What Is Appam/Palappam Or Vellayappam?
Vellayappam recipe Kerala style also known popularly by names vellappam recipe or palappam recipe or Kerala appam recipe is kind of South Indian style rice pancakes or crepes made using white rice and coconut as the main ingredients. Appam is made of white rice as the primary main ingredient (which is grind into a batter along with other ingredients) and this is a traditional South Indian (Kerala style) rice pancake which is gluten free as well as vegan (usually). You can also made these delicious appam or palappam using rice flour instead of using raw rice. You can see more Indian Kerala recipes here.
This makes a very simple and yummy Kerala style breakfast which is very popular for Christmas and Easter too.
Serve with any of your favorite curry or try this Kerala style egg roast, onion egg curry, tomato egg curry, kadala curry etc.
Vellayappam or palappam is also traditionally known as kallappam when made using fresh toddy.
This post also explains how to make appam or palappam without an appam maker or appam pan if you do not have one with you.
How To Make Appam Or Vellayappam?
This simple vellayappam or palappam or Kerala appam recipe uses yeast for fermentation of the rice batter, to prepare delicious gluten free Kerala style pancakes.
The rice & coconut based batter is fermented (using yeast or other methods) and made in to delicious pancakes in a specifically made pan to make appams, which is known as appam pan or appachatti.
I have similar semolina yeast pancakes recipe here (that one is not gluten free though) which is very similar to these Kerala style appams.
You can also make appam without appam pan or appam maker popularly known as appam chatti or pan, the only difference would be that the traditional pancakes made in the appam pans will have a more thick but soft center but the outside will be more lacy and crispy.
You can buy appam maker from below link if you wish, however if you have an induction top this type of appam maker may not work as the bottom of the pan is curved.
You can buy appam maker here if you wish
If you have an induction stove, it is best to use a small pan with lid which can be used to make the rice pancakes although the middle of the pancakes will be a little flat, slightly different from the traditional ones.
The appams made in a regular small sized pan will be still delicious but the center part won’t be much thicker like the traditional ones, rather the center will be mostly quite flat and uniform in texture like the rest of the area of the pancakes made.
The best option is to use an appam pan also known as appam chatti. However, just because you don’t have appam pan doesn’t mean you can’t make appams. You can make delicious rice pancakes in regular small sized pans too.
What Are The Main Ingredients Needed For Making Vellayappam? What Is Appam Made Of?
In this vellayappam recipe Kerala style, we use white raw rice, grated coconut and yeast as the main ingredients along with few other ingredients to make appams more soft and delicious.
There are quite a few different ways to make these Kerala style rice pancakes and the ingredients used, method of making and the names used for each recipe may differ from region to region.
Basically they are very yummy, soft and very unique textured fermented rice pancakes made using white rice, coconut and maybe yeast (yeast free recipes are also there).
So here is how you can make this appam/palappam or vellayappam following this vellayappam recipe Kerala style using rice, yeast and coconut.
Ingredients used:
2 cups white rice raw rice or idli rice
¾ cup grated fresh coconut or unsweetened shredded dried coconut
2 ¼ teaspoons yeast (active dry yeast or instant yeast will work)
1 cup cooked rice (preferrably leftover cooked white rice)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
water 2 cups or a little more as needed for soaking rice and grinding the batter
warm water ¾ cup for dissolving yeast (make sure not to use hot water, it should be only slightly warm)
Step by step instructions
To make the batter
Wash the white rice and soak the white rice in enough water for at least 5 to 6 hours.
Grind the white rice smoothly using a food processor or a good quality blender with just enough water to make the batter (I usually use the same water used for soaking rice but do not add all the water initially, just add enough water only as it is needed to grind the batter).
Add the salt, sugar and grated coconut and grind or blend the contents again until the coconut is well blended with the rice batter.
Add the cooked rice also the contents and grind or blend until the mixture is smooth.
Add enough water in case the water is less so you can make the perfect batter for making the Kerala style rice pancakes.
The consistency of the batter should be like the consistency of dosa batter or a little more liquid like consistency than regular pancake batters.
If the batter is too thin or too thick, the pancakes or vellayappam may not come right.
