Appam and vegetable kurma

Last weekend I wanted to make something special for breakfast. Also I had lots of beans and carrots fresh from my garden. So after much thinking, decided to make appam and vegetable kurma. This will be my entry for saffron trails weekend breakfast blog event.

Aappam:

Ingredients:

Rice (preferably raw rice) – 2 cups
Cooked white rice – ½ cup
Coconut milk – ½ cup
Shredded coconut – 2 tbsp
Baking soda – ½ tsp
Salt – as needed
Oil – as needed

Method:

Soak rice for 4hrs. Drain the water and grind rice along with the cooked white rice, shredded coconut and coconut milk. Add as much as water needed while grinding to obtain the consitency of dosa batter. Ferment overnight in a warm place. I preheat the oven to 350F for 3-5 min and keep the batter in the oven overnight. The next morning add baking powder and salt to the batter and beat well and let it rest for 1hr. Heat a small round bottomed kadai, wipe it with a tissue dipped in oil and pour a ladleful of batter in the middle. Life the kadai and rotate in a circular motion so that the batter coats the sides of the kadai. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the kadai and serve hot with kurma or egg curry. Traditionally back home, appams are served with sweetened thin coconut milk.

Note: A typical appam will be crisp and thin on the edges and soft, fluffy and thick at the base, i.e, the center.

Vegetable kurma:

Ingredients:

Beans (chopped) – ¼ cup
Carrot (chopped) – ¼ cup
Peas – ¼ cup
Potato (cubed) – 1
Onions (chopped) – 2
Tomato (chopped) – 1
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Lime – ½
Salt – 1 needed
Oil – 2 tbsp

Paste ingredients:
khus khus (soaked)– 1 tbsp
Ginger – 2 inch cube
Garlic – 4 cloves
Green chillies – 3
Coconut (fresh or frozen) – ½ cup

Method:

Grind all the paste ingredients with enough water. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add chopped onions. Fry till the onions turn golden brown and add tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are cooked add the ground paste, garam masala and salt. Once the raw smell of the ground paste disappears, add the chopped vegetables, 1 cup of water and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Wait till the pressure subsides and then open the lid and squeeze half a lemon and serve hot with rice or roti or idli or dosa or appam (the list continues) .