Thengai Paal Appam without Yeast

I just love eating the sweet thengai paal (coconut milk) appams. My mom makes the best appams I have ever eaten. She makes it so well, just like all the rest of the food she makes. There is no yeast in this appam. My mom said that when she was very young, her aunt (Periamma) used to make appams with baking soda but would not give the recipe to anyone. When her aunt made appams,she would add some roasted skinned mung beans on the appam. My mom used to make these type of special appams when I was young and until today whenever I make appams I add the roasted mung beans to my appams. Sadly I am the only one in my family who likes the appam this way. My dad loves to have an egg on the appam and he used to eat his appam with fish curry!

Appams with sweet coconut milk

Looks at the tiny air cavity caused by the fermentation process

Appam My Way..with brown sugar, coconut cream and roasted skinned mung beans..Yummm

 Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rice
1/2 cup of cooked rice

1/2 cup coconut water, leave it in a warm place overnight if available to aid in the fermenting (my mom never used this)
1/2 teaspoon salt
tbps of dosa batter (optional, help the fermentation process)

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
Sweet coconut Milk

for the sweet coconut milk
1 cup of coconut milk (either fresh,from the box or can)
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
a pinch of salt
some daun pandan (screwpine leaves) or cardamom powder.

Batter ready to be fermented overnight or for at least 8 hours 

After overnight fermentation, batter is full of tiny air bubbles

The batter consistency

Appams cooking in appam pans

Directions

1. Wash the rice and soak the rice with the cooked rice overnight for about 2 hours. Make sure that the water is more than enough to cover the rice.
2. The next day, grind the soaked rice, cooked rice, coconut water(if using) and water to a smooth paste. 3. Appam batter should not be as thick as dosa batter, so add water a little at a time until you get a smooth batter which is a little runny. I will add a video to this post the next time I make appams.
3. Add a little bit of salt to the batter and mix the batter thoroughly with your hand until the batter is well mixed.
4. Place the batter in a warm place to ferment. Sometime when the weather is cold, I will place my batter in the oven with the oven light on.
5.  Once the batter is well fermented, take out the batter and the sugar and baking soda and mix well. Add more water or diluted coconut milk if needed if the batter is too thick. Getting the right batter consistency comes with practice.
6. Keep the batter for about an hour before making the appams.
7. In the mean time prepare the sweet coconut milk. Heat the coconut milk with some water, sugar, salt and daun pandan (screwpine leaves). Dont let the milk boil. Adjust the sweetness to your liking.
8. Heat an appam pan with some oil and pour a ladle of batter in the pan and swirl the pan until the sides are coated with the batter. Cover and let it cook on medium low heat for about five minutes or so. If the appam is fully cooked, the top of the appam will bounce back when touched. The sides should be golden brown and crispy.
9. Serve the appams with the sweet coconut milk and enjoy.