Transfer the batter to a good quality large container (the batter will rise) with enough space to hold the batter as it will rise.
Dissolve the dry yeast in the ¾ cup warm water.
You can also add a little of the prepared batter to the warm water to form a mixture, to which you can stir in the yeast.
Let this yeast mixture rest for about 10 minutes, so you can keep it covered.
After about 10 minutes, you can see that the yeast has dissolved and the yeast mixture has become bubbly.
Add the prepared yeast mixture to the batter and mix the contents very well.
Now the batter is prepared but it need to ferment and rise.
Keep the contents closed for fermentation for another 8 to 10 hours or until the batter is fermented well. The batter will get better if you keep it for fermentation for a few more hours.
When I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast, I am usually able to ferment the batter in about 5 to 6 hours time which is even more quicker and easier!
The batter will get fermented naturally and rise under normal situations.
However if is too cold, you may turn on the heater for a few minutes which will help the batter to rise. Also, if you are in colder places, it may take more hours for the batter to get fermented and rise.
Once the batter is fermented, you can see that tiny bubbles have formed in the batter and the batter has risen.
Gently mix the contents and now the pancake batter is ready to be used!
To make appam/vellayappam or palappam
As I mentioned above, appam pan or appam chatti is the best pan specifically designed to make Kerala style rice pancakes known as appam, vellayappam or palappam.
However you can make this appam (with little flat centers) using a small sized regular pan too.
If you use a regular small pan, make sure you have a lid for the pan, as we cook these pancakes with the pan covered using the lid.
Heat the appam pan or regular pan in the stove in medium heat.
Greasing the pan with little oil is not necessary, but it may be a good idea to avoid sticking the pancakes in the pan.
Once the pan is hot, take a full ladle of batter and pour it into the hot pan. Give it two to three seconds to settle on the middle of the pan and then take the pan in your hands while holding on the handles, and gently swirl the pan around to spread the batter all around the pan, which will help to form lacy thin edges for your pancakes.
After swirling around the pan to spread the batter, immediately keep the pan back in the stove.
Cover the pan with lid and cook in low to medium heat for a few minutes until the pancake is cooked and the lacy edges begin to stick out of the pan.
The pancakes will usually have lacy thin edges with a much softer middle inside.
Gently transfer the cooked pancakes out of the pancakes to the serving plate or a container using a good quality spatula.
Similarly cook all rice pancakes or vellayappam one by one as much as you need.
Alternative easy way to make vellayappam
Heat an iron pan or skillet and lightly grease with oil (only needed for the first time, then use oil if needed).
When the pan is hot enough, pour a ladle full of batter (do not pour more than once). The batter will spread naturally and so many holes will form on the surface.
Cover the pan with lid and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the appam is cooked. Transfer the cooked appam (it should come off easily from the pan) to the serving plate.
Similarly cook all appams until all the batter is finished. This is an easy way to make appam or vellayappam if you do not want to swirl the appam or pancakes to make the lacy edges.
These will be very soft, white in color and have a lot of holes on top and very delicious too!
NOTES:
You can save the remaining batter in the refrigerator for a few days for later use. Serve the soft and yummy rice pancakes or vellayappam with any curry as you wish.
The popular combinations for vellayappam includes Kerala style potato stew, potato curry, green peas potato curry, tomato onion curry, egg roast without gravy, Kerala style egg curry or thoran chutney for appam.
Troubleshooting tip: if the batter is too runny the appam won’t turn out good and it will be difficult to make the appam. The consistency of the batter is much like the dosa batter consistency.
If the appam is sticking to the pan when you try to make appam (sometimes this can happen for the first appam that you make) using the traditional swirling method to make the lacy edges, follow the second alternative method that I have given in the recipe card instructions where you just pour one ladle of batter and make the appam.
Also make sure to use a lightly greased iron pan or skillet for this, as appam usually comes off so easily when using an iron pan or skillet.
Below you can get the detailed recipe for making Indian Kerala style appam/vellayappam or palappam usin rice, coconut and yeast.
