Appe also known as Paddu are small, fluffy dumplings or pancakes made with a fermented rice and lentil batter, traditionally cooked in a special Appe pan with multiple round moulds in it. You can customize this Appe Recipe by adding other ingredients like vegetables, spices and even make a sweet version of it.
First rinse the lentils - urad dal, moong dal and chana dal 3 to 4 times with water. Soak the lentils with ½ cup water in a bowl for 4 hours.
Next rinse the rice 3 to 4 times with water. Soak the rice in 2 cup water for 4 hours.
Before blending or grinding, rinse the poha a few times in water. Drain all the water and set aside.
Drain water from the soaked lentils and rice. Set aside.
Take the soaked lentils in a blender or mixer-grinder. Add ¼ cup water or as needed to make thick or medium-thick batter with a fine consistency.
Transfer the lentil batter to a bowl or pan.
Add the soaked rice and rinsed poha to the same blender or mixer-grinder jar.
Pour ½ cup water and grind or blend the soaked rice grains and poha to a fine grainy batter or to a smooth fine batter.
Transfer the rice and poha batter to the same bowl or pan containing the lentil batter. Add edible rock salt.
Mix both the batters thoroughly. Cover with lid and let the batter ferment for 8 to 9 hours or more as needed.
Remember that the time required for the batter to ferment will depend on the room temperature.
Once the batter has fermented perfectly, you can begin to prepare appe. If you plan not to, keep the fermented batter in the fridge.
Make Tempering
The tempering is optional. You can skip this part and make Appe with the fermented batter.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan.
Keep heat to medium low. Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. When they start spluttering, add cumin seeds and let them crackle.
Add onions, green chillies and curry leaves. Also add asafoetida.
Sauté until onions soften, stirring often. Or you can sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add this tempering mix to the appe batter. Add chopped coriander leaves. Mix thoroughly.
Make Appe
Heat appe pan. Keep heat to medium-low or medium heat.
Add ¼ to ⅓ teaspoon oil or as needed, in each mould. Let the oil become slightly hot.
With spoonful of batter, fill each mould up to ¾ of its volume. Fill the moulds along the circumference first, followed by the center ones.
This is because the center appe cook quickly as the heat source is usually in the center.
Regulate the heat as needed depending on the stovetop burner design and the pan size and thickness.
Cover the appe pan with lid and cook until the batter on top looks firm and the base has become crispy and golden.
Turn over each appe and cook the top side. Now there is no need to cover with lid.
Cook until golden all over. If one of the sides look less golden then turn over again and cook until crispy and more golden.
Remove and serve hot or keep them in a hot pot or casserole so that they stay warm.
Serve with coconut chutney, green coriander chutney, peanut chutney or ginger chutney.
Notes
Make sure to use rice and lentils which are in their shelf period.
This paddu recipe can also be made with urad dal only. Add about 7 tablespoon of urad dal.
You could easily use regular white rice (short or medium grained rice) or parboiled rice to make these rice appe.
The quantity of water may have to be adjusted while grinding, according to the type of rice you use. If you use regular raw rice, you will have to add less water.
Poha (flattened rice) help to give a more softer texture to the appe, but they can be left out.
Adding 5 to 6 fenugreek seeds to the batter is also an option. Make sure to soak the seeds with the lentils and then grind together.
The batter has to be medium to medium-thick consistency batter. So, the quantity of water can be adjusted while grinding the rice and lentils.
According to the room temperature, the time of fermentation will vary. So keep in mind that the batter can take more or less time to ferment.
You can easily opt to skip the tempering and prepare Paddu with just the fermented batter. Additionally you can add finely chopped raw onions, green chillies, ginger, cumin seeds, crushed black pepper, asafoetida, curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Any leftover batter can be refrigerated for 1 to 2 days and used later to make paddu or appe.
The approximate nutrition info is for 1 appe made from this recipe.