Aapam and Stew

Namo Narayana

We wish all our blog readers and fellow bloggers a very happy new year 2012. We are also excited to be writing our 200th post as the first post this New Year. This time, we decided to travel down south to God’s own country: Kerala and bring their most celebrated combo recipe: Aapam and stew.

Aapam

Ingredients:

Raw rice 2 cups
Cooked rice 1 tbsp
Grated fresh coconut 1 tbsp
Yeast ½tsp
Refined cooking oil/coconut oil
Pinch of Sugar
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and soak the raw rice for 2 hours.

Drain all the water from the rice through a sieve to ensure the rice is completely dry. Dry the rice for around an hour.

Soak yeast in a quarter cup of water for around 10 mins.

Powder the rice finely. Add grated fresh coconut, cooked rice to this rice powder and grind to a thick and fine paste (without adding any water).

Add the soaked yeast slowly to the rice paste, mixing the rice paste simultaneously. Add a pinch each of sugar and salt. Mix thoroughly and set to ferment for around 6-7 hours.

In a pan/kadai (bandli/mookudu) heat a tsp of the coconut oil, pour the fermented batter and spread evenly, so that the aapam gets the shape of the pan/kadai. Leave to bake and remove. Continue the process to make more aapams.

Hot Aapams are ready, now for the stew.

Vegetable Stew
Ingredients:

Carrot 2
Potato (Aloo) 2
Green peas (Batani) 1 cup
Onion (ullipaya) 1
Green chillies 2
Ginger paste 1 tsp
Peppercorns 1 tsp
Cardamoms (elaichi) 2
Cinnamon (Dal chini) 1
Cloves (laung) 2
Curry leaves 4-5
Coconut oil 1 tbsp
Coconut milk (kobbari paalu)extracted

Method:

Grind the grated coconut to a fine paste and squeeze to extract coconut milk. The first extraction should be the thick and the next one should be thin. Alternatively, coconut milk is available in the stores and is also usable. (The coconut leftover can be used for the aapam or for coconut chutney).

Peel and dice the carrots, potatoes and finely chop the onion.

Heat coconut oil in a pan/kadai (bandli/mookudu). Add cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, green chillies, ginger paste and chopped onions. Sauté until the onions are transparent.

Add the cubed veggies. Add the thin coconut milk extracted/coconut milk. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and cook until the veggies are cooked and soft. This should take around 8-10 mins.

If using the readily available coconut milk, then cook for another 5-10 mins until the stew thickens and remove from heat.

If using the extracted coconut milk, then add the thick extract and stir, cook for 2 mins and remove from heat.

Creamy and yummy, vegetable stew is ready to supplement the aapams. Garnish with fresh and chopped coriander (optional).

Enjoy the hot aapams and vegetable stew for a perfect Sunday breakfast, this weekend-A must after a hectic 1st week of the New Year. Have a great week and Year. You Sure will forget the dosai for a few weekends to come.

Thank you all for regularly visiting our blog and we promise and hope to bring many more healthy and tasty recipes.