Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Kalathappam/ Kalthappam

Kalathappam,  made from rice flour, jaggery sugar, fried onions and coconut flakes, is a Malabar (Kannur/ Kerala ) delicacy. Coming from the southern part of Kerala, I was not aware of this wonderful preparation, till a few months back, when a friend from abroad visiting Kerala told me that it was one of the best dishes he had ever had. And when I prepared it, I understood why he was all praise for it.

 'Kalam' in Malayalam means 'cooking pot' and 'Appam' is a kind of pancake prepared of rice flour. In olden days, Kalathappam used to be prepared in a kalam, hence the name.


Ingredients:




Raw rice           - 1 cup
Cooked parboiled rice  - ½ cup
Grated coconut - ½ cup
Jaggery - 200 gms
Coconut oil       - 3 tbsps
Cardamom       - a few
Baking soda     - a pinch
Salt      - a pinch
Jeera    - ½ tsp
Shallots            - 10 to 15, peeled and cut into 2 or 3 pieces
Fresh coconut cut into small pieces        - 2 tbsps
Water   - 1 cup

Method:

-Soak the rice for about an hour. Drain, grind it with ½ cup water, cooked parboiled rice, coconut scrapings, jeera and cardamom into a fine paste.
- Meanwhile, add jaggery to the remaining ½ cup of water and put on low fire. When it dissolves, sieve it and keep aside.


- Heat the coconut oil, fry the coconut pieces to light brown color and remove them.
- Put the cut shallots in the same oil and fry them to light brown color.


- Add salt, baking soda, and the melted sieved jaggery to the ground rice. Keep it on medium flame for a few seconds to warm it.


- Add ½ of the fried coconut pieces and shallots to the rice mix and stir.
- Put baking paper in a baking bowl, pour the remaining oil, and put the remaining half of the fried coconut pieces and shallots into the baking bowl.
- Pour the rice mixture into the baking bowl and bake at 170 degrees for about 50 minutes.

- Cool a bit, slice and serve as a snack or for breakfast.

No comments:

Post a Comment