Palappam (Kerala Rice Crepes)

Here is a long overdue post. Palappam (Rice Crepe) is a common Breakfast food in Kerala which is served with Vegetable or Meat Curries. I have been getting many requests for the traditional Palappam recipe made by soaking and grinding Rice. I used to make Palappams with Rice Flour but after having laid my hands on a lovely Preethi Mixie, I started grinding rice for Palappams. The recipe for Palappam varies from region to region or probably household to household. 🙂

Some use Grated Coconut, while other use Coconut Milk. Some use Whole Dairy Milk instead of Coconut Milk. Some use Yeast for fermentation while others use Coconut Water or Toddy.

Palappam is often served for Christian Weddings. It goes well with Fish Molee, Vegetable Stew, Egg Roast, Kerala Chicken Curry and so on.

Kerala Palappam

I make Appams for parties and whenever we have guests. Though it is time consuming, the end result is well worth the effort.

Ingredients

1. Raw Rice – 2 cups (Use any short or long grain rice)
2. Cooked Rice – 3/4 cup approx
3. Yeast – 1.5 to 2 tsp
4. Sugar – 1 tbsp + 3-4 tbsp or as needed
5. Salt – to taste
6. Thick Coconut Milk – 1/2 cup
7. Ice cubes – as needed
8. Water – as needed

Preparation Method

1. Soak the rice for atleast 6 hours or leave it overnight.
2. Wash and drain the rice and keep aside.
3. Dissolve the yeast and 1 tbsp sugar in 1/2 cup of lightly warm water. Keep it aside for ten minutes until it foams.
4. Next, you need to grind the rice in several batches. Grind around two handfuls of raw rice along with a few tablespoons of cooked rice and very little water. I add 2-3 ice cubes while grinding each batch to prevent the mixie from overheating. Grind until you get a smooth batter.
5. Transfer the batter to large bowl. Continue doing this with the remaining rice.
6. While grinding the last batch, add the yeast solution to the mixie.
7. Leave the batter in a warm place for 6-8 hours. I usually leave it overnight. Enusre that the bowl is large enough to prevent the batter from overflowing after fermentation.
8. The batter would have risen after fermentation and will look foamy. Stir the batter and check the consistency. Add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of coconut milk to make a batter of medium consistency. If the batter appears thin after fermentation, skip the coconut milk.
9. Add sugar as per desired sweetness (3-4 tbsp) and salt to taste. Mix everything together.
10. At this stage, you can start preparing the Appams with this batter or for extra lacy appams, leave the batter untouched for half an hour. The batter will froth and rise again. Spoon the foamy layer from the batter and transfer it to another dish. Use this foamy batter for making Appams.
11. Heat a Palappam Chatti and lightly grease it with oil.
12. Once the Palappam Chatti is hot, pour a ladle full of batter and swirl the pan in one direction so that the batter spreads to the edges.
13. Keep it covered and allow the Appam to cook for a few minutes.
14. Once cooked the edges of the appam will start separating from the pan. Remove the appam carefully with a spatula.

Note

• You may need to adjust the amount of cooked rice used in this recipe. If you use too much of boiled rice, the appams will become sticky. If the rice used is less, appams won’t be soft. Try using 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cooked rice but not more than that.
• While grinding the rice, try adding very little water. The unfermented batter should be thick as it will rise and thin out after fermentation.
• To make appams with brown laces, increase the amount of sugar.