• Remove the shell of the cardamom and crush the seeds.
• Mix the ground cardamom and sugar along with coconut milk.

Spicy Onion Chutney

Red Onion ...................................... 1 big
Dried red chilli .................................5 (adjust )
Mustard .........................................1/2 tsp
Split urad .......................................1/2 tsp
Sesame oil .....................................2 tbsp
tamarind ........................................ 1 marble size
curry leaves .................................. few
Salt ........................................... to taste.

Method

• Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a pan and roast the red chillies for a minute and remove the chillies.
• To the same pan oil 1 tbsp oil and saute the onions along with tamarind.
• When onions turn soft and pinkish , transfer to a plate and cool.
• Blend the onions, fried chillies with salt to make a coarse chutney.
• Heat remaining oil in a pan and temper with mustard and urad dal.Finally add in the curry leaves.
• Pour this tempering over the chutney.