Kallappam - fermented rice pancakes, super soft and white as clouds!

What makes weekends special at our place, apart from the fact of getting to sleep in late are the elaborate breakfasts. Apparently I have always had the excuse of being a working person and now a working mom for not getting enough time to prepare elaborate breakfasts on regular weekdays, making it mostly breakfasts on the run! So weekends are something I myself look forward to, to experiment in the kitchen and actually relax and enjoy a decent  breakfast/brunch with my family.

Even if its making a simple dosa I like to try different varieties, one example is the Instant Rava dosa which I make often. Or else we are open to trying Omelettes, Pancakes, French toasts , sandwiches or homemade bread varieties etc and any authentic and naadan kerala breakfast items are always welcome and everyone’s favorite!

Such was the case when what was planned to become a simple Palappam for our Saturday breakfast turned out to be become a very popular keralite dish called Kallappam. Kallappam is a form of rice pancake in which ‘Kallu’ (toddy or palm wine) is used for fermenting the batter. The unique sour taste of toddy along with some garlic, shallots, cumin and grated coconut ground together with soaked rice or rice flour gives these pancakes a very distinct flavor. These days if toddy is not easily available Yeast is used as a substitute to ferment the batter.  

I used yeast for fermenting my batter and they turned out to be really flavorful, spongy and like a friend on facebook mentioned ‘white and soft as clouds’. They tasted quite nice even without any side dishes but my mom quickly made our favorite Potato Stew and added some boiled egg in it as well to serve along with the Kalappam.  Even spicy Egg masala or Chicken curry or Chicken stew would be a good choice to serve with this Kallappam.

It was a super duper hit at our home, specially b'coz my little guy ate two whole appams without even needing to run behind him to eat them. 

Now for some after breakfast activities....Lawn mowing has become one of our weekends tasks of late apart from cleaning the house and laundry. My dad actually seems to enjoy it more than us. So while I was busy taking Kallappam photographs, daddy was busy mowing our lawn...look at his green hands ;-) 

Few of our neighbors and their pet dogs stopped by to say Hi seeing us outside. I wonder what they thought about all the food kept out to be photographed :-P   

Anyway, I went about taking snaps of my freshly bloomed roses and of the newly found Lilac tree almost hidden behind our house. The Lilac flowers smelled amazing. Oh! and not to forget our little garden patch slowly bringing out their fruit. Our tomato is still green but looks promising. 

I had posted a pic on facebook via instagram while I was making these Kallappams, asking my readers and friends to guess the dish and I got such a lovely response. You all just made my day even more special!!  And here’s the recipe for you all.  Try it out and I bet you will enjoy it as much as we did.

This recipe prepares around 15-20 or more medium pancake sized Kallappams.

Kallappam

You’ll need

Yeast – 1 ½ tsp

Warm water – 2 tblsp (to soak the yeast)

Sugar – 2 tblsp

Rava (Sooji/ Semolina) – 3 tblsp

Water – ½ cup

Raw Rice – 3 cups (I used Idli rice)

Fresh grated Coconut – 2 cups

Shallots or pearl onions – 3 or 4

Garlic cloves – 4 or 5

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Water – as needed to make a thick batter

Salt – as needed

Directions

1. Soak the rice in water for about 6-8 hrs or overnight.  Drain away the excess water later.

2. Soak the Yeast in some warm water and let it foam.

3. Make Rava Kappi or Kurukku by bringing ½ cup water to a boil and add 3 tblsp rava and cook it until it forms a thick pudding like consistency. Keep aside to cool.

4. In a mixer grinder or blender, grind together the grated coconut, cumin seeds, shallots and garlic along with water. Need not finely grind.

5. Grind the rice with enough water, making sure the batter is thick like idly batter (or as thick as than pancake batter)

6. Add the yeast, 2 tblsp sugar, rava kappi and the ground up coconut-cumin-garlic-shallot mixture into the rice batter and mix gently and keep it in a draft free and warm spot and allow to ferment for atleast 4-5 hrs or overnight.

7. Once fermented add enough salt and mix gently.

8. Heat a non-stick pan or cast-iron dosa pan and spray some oil on it. Pour a small ladle full of batter (about ¼ cup) on the pan and do not spread it. Cover and cook until bubbles are formed on the top and it looks done. Flip to the other side and cook for a minute.

9. Serve hot and thick Kallappams with preferred side dish or enjoy it plain.

Suggestions:

1. If you want to avoid grinding rice, use Rice flour. Use 3-4 cups Rice flour and add the remaining ingredients with enough water to make a thick idli like batter.

2. I used Instant yeast, but I still let it ferment overnight as the flavors mingle more as the batter sits. 

3. A suggestion I got from a reader was to grind 1 cup cooked rice along with 2 cups raw rice to get more softer Kallappams (mine was pretty soft without adding cooked rice,but its a good option)

-Manju