Churul Appam - Folded Crepe

 It has been a few days since I updated my blog!  It is quite hard when I am working full time to do this as well.  Today it is an easy recipe.  Again, this is from my childhood - you know they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a memory - well, that is priceless! This is a very common afternoon tea item in Kerala households.  I grew up in a time when imported goods were banned in India - and the motto that was promoted by the Government was "Be Indian, Buy Indian".  Why I need to tell you this is I had never tasted maple syrup and only ever read about it in books.

The locals used coconut in various combinations for both savoury and sweet dishes and really we did not miss much. The churul appam is a folded crepe usually served with a filling of juicy and spiced freshly scraped coconut.  

I made this for breakfast today with desiccated coconut - since that is always available at home. My amma made this for afternoon tea quite regularly and it was devoured by me - every juicy bit.

You can use any filling that you want, like stewed apples with cinnamon or strawberries and Nutella.  You can flavour and colour the crepe, but I have kept it very traditional exactly like how we used to have it as kids.

Without much ado, let us have a look at the recipe.  The quantities mentioned here made about 8 pancakes.

Ingredients:

For the crepe:

1 cup plain flour

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water or coconut milk

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

11/2 cups desiccated coconut

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

2 teaspoon ghee

Method:

Make the filling first.  Heat ghee in a saucepan, add all the rest of the ingredients and sauté in a gentle fire till the water almost dries.  The coconut should still be moist and sweet and a bit crumbly.

Next, in a deep bowl, mix all the ingredients needed for the crepe.  Make a batter that is not very thick - or too thin.  Add water / coconut milk as needed to make the batter runny.

Pour two spoonfuls into a non stick saucepan / griddle and let it cook till the edges start to lift up slightly.

Now add the coconut filling in the middle.  Gently wrap up the pancake from both ends leaving the other two ends open.

Transfer to serving dish and serve warm or cold.  Enjoy with a cup of tea.

Note:  I added 1/2 a cup of water to the desiccated coconut just to get it moist.  If you are using freshly scraped coconut, you need to add very little water - may be a couple of tablespoons, just enough to get the sugar dissolved.