How to Make Spongy Appam with Yeast - Kerala Appam Recipe

Kerala appam or aappam is a thing of beauty. It's the perfect embodiment of what Kerala breakfast recipes are all about - rice flour, some fermenting, light on the stomach, easily digestible, and also, a bit time-consuming to prepare than pouring cereal into a bowl. I rarely make appam at home and so, the different variations of appam recipes you see in here including this appam recipe without yeast are all from my mom's kitchen. Served with Kerala kadala curry or this Kerala egg roast, appam is quite a breakfast treat!

Preparing appam at home is not the easiest thing but the steps to make them are quite straight-forward. If you follow them systematically and also ensure optimum fermenting environment (this can be a challenge in colder places), then you will be rewarded with spongy, soft, lacy appams. I have resorted to instant appam powders for my appam needs many times and while it's not exactly the real deal, it saves me from the occasional appam craving satisfactorily. There's also a quick way to make appam from rice flour but that's a recipe for another day.

You need coconut milk to make appam and it's best if you make coconut milk at home, fresh. However, store-bought ones work as a decent substitute. Please don't use the coconut milk powder though. The flavour of those things is way off, in my opinion.

You may also like to check out how to make dosa batter, how to make appam without yeast, easy idli batter recipe, and how to make poori.

KERALA APPAM WITH YEAST

Preparation time: 4 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes ~15 appam
Recipe source: my mom

INGREDIENTS
2 cups raw rice
3 cups grated coconut (or 4 cups coconut milk)
1/2 tsp instant yeast (or 1 tsp active dry)
2 tbsp sugar
Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Soak 2 cups of raw rice for 1-1.5 hours.

2. In the meantime, prepare your coconut milk if you are making it fresh. Start with 3 cups of grated coconut and add enough water to extract 4 cups coconut milk from this. There's no need to separate out into first milk, second milk, etc. Check the coconut milk recipe post if you are unsure what I am talking about.

3. Reserve 1 cup coconut milk aside. Add the remaining to the soaked raw rice and grind to a smooth paste. You can use a wet grinder or a blender/food processor. If you feel the quantity of coconut milk is not enough to grind the rice, add required amount of water.

4. Once the rice mixture is smooth, take 2 tablespoon of it and add to the reserved coconut milk + 1 more cup of water. Bring this mixture to boil and let it thicken into a paste (sorry, I don't have a picture of this!). Let it cool down completely.

5. Once that mixture is completely cooled, turn your blender/grinder back on and add it to the ground rice flour mixture along with 1/2 tsp instant yeast (1 tsp if using active dry or any other kind) and grind for another couple minutes.

6. Transfer batter to a vessel and keep covered at room temperature (between 26C to 32C) for about 4 hours and then refrigerate until you need it.

7. Before cooking the appam, add salt to taste and 2 tbsp sugar as soon as it�s out of the fridge. If the batter is too thick, add water to bring it to the right consistency and let it come to room temperature before use.

Appam batter should be quite light so that when you use the swirling technique, the edges are light and crisp. If your batter is thicker, you get appam of more uniform thickness and sponginess. We like it somewhere in between.

Check this video if you are unfamiliar with how to make appam in an appam pan or kadai with the swirling technique.

Remember to cook covered until the appam is cooked through and spongy. There's no need to flip them. Keep flame medium-low at all times.

It's best to use up all the batter once you have added salt and sugar. If you want to reserve some for later, add salt and sugar only to the amount of batter you require to use up immediately and refrigerate the rest. Serve with Kerala kadala curry for appam which is a spicy version with coriander and chillies, a nd sweetened coconut milk,. Delicious Kerala breakfast ready!

Eggless Mango Ice Cream Recipe, Condensed Milk Mango Ice Cream

Eggless mango ice cream using just three ingredients, including condensed milk that needs no machine, no cooking and no churning. Yep, pretty magical those words sound to me too. I was sent the recipe for this super easy mango ice cream recipe by Parmeeta and I finally got to making it. Although I love using my ice-cream maker for homemade ice-cream, there's something to be said for the simplicity of a no-churn ice-cream with just three ingredients.

When making any ice-cream at home, one of the key things to keep in mind is that it shouldn't have any water crystals as it freezes (unless you are making granita). The usual technique if you don't have an ice-cream maker and still want to make ice-cream at home, is to use your blender and whip the ice-cream mixture 2-3 times as it freezes. Obviously, this is a bit of a pain to do and the process doesn't appeal to me at all, mainly because I'd forget to do it. So I was going the ice-cream maker route all this while (here's what I use and love), remembering to freeze the ice-cream maker vessel 24-48 hours ahead all the rest of it.

