VELLAYAPPAM

Dish of the Day- Vellayappam
Place- Kerala

This post is dedicated to all the dosa lovers who were disppointed that my blog would have nothing to do with their favourite South Indian snack.

Vellayappam is the Kerala variant of a traditional dosa that we all are so familiar with. It's a crisp rice dosa- like item which is fried in a shallow wok: very different from the flat pan of the dosa.

Appam/ aapam (the pronunciation varies depending on the region) is a South indian pancake that has many different types, depending on what stuffing goes into it or how it served.

If the appam is made out of curly spirals of rice noodles, it's called idiyappam (Kerala)
When mashed plantains are put into the batter, it becomes unni appam. (Kerala)
With a rawa filling, it is sujiappam. (Andhra Pradesh)
Suppose the appam is made on a stone griddle, it has the name kallappam. (Tamilnadu)

Like I've said in the Ishtoo recipe, Vellayappam tastes best when dipped in Ishtoo.
Some non- vegetarians like substituting the ishtoo with fish/ mutton curry.

How to Cook it Up:-

Rice.....................................2 cups washed n soaked in water for 4 to 5 hrs
Fresh grated coconut.....1 cup
Cooked rice ......................1/4 cup
Yeast..................................1/2
Sugar..................................2 tsps
Salt to taste
Oil


* The batter should not be too runny, so that the dosas come out crisp.
Directions:-


1) Grind the raw rice, coconut and cooked rice to a batter. 
2) Take a cup of warm water and add sugar and yeast to it. When the yeast begins to activate, pour this into the batter.
3) Let the batter with the yeast in it rest for about 3-4 hours in a warm place so that it can ferment.
4) Once the dough is fermented, it would've risen to twice the quantity. Stir it well.
5) Then heat the shallow wok to make the vellayappam. Grease the pan with a cloth dipped in oil.
6) Pour a ladleful of batter into the centre and holding the wok from both the sides, tilt it so that the batter gets smeared all over the wok.
7) Let it cook on low heat for a few minutes and once it's done, scrape it off with the a dosa pick.


Vellayapam is soft in the centre and papery thin and crisp on the sides.