Vattayappam / Steamed Rice Bread

Appam is a fermented Indian bread made of Rice batter. Appam is a common breakfast item of Kerala.There are lots of varieties of Appam. Today I am sharing the recipe of a kind of Appam called "Vattayappam". Its a steamed rice bread. You can have Vattayappam as a breakfast item or even as an evening snack.

Ingredients

Raw Rice / Pachari ~ 2 cups

Cooked Rice ~ 1/2 cup

Grated coconut ~ 1 cup

Sugar ~ 1 cup

Cardamom ~ 3-4 Nos

Yeast ~ 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds ~ 1/4 tsp

Cashew Nuts

Raisins

Salt ~ 1/2 tsp

Method

• Wash and soak raw rice in water for about 5-6 hours. 

• Before grinding the rice, soak yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water along with 2 tsp of sugar. Keep it aside for 20 minutes and allow it to rise. 

• Then grind soaked rice, grated coconut, cooked rice and cumin seeds to a fine paste by adding enough water. The batter should not be very thick or very watery. It should be of medium consistency.

• Then add sugar, yeast mixture, salt, crushed cardamom to the batter and mix it well and keep the batter covered in a warm place for fermentation. It may need about at least 12-15 hours for fermentation.

• Then mix the fermented batter nicely. And check if salt and sugar is enough or not. Then pour the batter to an greased oven safe bowl / greased stainless steel bowl / greased Idli mould and steam it. Note: You can either grease it with oil or with ghee.

• After 15 minutes you can put cashew nuts and raisins on the top of the  appam and continue cooking it for another 10-15 minutes or till its done.

Open the lid of the steamer / Idli Kuttakam and let the Vattayappam cool before serving. And if you want, you can cut it into square or wedge shape.

Notes:

• Batter should be thicker than normal Appam Batter and meanwhile thinner than Idly Batter. 

• If you are staying in a cold place, make sure you keep the batter for at least 10 hours for fermentation. 

Cheers,