From ManoramaOnline

The palappam considered a specialty in Kerala owes its origin to the Jews. The
ingredients that go into the making of this dish are rice flour fine ground raw
rice, sieved well). Coconuts, fresh toddy, soda powder, a little sugar and salt to
taste. The raw rice may be ground with water to prepare appam. To make softer
palappams, there are many techniques you could employ. To one and a half cup water,
add half cup flour retained on the sieve while sieving (called the thari) cook
well and add the same to the appam dough when mixing. Another alternative to this
would be adding Bombay rava cooked in water in the same proportion. Coconut milk
from two cups of scraped coconut enough for the right consistency of the appam
batter is mixed with the rice dough along with two teaspoons of sugar and a pinch
of salt and kept aside the might before. The next day morning add the soda powder
and you can start making hot delicious palappams, since fresh toddy is difficult to
get, many use yeast nowadays.

Now, when using yeast the proportion shall be: one teaspoon yeast, two teaspoons of
warm water (milk is a better alternative) and one teaspoon sugar. The three are
mixed and kept aside for fermenting. If the yeast is of good quality, fermentation
takes place in 15 minutes. Palappams can be made without coconuts too! Two cups of
raw rice are ground well with half cup of cooked raw rice (in multiples of this
proportion as per requirement) to which the fermented yeast is added and the batter
is kept aside the night before. The next day morning you may start making appams
and you can bet that no one will guess the appams dont contain coconut milk. An
house before making the appams add an egg beaten with maida to the batter and your
palappams remain fresh and tasty as ever, even hours after they are made.

When making appams, keep stirring the batter as frequently as you can and pouring
small quantities into a small sized bowl makes the stirring process more handy.
Stirring the whole fermented batter which comes bubbling up may cause the appams to
lose their softness. Sometimes when making appams, the batter clings onto your pan
and you need to use all your efforts to keep them presentable and in shape. Still
worse sometimes the appam just refuses to get off the pan. In such cases, heres
what you should do. Break an egg and pour it on the hot appam pan. Roll out the
omlette and use it to dab oil on the pan before making each appam. Not another
appam will ever stick on the pan. Now, heres yet another tip, quite unknown, for
making soft appams. Take one cup of tender coconut water/coconut water in a bottle
to which one teaspoon sugar, one teaspoon raw rice, teaspoon soda powder and salt
are added and mixed well. This is kept for a day near the stove so that it is
warmed up. Palappams may now be prepare adding this mixture to the dough. The rice
flour used to make the palappam, if steamed for half an hour before making the
batter, makes the appams extra soft.

From http://giniann.wordpress.com/2006/08/13/palappam/

Preparing the batter: This should be done the night before.

Rice flour 2 cups ( In Kerala grocery stores, you can get the rice flour that is
specific for palappam. The rice flour is usually slightly fried and has a little
more texture than plain rice flour)

Yeast- 1/2 tsp dissolved in some luke warm water with a pinch of sugar. Wait for it
to rise.

Coconut milk- 1 can

Kurukku- This is made by combining one spoon of cream of rice with some hot water
on stove top to create a gooey mixture.

That is it. Combine all the above and leave overnight in a warm place.
Making appams

In the morning as soon as you walk into the kitchen, you will be greeted by the
smell of the fermented batter. You can add some warm milk if the batter is too
thick to make it slightly watery. Add salt.

Place the palappachatti on the stove. Make sure it is not too hot or cold. Too hot
the appams will not hold their shape and if too cold, the lace does not form
properly.

Apply some oil so that appams dont stick. I use nallenna( gingelly oil), but
anykind should work. Take a scoop of the batter and drop it into the palappachatti.
Hold the two handles of the palappachatti and give it a quick twirl to spread the
batter around. Do this only once. If you make two twirls, the edges get too thick
and you wont form proper laces. Cover and leave on for about 2 min. A cooked appam
should be cooked throughout. Some like the appams with a slight brown tinge, just
leave it on the stove a bit longer.

Remove and repeat to make more appams. Serve warm.

Goes well with egg curry, meat curry or even with some milk and sugar.

From http://www.mariasmenu.com/favourites/palappam

1. Rice Flour 2 cups

2. Semolina 2 tablespoon
3. Medium coconut milk 2 cups
Thick coconut milk 1 cup
4. Yeast 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar 1/2 teaspoon
5. Water 2 glass

Add 2 glasses of water to semolina & cook. Cook until it becomes loose. Keep aside
to cool. Add 1/4 cup lukewarm water to 1/2 teaspoon yeast & sugar & mix well.Allow
it to rise. Take 2 cups of rice flour in a bottom deep vessel. Add the cooked
semolina and mix well. Add the yeast & sugar mix & mix well.Add the medium thick
coconut milk little by little. Mix well. Keep it overnight. Dont keep it in fridge.
Next day morning,first mix the batter well & add the thick coconut milk little by
little. Add salt & sugar to taste. Heat Appachatti ( Appam Kadai) & pour 5-6
tablespoon of batter into it & rotate the appachatti and make sure that the batter
is spread in a circular form. Cover & cook. Once the middle portion is cooked,
remove from fire. Serve hot with Mutton stew or Fish molly.

