Idiappam

Have you ever been sort of depressed and lethargic to blog anymore after the loss of a much loved draft? This is what happened to me. I had prepared a nice draft for my idiappam - my breakfast king of kings, mind you- and now it is not to be seen anywhere. I have searched hi and lo in my PC but it has gone for good. This somehow stopped me from writing again or moving onto the next one.

It doesn't last that long and I have to say a few comments here and there helped energize me again:-) So here I am and I still need to bring the idiappam to life so I can move on.

Idiappam has a special place in my heart. Like boiled eggs and fresh toasted cashew nuts, this one is a dear. It was not made that often in my home because it takes some hardwork to achieve the splendid results. After coming here, making 'idiappam' remained a dream. My few tries were futile due to lack of proper equipment and flour. The frozen ones were not that bad but somehow I was not satisfied with them. Then I started reading the food blogs and saw many bloggers making it as a matter of course. This gave me courage and hope. The delicious, melt in your mouth idiappams could be within my reach after all!

The one thing I asked for when my in-laws were coming was to bring me the best idiappam press they could find. Luckily for me my HMom's sister found a really nice one and here I am in idiappam land! The first time I tried it, I used regular rice. Those guys looked neat before cooking but melted together to an unrecognizable blob afterwards. Having seen how well the noodles came out of the press, I knew the culprit was the rice flour and so made a trip to the local Indian/Kerala store . My HMom had talked about 'Double Horse' brand being good in Kerala and this is exactly what I found at the store.. This time the result was astounding and the 3 batches I made disappeared really quickly and I couldn't wait to make another set in the space of 2 days!!!

I also wanted to say that while searching for an idiappam press I came across many sites that offer them commercially. The best one from which I also got a prompt response was this. It costs about $100 and I would have bought this if my in-laws weren't bringing one so soon.

The recipe follows the traditional steps. We make it a certain way though which my husband and kids enjoyed much.

In the Mix

idiappam flour - 1 cup (care must be taken that the flour you buy is pre-roasted for idiappam)
water - 1 1/2 cups (rule of thumb. use water time and half of the flour you take)
olive oil - 1 tbsp
salt to taste
coconut powder - 1/2 cup (fresh grated is best. if using the dried flakes, then hydrate with water sometime before you are ready make the idiappam)
sugar to taste

How To Do

Mix the hydrated coconut powder with sugar and set aside.


Boil water, salt and oil together. Remove from heat as it boils and add the flour little by little and mix well together with a wooden spoon. No need to mix with hand as the flour gets mixed well while under pressure inside the press:-) Discoveries laziness help you make!!


I use the idli thattu for this and so grease the idli pans lightly with oil. Fill the idiappam press with the prepared dough and press down so the noodles will fall onto the idli pans. After one or two layers, spoon some coconut sugar mix on top. Now add a few more layers to make the idiappam scoop. Repeat for all pans and steam cook just like you would for idli.


Best enjoyed with egg curry or stew and in dire circumstances, with kadala curry.

My husband says they don't put the coconut in between and that they use coconut milk as curry. But he is a total convert to this method and it is a pleasure to see his big hands and my daughter's little hands moving in unison towards the idiappam platter polishing them off methodically. Yours truly is not far behind either:-)


Note:
A quick fix that worked somewhat better than all others except the one mentioned above is to buy rice noodles from a chinese store and cook then in salted water. Drain well and then place them in the idli thattu with the coconut and all and steam cook a very short time. This is only if you have no way of getting to the real deal. OK? Tip is courtesy my eldest brother who also live in this part of the world.