Achappam

Achappam, a traditional and delicious Kerala snack mainly prepared during festivals or special occasions. I remember my childhood days where my mom used to prepare such snacks. But as the days passed by these things have become a memory.

Now a days when I start cooking and found interest in cooking, a thought of making traditional snacks came into my mind. I believed making these snacks were out of my bounds, possible only for grandmaas. But when i actually tried, i realized it is easy and simple. Anybody can do it only what we need is interest in cooking.

So let's try Achappam.

It is made with a special mould available in different designs. Making achappam is simple and easy, only tricky part is frying it.

Ingredients :

Rice flour - 2 cups
Plain flour/ Maida - 1 cup
Thick Coconut Milk - 1 cup
Egg - 2
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame Seeds - 2 tsp
Oil - to deep Fry
Salt - to Taste

Preparation :

Mix Rice flour and plain flour together to get a finely powdered flour. It is been heard that traditional Achappam is made with raw rice flour. But when I search for an Achappam recipe, I found different methods and one is adding maida. So I decided to go with Maida recipe . Whenever I prepared making Achappam I tried to vary the amount of Plain flour taken such as reducing the amount of Maida , another time did not add maida etc. But above given ratio of mixing flours seemed to be more tastier.

Take a bowl and make a thick batter with the mixed flour and coconut milk.

Beat eggs well, and add it into the batter along with sugar, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, salt and mix well, and make sure that no lumps are formed. you can adjust the amount of sugar as per your choice. The batter should be of semi thick consistency. Keep it aside for some time, say for about 20 minutes.

Transfer the batter into a small but deep vessel. Heat oil in a deep and wide pan. Dip the Achappam mould in the pan while the oil is getting heated. The mould need to be heated properly, otherwise the batter will not stick on the mould.

Once the oil is hot, take the Achappam mould and shake it to remove excess oil. Dip the Achappam mould in batter. Make sure that only three fourth of the mould is immersed in batter, otherwise it will be difficult to detach the achappam from the mould. After dipping in batter, immediately dip the mould in hot oil and keep for 20 seconds and shake a little so that batter /achappam loosens into the oil.

Dont get desperate if you fail to make a perfect one in the beginning. if you get one, you will be lucky. Because as I mentioned initially, important part of making achappam lies on frying. After making 2- 3 nos only you will get knack of making it. The timing of dipping and frying batter cannot be written and it will get cleared while preparing only.

Flip the Achappam to cook both sides till golden brown. Drain the achappam into a paper towel. Once it cools completely, store in an airtight container.

So Try yourself and get ready to be appreciated by your loved ones.