However, this technique of making ice-cream with condensed milk and cream works really well with almost no crystals at all although you only blend the ice-cream mixture once. Once, you guys! That's pretty amazing, isn't it? You can adapt this basic recipe to include whatever flavours you'd like, like adding 1/2 cup of espresso for a coffee ice-cream, or other fruit purees, or even chocolate sauce, jams, nuts, chocolate chips, the possibilities are endless.

You may also want to check out my chocolate ice-cream recipe, this delicious blueberry cheesecake ice-cream recipe, and some of my favourite easy desserts like this vanilla panna cotta, eggless condensed milk pudding, and of course, the ever-popular mango cheesecake recipe.

EGGLESS CONDENSED MILK MANGO ICE-CREAM RECIPE

Preparation time: 4 hours
Makes ~4 cups

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cream (at least 35% fat content)
1 cup condensed milk
1 cup mango puree (fresh or canned)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Blend 1 cup cream until it slightly thickens. Don't over do this, otherwise you will churn the butter out of the cream!

2. Add 1 cup condensed milk and mangoes (or 1 cup puree) to this

and blend again until well combined.

3. Pour into a plastic or glass container with a tight lid. Cover and freeze for at least 4 hours.

You don't have to blend it more than once since no crystals will form with this method.

Notes:

• Allow the ice-cream to sit outside for 3-4 mins before trying to scoop
• I found the mango ice-cream quite sweet so next time I'd add more cream or reduce the amount of condensed milk. I also felt the ice-cream had a distinct condensed milk flavour which is not a bad thing at all, but made this taste a bit more like kulfi and less like ice-cream. More cream should fix this
• The colour of my mango ice cream is not very deep because of the kind of mangoes I used. The mango flavour was strong enough though so don't let the depth of colour deter you in case yours turns out the same way
• Use your own flavourings and imagination to create your own unique combinations and flavours

Vada Pav Recipe - How to Make Mumbai Vada Pav (Batata Pav)

Vada Pav is often likened to an Indian-style burger. While a vada pav does resemble a burger in the way it's assembled, a well-made vada pav couldn't be more different in taste to a burger. Even when you make vada pav at home with burger buns like I did because you don't live in a country where pav is available in a nearby store and of course, making pav at home is not always an option, is it?

{For vada pav recipe in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, etc, please use the Google Translate button in the sidebar}.

It's time for a confession now. Although I am as Indian as they come, I hadn't eaten my first vada pav until I had moved to Singapore. There's a restaurant called Makan Mumbai that sells a mean vada pav and we'd get them to cater Diwali parties at work where vada pav would be the centre-table snack along with a large thermos of masala chai.

One of the striking things and my favourite part of a vada pav is the spicy dry garlic chutney it comes with. It's a necessary accompaniment so sprinkle a generous amount while you assemble your vada pav. You also need some green chaat chutney so get started on that too. Both of these can be made ahead if you are cooking for a larger group.

While vada pav is popular as a roadside snack, we had ours for lunch one Saturday. A good generous portion with large batata vadas (potato vada), soft buns, green chutney, and of course the red garlic chutney. What a treat!

Also check out how to make pav at home, recipe for pav bhaji, and some spicy tawa pulao if you are in the mood for some Mumabi-style street food.

MUMBAI VADA PAV RECIPE

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Makes 6 vada pav

To make the batata vada or potato vada:

1. Boil or steam 2 potatoes until tender. A fork inserted should go in easily.

2. Set aside to cool and then mash without any big lumps.

3. Grind together - 2 green chillies, 2 cloves of garlic, and a small piece of ginger to a coarse paste.

4. Heat 2 tsp oil and add 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds and a few curry leaves. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the chilli-garlic-ginger paste and fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.

5. Then, add the mashed potatoes, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, a pinch of hing or asafoetida, and salt to taste.

6. Turn off flame and mix well until the mixture is well combined. Don't add any water, the batata vada mixture should be thick.

7. Now we make the outer coating for the batata vada. Place 1 cup besan (gram flour), 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, a pinch of baking soda, and some salt in a bowl. Mix well to combine.

8. Add enough water to make a thick paste as seen below.

9. Divide the cooled potato mixture into 6 equal balls and coat in the prepared batter.

10. Heat enough oil in a kadai or wok to deep fry the vada. When the oil reaches smoking point, gently drop the batata vada into it. Some besan coating will go astray and that's ok, because I say so.

Once the vada is golden brown, drain and set aside on kitchen napkins.

You can also fry some green chillies to serve alongside, in true Mumbai vada pav fashion. Take care though, fresh chilies tend to burst in hot oil.

To assemble the vada pav:

Place a generous amount of green chutney on one side of the pav or burger bun. Place a batata vada over it and top off with a generous sprinkle of garlic chutney.

