Spongy Aapam without yeast or soda

My search for a perfect Aapam recipe came to an end. Not that amma good make lacy soft aapams but she always uses a pinch of cooking soda. I much strived to avoid it. Hence searched for several recipes both Tamilnadu and Kerala blogs and came decided upon a recipe.

I was much worried when grinding the batter and was praying the kitchen Gods to bless me. Finally when made the aapam after 18 hours of fermenting of the batter (ours is a hilly place and pretty cool these days. Usually the idli batter I grind takes 18 hours to get properly fermented.)

Hoila! The aapams were perfect lacy in the corners and spongy in the middles, they soaked with great love the coconut milk which I poured over them. The taste was perfect and no yeasted smell even a bit!

Hence wanted to record the recipe in the blog for the rest of the world! So here comes the recipe for Spongy, lacy aapams without cooking soda or yeast!

Spongy Aapam
This measurement gave around 25 medium sized aapams.

Ingredients:
Raw rice – 1.5 cup
Idli rice – 1.5 cup
Urad dal – 1/2 Cup
Coconut scraped – 1 Cup
Cooked rice – 1 fist ful
Fenugreek – 1/4 Cup
Salt – as required
Sugar – 1 Table spoon
Water of coconut – 1 Cup
How to make ?
Soak the rice for 3 hours. Soak the urad dal, fenugreek seeds combined separately for the same time. Grind first the dal mixture and once the batter is fluffy add the coconut scrapings. When the batter is smooth add the rice. Use the coconut water for grinding. Add the cooked rice and sugar and grind with additional water until the batter is slightly coarse. That is when u spread the batter between your index finger and thumb you should see rava like grains after
rubbing it 3 times. Take the batter and add enough water to make it thin (almost like dosa batter consistency / poring consistency). Let it ferment in a warm place. check after 12 hours and if many bubbles appear on the surface it is perfect for making appams. Else let it ferment for few more hours.

For coconut milk:
Grated coconut of 2 medium sized coconuts.
6-8 glasses of water
Cardamom powder 1 teaspoon
Salt 1/4 teaspoon
Rice flour (dry) 2 Table spoons

How to make?
Heat the water with salt until it starts boiling. Switch off. Grind the coconut with very little water to a thick paste. Add it to the hot water and cover the lid. Let it seep for 15 minutes. Filter it and squeeze the ground coconut to extract all milk. Take this again to stove top. Mix 1/4 cup of water and rice flour and add it to the coconut milk. Mix well. Add required amount of sugar and cardamom powder. Once the milk it hot enough to dissolve the sugar switch off.

Heat the appam chatti. Coat it with a drop of oil using a small cloth ball. Pour 2 laddle full of the aapam batter, swirl, cover and cook on medium flame for 1.5 to 2 minutes. Open and check of the corners leave the sides. Thats the right time to take it out. Serve warm with coconut milk ! Enjoy!