Another unique contribution to the breakfast desk from Kerala. A healthy steamed breakfast. You just cant have enough of it when eaten with mildly sweetened and cardamom-flavored coconut milk.
Ingredients for Idiappam:
Rice flour (Idiappam powder/finely powdered raw rice)- 2 cups
Water – 1 cup
Salt – to taste
Grated Coconut – 1/2 a cup
Ghee – 1 tsp
Method:
Take the rice flour in a pan. Boil one cup water, add salt, and pour the boiling water in small quantities to the rice flour to make a smooth and soft dough. The dough should be firm and tight. A loose dough will be unwieldy.
Take an idli tray and lightly grease the idli grooves with ghee. Take a portion of the dough and fill in a sev maker. Use the plate with the smallest holes in the sev maker. Close the lid and move the handle in circular motions. You can see rice noodles coming out of the sev maker. Ensure that the noodles coming out of the sev maker fall into the idli groove. Move your hands in circular motion so that the noodles are evenly spread out. Make a thin layer of noodles first, add the freshly grated coconut, and then make another layer of noodles. Fill all the idli grooves with such small-sized noodles.
Pour some water into the cooker/steamer and place the idly trays with the idiappam. Close the cooker/steamer and steam for about 10 minutes. You can use this time to make the coconut milk.
Ingredients for coconut milk:
Grated Coconut – 1/2 a cup
Cardamom – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Warm water (not boiling)- 1 cup
Method:
Put the cardamom and sugar into a bowl. Put the grated coconut in a mixer bowl and add some warm water. Grind the coconut finely. Place a sieve over the bowl and pour the blended coconut into the sieve and squeeze out the coconut milk. Put the coconut back into the mixer bowl and add the remaining warm water. Through the sieve extract the coconut milk into the bowl. Mix well. Coconut milk is ready to be used. You could use the coconut milk available in the market and add sugar and cardamom to it but let me warn you that they do not match the taste of freshly made coconut milk.
Turn off the steamer and take out the idli tray. Let the idiappams cool off for a minute. Take the idiappams out and serve with the coconut milk, flavored with cardamom powder and sugar. You can also serve the idiappams with veg korma, vegetable stew, or chana masala.
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