Serve with fried green chillies for those who want an extra spice kick. Some ketchup would go well with vada pav too.

Note: I have tried to write this recipe in a different style by not adding a list of ingredients in the beginning but rather, mentioning the ingredients and quantities with the instructions. I feel this is useful for me personally as I follow a recipe as I cook and I have heard this feedback from some of you too. Let me know if you miss the ingredients list though!

Dry Garlic Chutney Recipe - Spicy Red Garlic Chutney for Vada Pav

There are a few variations to make a good garlic chutney but this dry spicy red garlic chutney is a Maharashtrian special specifically made to serve with vada pav, a popular street food from Mumbai that involves a potato bonda stuffed between two pav or burger buns and adored with this garlic chutney and green chutney. Also called teeka chutney or lasoon chutney, this dry garlic chutney is very easy to make and is a necessary ingredient when putting together a homemade vada pav recipe.

Typically, copra or dried coconut meat is used to make this garlic chutney. Dried coconut gives the chutney a deeper coconut flavour, drier texture, and also a longer shelf life. Since copra is not something that's available everywhere in Sydney, I went with what I thought is a great substitute - desiccated coconut. Desiccated coconut is drier than copra so I made up for it by adding some coconut oil to the chutney after grinding.

The resultant garlic chutney was perfectly dry, red, and had a deep coconut-garlic flavour that went so well with my homemade vada pav. In fact, this chutney is very similar to a dry coconut chutney my mom makes (it was my paternal grandfather's favourite) called thekkaya podi or coconut podi, the only addition being fresh curry leaves to the chutney. That goes really well with plain dosa or wheat dosa. But, I digress. now, we are focused on making the perfect spicy red dry garlic chutney for vada pav so on to it.

I have a number of chutney recipes in the site and you can find the entire list here. Here are my top three favourites.

1. Coconut Chutney for Idli Dosa
2. Onion Tomato Chutney
3. Hotel-Style Coconut Chutney

DRY GARLIC CHUTNEY RECIPE

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Makes 1/2 cup

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
1 tsp coconut oil
2 flakes of garlic (more if using the smaller variety)
Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Grind the coconut, garlic, salt, and chilli powder together to a coarse powder. Add coconut oil and mix well. Adjust salt and chilli powder to your liking.

This garlic chutney is best served with vada pav but if you add a fistful of fresh curry leaves to this, it goes fabulous with dosa and idli too. Now, go check out how to make vada pav!

Mushroom Tikki Recipe - Veg Mushroom Tikkis or Cutlets

TH and I have vegetarian burgers for dinner occasionally and I also make the vegetable patties for burger the same way more or less. It's a tried and tested recipe and we like it. However, I recently tried a new mushroom tikki recipe and it turned out really fab so the next time we make vegetable burgers, I may just make larger mushroom patties with this recipe and try it instead - they were that good!

These mushroom tikkis were adapted from a recipe in the new Anjum Anand book I was sent a copy of - Anjum's Quick and Easy Indian - which incidentally has one of the prettiest covers on a cookbook I have seen. I leafed through all the recipes so here's a mini review.

The Good:

• The recipes are all very easy and I didn't see anything that will take longer than 30 mins, true to the title of the book
• Most of the recipes have an image to go with it which is a big deal for me since I like to visually see how a finished dish looks like
• The book is sturdy but not heavy so its easy to use in the kitchen and carry it around
• The section on Indian tapas is my favourite and the idea to use Vietnamese rice paper rolls with Indian masala dosa filling? Brilliant!

The Not-So-Good

• A majority of the recipes are not vegetarian so if you are vegetarian, then this book may not be for you. You can adapt and vegetarianise, of course
• The ingredients used may not be easily and cheaply available in India and in many cases, you don't need to use these shortcuts if you live in India so I'd say this book is best for NRIs that want quick and easy shortcuts to cook Indian food

All that said, these mushroom tikkis didn't take long to put together and they turned out quite good. If you and your guests like mushrooms, it's great as a party food or an appetizer for a lunch or dinner party you host at home. In fact, this book has a number of recipes to help you in these situations.

Looking for more party-friendly food? Check out 10 snack recipes under 15 minutes and more mushroom recipes too if you love cooking with them as much as I do.

MUSHROOM TIKKI RECIPE

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes ~10 small tikkis
Adapted from: Anjum's Quick and Easy Indian

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup finely chopped oyster mushrooms
1 cup finely chopped shitake mushrooms
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp red chilli powder or 1 green chilli, minced
2 tbsp minced coriander leaves (cilantro)
1/2 tsp garam masala or Kitchen King masala
1/4 tsp roasted cumin powder (jeera)
A sprinkle of freshly cracked black pepper (optional)
2-3 tbsp gram flour (besan)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Salt to taste
Oil for shallow frying

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Add 1 tsp oil to a pan and add the mushrooms and some salt. Saute until the mushrooms let out water and the water evaporates. Adding salt brings out the moisture from the mushrooms so when we fry the tikkis, it won't be moist and absorb too much oil

2. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for another 30 seconds until fragrant. Remove and transfer this to a bowl.

