Ingredients (Makes about 30 appams)
1. Rice flour – 2 cups (Raw rice flour is usually used for making palappams, but you can also use roasted rice flour. We have used roasted rice flour here.)
2. Yeast – 1 tsp (We used rapid-rise yeast)
3. Thick coconut milk – 1 can / 400 ml (We used 1 can chaokoh coconut milk)
4. Grated coconut – 1 handful (Grind it to a coarse paste (tharutharuppayi))
5. Salt – To taste
6. Sugar – 2 – 3 tbsp or to taste
To cook (Kappi Kachan)
7. Rice flour – 1/2 cup
8. Sugar – 1 tbsp
9. Water – 2 cups
Method
1.Mix 1/2 cup rice flour with 1 tbsp sugar and 2 cup water. Heat a pan and add this mixture. Stir it at medium-low heat for a few minutes (pavu kachuka or kappi kachuka) until you get a thick paste (kurukku). It should not form any lumps. Leave aside to cool.
2. In a bowl, mix 1 tsp yeast with 3 tbsp luke-warm water. Keep aside to rise.
3. In a large vessel, combine 2 cups rice flour with enough salt, around 2 - 3 tbsp sugar, 1 can coconut milk and ground coconut mixture. Taste-check for salt and sugar. Add the cooled kurukku (step 1) and risen yeast mixture. Add some water, the batter should have an idli batter consistency. Allow it to ferment in a warm place ( You can keep it inside your oven after heating it for 20 - 30 seconds or you can leave the oven light on) for at least 6 - 8 hrs or overnight. When fermented, the batter will almost rise double. Be sure to use a large vessel as it might overflow. Before making appams, check for sugar and salt. If the batter is thick, dilute it by adding around 1/2 cup water. We need a dosa batter consistency.
4. Make palappams using appachatti. Heat the appachatti at medium-high flame and pour a ladle full (thavi or a little more than 1/4 cup) of appam batter into it. (Remember to smear the appachatti lightly with oil if its not nonstick). Hold both the handles of the appam chatti, lift from the stove and gently swirl it to spread the batter around, in one direction. You need to swirl it only once or twice for a thin lace on the edges. Now bring down the flame to medium and cover with its lid. Cook until done on one side only. It will take around 2 - 4 mts. Before removing the appams, turn the heat to medium-high flame for a few seconds in order to brown the appam lace. Remove the appam and repeat until the batter is finished. Serve warm with egg curry/any stew/kadala curry/vegetable korma/ fish moli or any curry of your choice. The batter will keep in the refrigerator for about 2 - 3 days.
Recipe Courtesy – Manju Jyothish (This was made by her, I just took the pictures 
