When we were kids mom used to make a lot of the typical Karnataka dishes both sweet and savoury...but slowly our cuisine changed incorporating a lot of Mumbai cosmopolitan flavours and tastes, our neighbours were a mixed lot and it was from them that she picked up new dishes, recipes, masalas etc...
Many of the south dishes are time consuming to make, most involve soaking, grinding etc...earlier most of our veg curries included coconut which had to be ground to a paste with other spices ( so the first step is to grate the coconut before even grinding)...and me and my brother and sister were pressed into service ...we had the old stone grinder ...where in we had to sit on the floor and rotate the oval stone in one hand over the base which had a flat portion and centre hollow...not sure I am explaining it properly enough - and do not have a picture of the same...suffice to say that it was not an easy task...but according to Mom it would not taste the same if ground in an electric grinder...
Even our idli and dosa batter were ground the same way...
Later we started using the electric grinder for all our tasks - age and lack of time contributed to the change ..I think....
But as I mentioned all these south delicacies reduced to quite an extent and our general fare was quick and easy meals....
Recently we moved from our apartment ( due to redevelopment of the building complex ) to another part of Mumbai...our new apartment was quite close to a cousin's place - my Dad's nephew V....his wife (A) is a very lovely lady who still makes all the traditional dishes of Karnataka and since we are now close by she drops in at Mom's place often with some dish in tow...
Mom relishes all of them...and it tempted me to try it out too...one of them being the sweet appam.
My first few attempts after checking out a few recipes on the net did not turn out as good as ...so checked back with A...and with a few tips managed to turn out a reasonable dish...
So here's the recipe for the same...
Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1/2 cup grated coconut or tender coconut
1/2 cup jaggery
2-3 pods of cardamom
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 ripe banana
a pinch of salt
Method :
1) Soak rice for 2-3 hrs along with the fenugreek seeds.
2) Dry roast sesame seeds in a pan.
3) Chop jaggery and mash the banana and crush cardamom seeds.
4) Drain rice, and blend in a mixer/grinder along with fenugreek seeds with very little water.
5) Once the rice is ground fine, add the coconut and banana and jaggery and grind it all together. Add the salt. Check for taste.
6) Keep the above mixture for 6-8 hrs. or overnight.
Once fermented it can be made in the following ways...
1) Heat oil in a pan and drop spoonfuls of the mixture and fry it till both sides are golden yellow.
OR
2) Put spoonfuls of the mixture in the paniyaram ( a special dish to cook the appams ) after putting a drop of oil in each of the slots...and cook on both sides till golden brown.
OR
3) Take a non-stick pan - put about 2 tablespoons of oil and smear the entire surface...put spoonfuls of the mixture and spread to make mini dosas of the same - this looks like mini uttapams - but this is the sweet version.
Either of the above methods work out fine...and gives you a delicious treat.
Tip : Add 1-2 Tblspns of cooked rice or thin powa soaked in water. This helps in fermenting and making the appam very soft.
Enjoy !!!
I have made this quite a few times since - sometimes with great results, sometimes not so much...once I had some extra tender coconut and added it all - and the batter fermented a little extra causing it to stick to the paniyaram - and thus arose my mini sweet dosa appam...the third option.
I feel most of the new ideas and dishes and recipes come out of some error in original dish :-)
Anyways hope you get to try this out and have great success too...here's thanking A for the recipe and for the pleasure she and her amazing children's company have given my parents and us...
Many of the south dishes are time consuming to make, most involve soaking, grinding etc...earlier most of our veg curries included coconut which had to be ground to a paste with other spices ( so the first step is to grate the coconut before even grinding)...and me and my brother and sister were pressed into service ...we had the old stone grinder ...where in we had to sit on the floor and rotate the oval stone in one hand over the base which had a flat portion and centre hollow...not sure I am explaining it properly enough - and do not have a picture of the same...suffice to say that it was not an easy task...but according to Mom it would not taste the same if ground in an electric grinder...
Even our idli and dosa batter were ground the same way...
Later we started using the electric grinder for all our tasks - age and lack of time contributed to the change ..I think....
But as I mentioned all these south delicacies reduced to quite an extent and our general fare was quick and easy meals....
Recently we moved from our apartment ( due to redevelopment of the building complex ) to another part of Mumbai...our new apartment was quite close to a cousin's place - my Dad's nephew V....his wife (A) is a very lovely lady who still makes all the traditional dishes of Karnataka and since we are now close by she drops in at Mom's place often with some dish in tow...
Mom relishes all of them...and it tempted me to try it out too...one of them being the sweet appam.
My first few attempts after checking out a few recipes on the net did not turn out as good as ...so checked back with A...and with a few tips managed to turn out a reasonable dish...
So here's the recipe for the same...
Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1/2 cup grated coconut or tender coconut
1/2 cup jaggery
2-3 pods of cardamom
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 ripe banana
a pinch of salt
Method :
1) Soak rice for 2-3 hrs along with the fenugreek seeds.
2) Dry roast sesame seeds in a pan.
3) Chop jaggery and mash the banana and crush cardamom seeds.
4) Drain rice, and blend in a mixer/grinder along with fenugreek seeds with very little water.
5) Once the rice is ground fine, add the coconut and banana and jaggery and grind it all together. Add the salt. Check for taste.
6) Keep the above mixture for 6-8 hrs. or overnight.
Once fermented it can be made in the following ways...
1) Heat oil in a pan and drop spoonfuls of the mixture and fry it till both sides are golden yellow.
OR
2) Put spoonfuls of the mixture in the paniyaram ( a special dish to cook the appams ) after putting a drop of oil in each of the slots...and cook on both sides till golden brown.
OR
3) Take a non-stick pan - put about 2 tablespoons of oil and smear the entire surface...put spoonfuls of the mixture and spread to make mini dosas of the same - this looks like mini uttapams - but this is the sweet version.
Either of the above methods work out fine...and gives you a delicious treat.
Tip : Add 1-2 Tblspns of cooked rice or thin powa soaked in water. This helps in fermenting and making the appam very soft.
Enjoy !!!
I have made this quite a few times since - sometimes with great results, sometimes not so much...once I had some extra tender coconut and added it all - and the batter fermented a little extra causing it to stick to the paniyaram - and thus arose my mini sweet dosa appam...the third option.
I feel most of the new ideas and dishes and recipes come out of some error in original dish :-)
Anyways hope you get to try this out and have great success too...here's thanking A for the recipe and for the pleasure she and her amazing children's company have given my parents and us...
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