From http://deepann.wordpress.com/2006/03/07/palappam/

Ingredients:-

Raw rice 2cups

Grated Coconut 1/2 cup
Sugar -2 tbsp
Cooked rice 1 cup
Yeast 1/2 tsp
Egg -1(Optional)
Salt a pinch(to adjust the sweetness)

Method:-
Soak the rice in water for 5-6 hours and drain it. Grind this with grated coconut
and cooked rice adding enough water to a smooth paste.Combine sugar and yeast in
luke warm water(around 1/2 cup) and keep aside for 5-10 mts.Add this also to the
grinded mixture .Stir well and allow it to ferment for 8-10 hrs.
Ingredients for grinding Fermented Batter

Separate egg white and yolk.Just before preparing ,beat egg white and salt well and
mix it with the fermented batter. This is my ammas tip to make appam more soft.

Usually appam is prepared in a shallow appam steamer called appachatti.(See the

pic)If you can compromise the appearence of Appam,use any non-stick pan you
desire :)
Appachatti Appachatti with lid

When the pan is well heated,pour a big spoon of mixture into it.Spread it well by
rotating the pan holding both the handles.Itll give a lace like structure on the
edges.Cover the pan and let the appam cook in the steam for 2 minutes.(Note :-If
you are using any pan other that non stick,apply oil well to prevent sticking.)
Cooking in Progress Appam

Last Sunday we had Appam & Naadan Egg Masala.

And with that leftover egg yolkjust pour it above the appam batter and close the
lid.The egg will also be cooked along with appam.This is something my kid loves to
eatand an ideal way to make him eat the egg.

From http://memoriesnmeals.blogspot.com/2006/10/bright-day-with-palappam.html

You will need:

Raw White Rice - 2 cups
Cooked White Rice - 1 cup
Fresh/Desiccated Coconut - 1 cup (I used dessicated)
Yeast - 1 pack
Salt - 2 tsp
Sugar - 8tbsp
An Appam Chatti - a round bottomed vessel- just like a karahi - preferably non-
stick.

1) Soak the raw rice for at least 6 hours

2) Grind the raw rice into a paste adding sufficient amount of water. Keep it aside
3) Grind the cooked rice and coconut separately adding some more water, into a
smooth paste. Mix it with the raw rice paste in Step to make smooth paste like
batter.
4) Meanwhile take the yeast, mix in warm water and 1tsp sugar, keep it to ferment
for about half an hour OR follow the instructions on the pack.
5) Once the yeast is ready, mixed it to the batter along with the salt and rest of
the sugar. Keep it for a few hours until you see the whole mixture raised-up well
enough. You can start making appams at this point.
6) Take the appam vessel, drop a little oil just enough to grease and pour a ladle
full of batter prepared in Step 3. Take the appam chatti into both your hands and
swirl in one direction(clockwise or anticlockwise), to spread the batter all around
the vessel until it covers good part of it. Close the lid and let the appam cook
for a couple of minutes and slowly remove the appam. Serve with vegetable korma,
egg curry or stew.

From http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pal-appam

Ingredients

1. 4 teaspoons sugar
2. 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
 3. 2 1/2 cups warm water
4. 1/4 cup cream of rice cereal
5. 2 cups rice flour
6. 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
7. 1 teaspoon salt
8.

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon of the sugar and the yeast with 3/4 cup
of the water and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small
saucepan, bring 1 cup of the water to a boil. Add the cream of rice and return to a
boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, until thick, about 1 minute.
Remove from the heat and let cool.
2. In a bowl, combine the rice flour and 2 teaspoons of the sugar. Add the cream
of rice, the yeast mixture and the remaining 3/4 cup of water; whisk to form a
thick batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature
until the batter has doubled in bulk and smells pleasantly sour, 8 hours or
overnight.
3. Whisk the milk, salt and the remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar into the batter.
Heat an 8- to 10-inch nonstick skillet. Pour1/4 cup of the batter into the center
of the skillet; it should sizzle and spread out quickly, forming a thin lacy
pancake. (If the batter is too thick, thin it with a bit of milk.) Cover and cook
over moderate heat on 1 side only until well browned on the bottom and dry on the
surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Eat immediately or transfer to a platter and keep warm
until all the Pal Appam are cooked.