Egg Hoppers | Mutta Velleppam

Egg hoppers are more identified with Srilanka than Kerala, I think. Even in Kochi, it is not common in a restaurant menu that reads out a mutta velleppam / appam. Recently, i saw the TV series - My Srilanka with Peter Kuruvita. The batter prepared for appam is slightly different from mine. In the TV series bread is used instead of yeast. Mine has even more difference. I don't use the coconut milk version. I follow the recipe where coconut is ground along with rice. This is much easier because there is no task of extracting the coconut milk and then cleaning up many vessels. The secret of my recipe is the addition of coconut water. Egg hoppers have crispier edges than usual hoppers because the egg is poured into the cooked palappam otherwise the middle of the appam will remain undercooked or even uncooked and messy. 

The rule of thumb therefore is to break the eggs in when the appam is almost cooked. Sprinkling salt and pepper is optional, but i prefer it, as it gives more taste.

recipe for egg hoppers or mutta appam

appam batter (click here for recipe) - as much as you need

eggs - 1 per appam  / hopper

Heat a deep pan, as seen in the first picture. Grease it with oil cloth or just use back of a spoon to spread 1 or 2 drops of oil. Pour a ladleful of appam batter. Swirl the pan to let the batter coat the pan. For egg hoppers make sure there is not much batter to collect in the middle. Put the lid on and cook in medium heat. This ensures that the sides are still soft. Once the middle the appam has lost its whitish colour or has turned pale, break an egg in. Sprinkle some salt and pepper ( i rubbed together a tiny pinch of salt and a tiny pinch of pepper in advance, so that it is evenly spread on the egg). Cover and let the egg cook in low heat. Low heat is required to cook this step, so that the sides do not turn dark brown. Remove the egg hoppers from the pan when the eggwhite is completely cooked and the egg yolk is slightly gooey. It will cook itself by the time it is served. Serve with a bean curry, like garbanzo bean curry / kadala curry (masala curry) or green peas green kurma or  a vegetable kurma.

Neyyappam

Neyyappam

Neyyappam is Kerala's own rice pancake deep fried in ghee. It can be compared to the North Indian deep fried pancakes called Malpua . I thought that it is intricate and difficult to prepare Neyyappam at home, but it is not. It is very easy as long as you have a dependable recipe and all the ingredients. I did a detailed research about Neyyappam before trying it, 'coz none of the photographs i saw online had the texture and colour of what i have seen in the ones we buy from store. And also because this is not a family recipe, just my trial to check whether i can be successful with it. 

If any of you who have a traditional recipe for Neyyappam, do let me know whether cardamom and dry ginger is added. Because the taste i have known does not have cardamom or any other flavourings, so i have left out in my recipe, but if you feel like you can add it. The measures of cardamom and ginger is given here on the basis of a similar Anglo-Indian snack called Soulinjha which we prepare during Christmas season.

ingredients for the recipe

rice flour (puttu podi)  - 2 cup (200 gms)

jaggery, grated - 2 cups (approx 175 - 200 gms)

plantain (palayamkodan) - 2 or banana - 1

water to crumble the rice flour - 100 ml

water to melt the jaggery - 100 ml

butter or ghee - 1 tbsp

coconut bits - 2 tbsp (cut thin slices of coconut and dice it into 1.5 cm pieces)

sesame seeds - 1tsp

oil for deep frying

Though the name literally means made of ghee, i have used vegetable oil for frying. Use a flat bottom pan to fry the neyyappam as seen in the picture below.

Neyyappam being fried

Place the rice flour in a deep bowl. Add the water and crumble it as done for puttu or for a pastry dough. Keep it aside for one hour. Mash the plantains and place it in the rice crumble. Add the butter. Knead it into a smooth dough. 

Heat water and melt the jaggery. Let it cool down to room temperature. Add one third of the syrup into the rice mix. Start mixing with your hands or a whisk. I mixed with hands. Get rid of all the lumps and mix till you get a smooth batter. Add the remaining two thirds of jaggery and mix well.

Fry the coconut bits in ghee or oil and add it to the batter. Wash the sesame seeds 2 to 3 times and add it to the batter. Let the batter rest for 5 hours or overnight. It would have become a thick batter now, but it will be in pouring consistency. 

If you like to add cardamon , powder 3 cardamoms and add to the batter at this stage. Additional spice is dry ginger. You can powder 1/4 inch piece and add to the batter alongwith cardamom.

