When I tell my friends/relatives that I like to eat brown bread/bun, museli, tuna etc; they tend to give me a weird look and ask how do you manage to eat them. There is generally a misconception that healthy stuff and taste doesn’t go hand in hand. I should say it doesn’t apply to all healthy stuff though I know some people who eat it, irrespective of its taste. I believe am not included in that category, I prefer healthy stuff, provided it gives some treat to my taste buds as well.
Pasta is liked by many, mainly because of the creamy sauce and cheese in it and hence its usually considered as a junk food. For a change, you can make something healthy with the pasta, without compromising on the taste. I was introduced to this salad by my mother in law. This is very refreshing especially for summer time since the dressing is made of yogurt.
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Whenever am discussing dinner menus with my friends, the common topic will be “what curry to make for chapathi/roti”. Since everybody has become health conscious these days, chapathi has become a staple dinner food and ladies of the house are worried how to make it more interesting with different varieties of side dishes.
Having said that, I should say this dish is a perfect one for roti/chapathi and also with white rice. This recipe is adapted from malayalam women’s magazine Vanitha. The title of this curry instantly caught my attention, they named it very aptly “chapathi currykal” (curries for chapathi). This is originally a butter chicken recipe and I have modified it into a paneer masala 
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Kallappam is also known as Veleyappam in some parts of Kerala. This is a traditional Kerala breakfast item. The main ingredient of this appam is Kallu (toddy), which is used as the raising agent and hence the name kallappam. Since toddy is not available here, I made it with yeast. It is very simple and easy to make.
Here is the recipe …
- Rice powder - 2 1/2 cups
- Grated coconut - 2 cups
- Semolina (rava) - 2 1/2 tbsp
Water - 1 1/2 - 2 cups
- Yeast - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
- Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
- Sugar - 2 tbsp
- Salt
Add 2 cups water to semolina and cook till it is done. Let it cool. Add 1/4 cup lukewarm water to 1/2 tsp yeast & sugar. Keep it to rise. Grind the grated coconut with cumin powder and 3/4 cup water.
Once the cooked semolina is cool, add it to the rice powder. Combine well and add the yeast. Mix well. Add grated coconut paste to this and mix well. Add 2 tbsp sugar and stir well. There should not be any lumps. The consistency of the batter should be the same as Idli batter. If the batter turns out to be too thick add a little water and adjust accordingly. Keep the batter covered for 4-5 hours to rise. Once the batter is risen add 1/4 tsp of salt and stir well.
Heat a non stick pan and apply a little oil and pour the batter. Do not spread the batter since it will spread by itself. Cover and cook for 2 minutes, flip the appam and cook the other side also. Serve hot with mutton stew.
- Other side dishes for appam are:
- You can see another version of kallappam here.
