Kallu Appam - Appam made with Toddy - Toddy Hoppers

Toddy or Kallu  is fermented coconut water and Appam is a South Indian bread made with rice.  Combine the two - and it is a heady combination!  When you wake up in the morning and you smell appam being cooked - it literally gets those digestive juices flowing.  I do not often make this for breakfast - but with COVID and my recent discovery of how to make toddy at home, I decided to give this a go!  (Refer to my post on how to make toddy at home:  http://kitchenanugraha.blogspot.com/2020/06/kallu-toddy-alcoholic-coconut-water.html)

Amma used to make this quite often but since I never got toddy in Melbourne, I never even tried to make it. All that is going to change now!

For this to work, your toddy has to be prepared and ready ( that takes 24 hours or more if you live in a cold place) - and you have to give the batter time to ferment about 8 to 10 hours.

Ingredients:

2 cups idli rice, washed and soaked for 4 to 6 hours and drained

1 to 1.5 cups toddy

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup cooked rice, soaked in water and drained

1 tablespoon sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons salt 

up to 1 cup water (only if required)

Method:

Grind all the ingredients to a fine smooth batter, adding water a tablespoon at a time to get a pancake batter like consistency.  Pour into a stainless steel container and cover it.

Leave the batter covered in a warm place in the kitchen for about 8 hours.  I left it overnight inside my oven.  (Note: Do not turn the oven on.) 

The next day, the batter should look something like this - aerated and fragrant:

Check that the consistency is not too thick - add water a little at a time if it is too thick.  Pour batter a ladle at a time into a wok.  Swill it around so you get a lacy edge and a puffed up middle.  Put the lid on and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.

I have two appam woks.  One is a non stick wok and the batter doesn't stick to the sides.  The appam that comes out of that wok looks like this:

The other wok is an iron wok made specifically for cooking appams and they come out looking great with crispy edges like this:

The taste, however, is the same and the inside of the appam should look like this - spongy and porous and able to soak up all the juices of your stew or whatever side dish you are having it with:

Note:  If you do not have toddy, don't worry, you can still make appams. Just follow this recipe:  http://kitchenanugraha.blogspot.com/2018/12/appam-and-stew.html