Appam Recipe (Vellayappam) – Indian Kerala Style Rice Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups white rice raw rice or idli rice
- ¾ cup coconut grated fresh coconut or unsweetened shredded dried coconut
- 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast active dry yeast or instant yeast will work
- 1 cup cooked rice preferrably leftover cooked white rice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups water or a little more as needed for soaking rice and grinding the batter
- ¾ cup warm water for dissolving yeast (do not use hot water, it should be only slightly warm)
Instructions
To make the batter
- Wash the white rice and soak the white rice in enough water for at least 5 to 6 hours.
- Grind the white rice smoothly using a food processor or a good quality blender with just enough water to make the batter (I usually use the same water used for soaking rice but do not add all the water initially, just add enough water only as it is needed to grind the batter).
- Add the salt, sugar and grated coconut and grind or blend the contents again until the coconut is well blended with the rice batter.
- Add the cooked rice also the contents and grind or blend until the mixture is smooth.Add enough water in case the water is less so you can make the perfect batter for making the Kerala style rice pancakes.The consistency of the batter should be like the consistency of dosa batter or a little more liquid like consistency than regular pancake batters. If the batter is too thin or too thick, the pancakes or vellayappam may not come right.
- Transfer the batter to a good quality large container (the batter will rise) with enough space to hold the batter as it will rise.
- Dissolve the dry yeast in the ¾ cup warm water. You can also add a little of the prepared batter to the warm water to form a mixture, to which you can stir in the yeast. Let this yeast mixture rest for about 10 minutes, so you can keep it covered.
- After about 10 minutes, you can see that the yeast has dissolved and the yeast mixture has become bubbly.
- Add the prepared yeast mixture to the batter and mix the contents very well.Now the batter is prepared but it need to ferment and rise.
- Keep the contents closed for fermentation for another 8 to 10 hours or until the batter is fermented well. The batter will get better if you keep it for fermentation for a few more hours.When I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast, I am usually able to ferment the batter in about 5 to 6 hours time which is even more quicker and easier!
- The batter will get fermented naturally and rise under normal situations. However if is too cold, you may turn on the heater for a few minutes which will help the batter to rise. Also, if you are in colder places, it may take more hours for the batter to get fermented and rise.
- Once the batter is fermented, you can see that tiny bubbles have formed in the batter and the batter has risen. Gently mix the contents and now the pancake batter is ready to be used!
To make appam/vellayappam or palappam
- As I mentioned above, appam pan or appam chatti is the best pan specifically designed to make Kerala style rice pancakes known as appam, vellayappam or palappam. However you can make this appam (with little flat centers) using a small sized regular pan too. If you use a regular small pan, make sure you have a lid for the pan, as we cook these pancakes with the pan covered using the lid.
- Heat the appam pan or regular pan in the stove in medium heat.
- Greasing the pan with little oil is not necessary, but it may be a good idea to avoid sticking the pancakes in the pan.
- Once the pan is hot, take a full ladle of batter and pour it into the hot pan. Give it two to three seconds to settle on the middle of the pan and then take the pan in your hands while holding on the handles, and gently swirl the pan around to spread the batter all around the pan, which will help to form lacy thin edges for your pancakes. After swirling around the pan to spread the batter, immediately keep the pan back in the stove.
- Cover the pan with lid and cook in low to medium heat for a few minutes until the pancake is cooked and the lacy edges begin to stick out of the pan.
- The pancakes will usually have lacy thin edges with a much softer middle inside.
- Gently transfer the cooked pancakes out of the pancakes to the serving plate or a container using a good quality spatula.
- Similarly cook all rice pancakes or vellayappam one by one as much as you need.
Alternative easy way to make vellayappam
- Heat an iron pan or skillet and lightly grease with oil (only needed for the first time, then use oil if needed).
- When the pan is hot enough, pour a ladle full of batter (do not pour more than once). The batter will spread naturally and so many holes will form on the surface.
- Cover the pan with lid and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the appam is cooked. Transfer the cooked appam (it should come off easily from the pan) to the serving plate. Similarly cook all appams until all the batter is finished. This is an easy way to make appam or vellayappam if you do not want to swirl the appam or pancakes to make the lacy edges. These will be very soft, white in color and have a lot of holes on top and very delicious too!
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