Heat adequate ghee or oil in a pan. Use a small ladle to pour the batter. Or else you can use a spoon from which you can pour the batter in one direct stream. When the bottom of the neyyappam is cooked it will leave the pan by itself, otherwise you can slightly loosen it once the sides start turning brown. As you see in the picture , the first set i fried is the blacking brown colour, since i was not aware of the cooking time. So you can test with one and then repeat the frying process.  Switch heat between high to medium or even to low while frying Neyyappam.

This can be stored for a week or two in air tight containers.

Enjoy!

Bread Pori - lettes

If there can be cakelettes and tartlets, why not some pori-lettes. Pori is nothing but the shot form of porichathu. In Kerala, we have our own, famous pazham pori and undampori. Similarly in rustic tea shops and some city tea shops you can find bread porichathu - a Mildly Sweet, Batter fried bread. But the one you get in the tea shop is a whole slice of bread, which has very little crispy sides. What i like in a snack is the crisp and crunch. When i used to eat undampori  served in our college hostel, i used to peel off that brown coat like crispy side and leave a table tennis sized inside of the undampori in my plate. I hate to waste food, but i just couldn't afford to eat the uninteresting inside. So, the undampori's i prepare is also small. Maybe i should start calling it undampori - lettes .....

The miniature sized bread pori's as you see in the picture is as a result of my fondness for that crispy edges and crunchy sound you get with every bite. Kids would just love to see these tiny snacks. It is easy for them to pop in one, run around and pick another one. You need not hold that one huge slice of bread pori and think when is this going to finish.

This recipe is good to use up left over bread slices, which are a day or two old.

Recipe for bread porichathu

Bread
Oil for frying

ingredients for the batter

5 tbsp flour / maida

1 1/2 tbsp rice flour (this gives the crisp & crunch) - its fine, even if  u don't have rice flour - just add soda instead of water to prepare the batter or you can just skip this ingredient and add the same quantity maida

1/4 tsp or a little less salt

2 tbsp sugar

1 or 2 tbsp sesame seeds - Sesame seeds are healthy, so i have added a lot of it

Water - 12 tbsp or as much required to get a thick batter. If the batter is runny it wont coat the bread

Turmeric - 1 large pinch for colour (optional)


method

Place the water, turmeric salt and sugar in a bowl. Stir and gradually add the maida and rice flour until a batter is formed. Add the sesame seeds.

Cut the bread slices into small pieces. I sliced each bread slice into 12 pieces.

Heat oil in a pan. When hot, take each piece of bread, dip it in the batter and fry it in medium heat, turning sides.  Remove from oil when the sides start to brown. Serve warm.

Click here for more Indian Snack Recipes in this blog.

Scandinavian Rosette Cookies - Achappam with Maida

Christmas is just over ..... but my hang over is still on. Out of the various snacks i prepared, i just left out Achappam. I just think it is difficult and i keep on postponing. This time i took the Rosette iron from my mother in law and was searching for the recipe. The proportion should be correct, otherwise, the batter wont leave the iron. That is when i came across the European version which used flour / maida instead of rice flour. Since Achappam requires fresh rice flour you dont have any short cut using store bought roasted rice flour. So the Scandinavian version was just right for the lazy me. I tried it today and the first one was a flop. I think i overheated the iron before dipping it in batter. Rest is what you see in the picture. 

This is just another reason i would like to say never  give up. Even if you follow a recipe strictly, sometimes we should use our intuition and logic to get it right. Not for just recipes, but everything in life - I believe.

You can prepare these rosette cookies if you have a rosette iron. If you  dont have one, use a cookie cutter of any shape (star, flower, heart, rounds, ovals, etc) and hold it with a tweezer.

ingredients for the rosette cookies

flour / maida - 150 gms

egg - 1 large

milk - 150 ml + 25 ml if need be

vanilla essence or rose essence - 3/4 tsp

salt - 1/4 tsp

sugar - 1  tsp

vegetable oil for frying

ingredients for dusting

sugar - 4 tbsp

cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

method

Take a narrow bowl. Just wide enough to dip the rosette iron / mould. Place the egg, salt and sugar in it and whisk. Add milk little by little until all milk is used. Add the flour little by little as done for a pancake until the flour is fully used. Add the essence.  I used rose essence. You can  use according to your choice. Place the batter in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep pan. When hot, place the iron in the oil. Make sure the iron is moist free, otherwise you can see some explosions. When the iron is medium hot, say 1-2 minutes, lift it from oil, shake off excess oil   and place it in the batter, such a way that the batter does not cover the top of the iron. (If it is covered the cookies wouldnt leave the iron while frying). Place the iron covered with batter in the oil and gently shake it continuously. Also, use a broad knife to help the rosette cookie leave the iron. Gently slide it away from the iron. Do the entire process in low to medium heat, otherwise, the cookies will turn dark. Once the rosette is golden brown drain it from oil. Repeat the process. You may not be able to use all the batter to prepare cookies because the batter needs some elevation to coat the iron. Use up the balance batter by spooning it into oil.