3. In a small dry skillet, dry roast 3 tbsp gram flour (besan) until it turns a slightly darker shade (not more than 3-4 mins)

4. Add 2 tbsp of the gram flour to the mushroom mixture and mix well. We can add the remaining later if we need it (I did).

5. Now add all the remaining ingredients except breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly.

The resultant mixture should not be too wet or moist and you should be able to easily shape small tikkis or cutlets. I found mine to be too moist so I added the remaining gram flour and also about 3 tbsp of breadcrumbs.

6. Heat enough oil in a skillet to submerge your tikkis halfway. Shape the tikkis into whatever size you prefer, coat generously with bread crumbs, and fry in the oil until golden brown.

Serve hot with mint coriander green chutney or ketchup.

Notes:
- You can use any type of mushrooms you prefer but shitake is a good addition due to its meaty texture. Button mushrooms have too much moisture so they will really cook down a lot in the first step, take care to use enough
- Dipping the tikkis in bread crumbs and then frying resulted in some of the coating getting into the oil. This annoyed me so I added bread crumbs to the mixture itself, shaped, fried directly. This worked better for me
- Bits of green chillies in our tikkis annoy us so I used red chilli powder but the choice is up to you
- If your curd is slightly sour, that works better since it gives more of a sour tinge to the tikkis

Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post. I did receive a copy of the cookbook but all opinions, burnt tikkis, and typos are my own.

Microwave Banana Chips - Healthy Raw Banana Chips Recipe

Freshly fried hot chips is a beautiful, delicious thing and we all know that. TH is a huge chips lover and when we used to live in Hyderabad, he'd go to the fresh chips stalls and get a small batch every 2-3 days to eat with pepper rasam and rice. This is one of those vices that caught on to me from him and I love that combination. While I have nothing against deep frying in general, making chips in the microwave consumes way less oil and more importantly, creates much less of a mess. However, there's no other way I'd eat Kerala banana chips than fried in fragrant coconut oil. Just saying.

I used some spice mixes to flavour these chips up, kindly provided by McCormicks Australia. McCormicks is a popular spice brand and I have used different blends from them in the past but I discovered a few lovely flavours in the gift pack I received, namely chilli lime and garlic chilli. Adding a few pinches to these chips as they cook in the microwave elevates it to the next level. McCormicks has also forecasted the flavour trends that are sure to rock the food world in months to come and I have picked my favourite trend - Modern Masala - which talks about modern interpretations of Indian flavours. Log on to their website to share your own story and you will also be helping a good cause.

One thing I'd highly recommend is using a mandoline or food processor to slice the raw bananas. You need to get it fairly thin and as uniform as possible so doing it by hand is surely not going to cut it (bad pun, sorry!). I used the food processor on the thinnest slicer which was, in retrospect, too thin so keep it moderately thin and you should be good.

I used chilli lime and garlic chilli spices to flavour it up along with some salt but you can very well just keep it simple by adding freshly cracked black pepper and leaving it at that. Check out more easy snack recipes on Edible Garden.

MICROWAVE RAW BANANA CHIPS RECIPE

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes 4 cups

INGREDIENTS:
2 raw bananas, peeled and sliced thin
1 tsp salt (use to taste)
2-3 tsp masala and flavours of choice
1-2 tbsp oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Generously oil a microwave-safe plate and lay one batch of banana pieces on it without overlapping

2. Microwave for one minute on high. You will notice the banana releasing moisture and turning soft.

3. Turn each piece over carefully and sprinkle flavours/masala of choice along with salt.

4. Microwave on high for 2 more mins, pausing after the first minute and then continuing again. At this point, the chips will be crisp and done. If not, give it another 30 seconds or so (this will depend on your microwave so test as you go).

Serve immediately.

NOTES:

1. It's important to turn over each piece after the first round of microwaving. The pieces will stick to the plate as they cook and this will largely prevent it. Also remember to grease the plate generously before you start
2. If you cut the banana pieces too thin, they will break as you cook so keep it only moderately thin
3. You can keep the chips in an airtight container up to one day and it'll remain fresh
4. This method of making chips is definitely more time-consuming than frying them in batches in hot oil but arguably, this is healthier and also, kinda fun
5. You can give microwave potato chips a go using the same method, do let me know if you try it

The flavour pack from McCormick AU