Appam

Appam is a thin, bowl-shaped pancake made from fermented rice batter and coconut milk, typical of South India and Sri Lanka. It is most often eaten for breakfast or dinner, frequently with a vegetable, meat or egg curry.

History

The name appam may derive from the Sanskrit apupa, a term for a kind of fried sweet. The food historian K. T. Achaya notes that appams are mentioned in Tamil Sangam literature, and that poems from the ancient city of Madurai describe them being sold in street markets alongside modakam.

Appams are closely related to dosas. Dosa batter later incorporated black lentils, whereas the appam recipe has changed much less over the centuries. One of the earliest known appam recipes is carved into the walls of the Srirangam temple, as an offering to the deity. At the end of the 18th century, the Carmelite friar Paolino da San Bartolomeo recorded that the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala shared a love feast with a rice-cake dish called appam.

The dish spread beyond the subcontinent. In Sri Lanka it is known as hoppers and has its own long tradition. Variants appear in Burma, where they are called apon, and in Indonesia, where kue apem is part of traditional celebrations. Roti jala in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore belongs to the same family and, according to the sources, probably arrived from India in the 15th century.

Culture

In Kerala and Tamil Nadu appam is part of everyday life and is often eaten at breakfast or dinner. It is cooked in a small, curved pan called an appachatti. Depending on the region and the household, it is served with sweetened coconut milk, with mutton or vegetable stew, or with a roasted egg.

The variations are many. Egg appam has an egg cracked into the pan; milk appam has a spoonful of thick coconut milk placed in the centre of the batter; honey appam becomes crisp with palm molasses. Idiyappam, or string hoppers, are rice noodles pressed into flat spirals and served with a thin fish or chicken curry, lentils and a spicy sambol. Kallappam, made with fermented palm toddy, is traditionally eaten in Kerala on special occasions such as Easter.

Syrian Christians in Kerala make pesaha appam during Passover, dipped in syrup. Today appam remains a feature of restaurants, markets and homes on both sides of the Indian Ocean, and it is one of the emblems of South Indian cooking.