Cook with Arthy shama: Idiyappam - Step by step tutorial from store bought riceflour

Idiyappam, is commonly found dish in South (Tamilnadu, Kerala, coastal parts of Karnataka) India. The rice flour paste (or wheat flour/ragi flour) is pressed to noodles, steam-cooked and had. While sweet ones, are done by dusting with sugar and coconut flakes, savoury-lovers are free to have them with a dip of any spicy curry. You can opt for Kadalai curry, Meen kolambu, Chettinadu kozhi kolambu. Also am having minced meat curry on my draft and will post them soon :D

This dish is highly made by preparing rice flour at home, that is why I presume the name goes, Idi-'appam (Idi meaning 'to crush' in tamil. 'appam' meaning pancake) Here selected rice is soaked, drained and is dried. They are then crushed to yield very fine rice flour and the process continues. What happens here is that, I have made them with store-bought riceflour. Store bought ones may not be suitable if used directly. The trick is to roast them till they get an fine texture. Later they are sieved to yield uniform sized and textured rice flour. Thanks all goes to my, Keralite neighbor who shared this with me :D Thank you aunty :)

Yes, this is an very time-consuming process. But, definitely a worth to surprise your loved ones especially during birthdays, anniverseries...So, let us now explore our Idiyappam journey :D

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients required

11/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
Water, to sprinkle

For sweet filling

1/2 cup coconut grated
2 tbpsn powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Apparatus required

Sifter
Idiyappam acchu
Idiyappam ural (gadget to press the dough)
Jharni
Idly cooker

Method

Mix everything under sweet filling, keep aside.

In a very wide pan, empty contents of rice flour and start roasting them. Stir them using jarni continuously , this should be done on high heat for five to six minutes.

At the end of sixth minute, you can see the colour changing to very light sandal and pleasant aroma of rice flour filling up your home. Also, one closer look on jarni would indicate the rice flour has got all particles gaining an stiff texture, look below.

Now, switch off the flame, pass through them on sifter/sieve them.

Alternatively, heat one cup of water and allow them to boil. Add salt and stir.

Pour this water onto the sifted rice flour and knead them. Be careful while doing so, you can initially give an stir using spoon, later on knead them.

Now, dough is ready. Check for acchu. If there is something blocking them, pierce pin/toothpick to release off the holes. If not, pressing idiyappam will become difficult.

Take the ural and grease them with oil. In a idly pan, spread sweet filling all over the surface.

Now take a piece of dough on ural (below which acchu is placed) and start pressing. If idiyappam comes out freely, then your dough consistency is right. If not, don't freak out, just take out the dough, sprinkle some water and knead again, try them with ural. Be careful just to sprinkle and not to pour. Too much of watery dough cant support this process. Yes, for the given above measurement, by dough went hard, I sprinkled water twice and tried, only then I got the dough right.

Now fill with sweet mixture on top of idiyappam too. Steam cook them on idly cooker for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, to check if they are done, pick one noodle strand using fork.

Try to rotate the strand using your two fingers, if the strand doesn't stick to your finger, then idiyappam is done. Remove and serve hot. You can serve them with coconut milk too!