For the dusting - Place the sugar and cinnamon in a mixer and powder it. Place the sugar mix in a sieve and dust it generously or as per your taste.

Fish Mappas - Karimeen Mappas

Karimeen Mappas

Mappas is a vinegar infused coconut milk curry prepared with fish or meat as the main ingredient. Meat or fish is first seared to seal the proteins and then it is cooked in the gravy to make it more flavorful and firm.

Duck mappas is the famous among all meat mappas while karimeen mappas is the famous within the fish circle. Mappas can be prepared using any other soft flesh whole fish like pomfret (akoli or maachan) or using fish fillets from sear fish or red snapper. The gravy is a really tasty one even without fish. So you can use your freestyle method to use this recipe with anyother ingredient like paneer, potato or soya chunks - Vegetarians, hope you hear me.

ingredients for the recipe

4 whole pearlspot / karimeen - cleaned and scored

salt - 1/4 tsp

turmeric - 1 large pinch

oil - to sear the fish

for the gravy

3 tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil

15-20 small onions / shallots, thinly sliced

2 green chilly, slit

2 sprigs curry leaves

turmeric - 1/3 tsp

chilly powder - 2 tsp

pepper powder - 1 tsp

coriander powder - 3/4 - 1 tsp 

2-3 tomatoes - cut into rounds (as seen in picture)

Coconut milk (1st extract) - 3/4 cup (use 3/4th of a large coconut or 1 coconut) - the gravy has to be thick

Coconut milk (2nd extract) - 1 cup

vinegar - 3 tbsp

salt to taste

Karimeen Mappas | Fish in Spicy Coconut Milk Curry

ingredients for the recipe

4 whole pearlspot / karimeen - cleaned and scored

salt - 1/4 tsp

turmeric - 1 large pinch

oil - to sear the fish

for the gravy

3 tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil

15-20 small onions / shallots, thinly sliced

2 green chilly, slit

2 sprigs curry leaves

turmeric - 1/3 tsp

chilly powder - 2 tsp

pepper powder - 1 tsp

coriander powder - 3/4 - 1 tsp 

2-3 tomatoes - cut into rounds (as seen in picture)

Coconut milk (1st extract) - 3/4 cup (use 3/4th of a large coconut or 1 coconut) - the gravy has to be thick

Coconut milk (2nd extract) - 1 cup

vinegar - 3 tbsp

salt to taste

method to prepare fish mappas

Step 1 - Sear the fish

Mix the salt and turmeric and rub it on the fish. Keep it aside for 5 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and place one fish at a time. The pan and oil should be very hot (take care while placing the fish). Sear it for one minute on one side and try to lift the fish using a spatula. Dont force the fish to come out. Since it is on high heat, the fish will leave the pan once it is seared. Turn the fish and sear the other side also and remove from pan. Repeat the same process with the remaining fish.

Step 2 - Preparing the fish mappas

Heat 3 tbsp oil in an earthern pot. Add the shallots and green chillies and stir till translucent. Add curry leaves, turmeric, chilly and coriander powder. Stir in low flame till the raw smell is gone and the spice powder sizzle. Add the tomatoes and gently stir till soft. Try to retain the round shape so that you can use it to garnish the mappas.

Prepare this recipe in low to medium flame. Slow cooking bring out the flavours of all the ingredients and it also results in a thick gravy.

When the tomatoes are soft add vinegar and salt. Give a gentle stir and cook till vinegar is fully incorporated into the masala. This also prevents the coconut milk from curdling. Add the second extract of coconut milk and bring it to a boil. At this stage you can add the pepper powder. Simmer it for 5 minutes.

Add the seared fish and cook till done. Check salt and taste. Turn to low heat and add the first extract of coconut milk. Lift the pan by holding it on two sides and gently shake it, so that you dont distrub the fish. It is after all basking in mappas glory. Do not let the curry boil after adding the first extract of coconut milk. Lift and gently swirly the pan again so that coconut milk is evenly distributed. Turn off heat and cover it with a lid. Serve after half an hour.

This is a mildly spiced curry. If you are preparing a meat mappas, say duck mappas, beef mappas, chicken mappas or a mutton mappas just avoid using tomatoes, instead, add 3 more tbsps of vinegar and 2 large onions more.

The picture you see in the background is Meat Chops