Tender Coconut Appam | Palappam

5 from 1 vote

Tender Coconut Appam | Palappam

Soft, fluffy and lacy is the best way to describe these Tender Coconut Appams. With a little prep and a handful of pantry staples, making appam at home is incredibly easy. Serve it with some Veg Stew for a comforting and wholesome meal!

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Resting Time8

Total Time8 50

Course: Breakfast, Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: appams

Author: Richa

Equipment

1 mixer grinder
1 appam kadai

Ingredients

1 Cup rice preferably idli or dosa rice
1 Cup tender coconut water see note 2
½ Cup fresh or frozen grated coconut
½ Cup cooked rice
3 Tablespoons sugar
½ Teaspoon salt
¼ Teaspoon active dry yeast
½ Cup water

Instructions

Soaking Rice

Wash the rice 2-3 times till the water runs clean and soak it in tender coconut water for 8-10 hours or overnight.
1 Cup rice, 1 Cup tender coconut water

Grinding Appam Batter

To your blender add grated coconut, cooked rice, yeast and soaked rice (along with the coconut water it was soaked in). Grind the mixture to a smooth paste.
½ Cup fresh or frozen grated coconut, ½ Cup cooked rice, ¼ Teaspoon active dry yeast
Add sugar, mix and keep it covered in a warm place for at least 2 hours or until fermented. If the place where you live is cold, you can ferment the batter inside the oven with the pilot light turned on. (see note 4)
3 Tablespoons sugar
Once the batter is fermented, it’ll rise, you’ll see bubbles in the batter and it’ll look foamy. It’ll also feel very light, airy and bubbly when you mix it with a ladle. That’s when you know it's ready.
The consistency of the appam batter should be slightly thinner than dosa batter - more like lassi. Add water a few tablespoons at a time if necessary to adjust the consistency of appam batter.
½ Cup water
Add salt and mix well. The batter is now ready to use.
½ Teaspoon salt

Making Appams

Heat an appam kadai until medium hot (see note 5).
Pour a ladleful of batter into the middle of the kadhai. Slowly rotate the pan in a circular motion to spread the batter around the kadhai. The batter will stick to the kadhai as you rotate and any excess batter will dribble back down into the middle. That's okay because we want a little excess batter in the middle and thin, lacy edges all around.
Cover with a lid and let it cook for a minute on medium flame. After a minute, remove the lid and cook for another 15-30 seconds on the flame. The appam is ready when the sides are set and the middle is cooked. Remove the appam on a porous plate to let it cool before serving.
Serve appams with kerala vegetable stew for breakfast or dinner.

Notes

Both idli or dosa rice work well in this recipe. I’ve also used sona masoori rice in a pinch.
Tender coconut water to soak and grind the batter works best but if you absolutely can’t source it, please use regular water instead
Grind in batches if your blender cannot take all ingredients at once.
If you’d like to ferment the batter overnight, don’t add sugar or salt. Refrigerate the batter overnight. Remove it from the fridge two hours before cooking, mix both sugar and salt and let it come to room temperature. You’ll see bubbles when it's ready to cook with.
One very essential item for making appams is the appam kadai. It's wider and more shallow than a regular kadhai. It's easily available on Amazon and in most grocery stores.
Appam kadai should be medium hot while making appams. If the kadai is too hot, the appams will not spread properly.

Nutrition