Easter Spl: Vattayappams

Tomorrow is Easter. And most Malayalee Christian households will make Vattayappam (A sweet cake made of rice flour and coconut milk). Other delicacies usually made are Chicken stew, fish molee and pork roast or beef roast. These are either served with nei choru (rice with ghee and onion tempering) and appams (fluffy breads made of rice flour).

Vattayappam is one of the easiest things you make on Easter. Here's how to do it.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rice flour (I used rice flour. It is usually made with soaked rice which is coarsely ground along with coconut milk).
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup coconut water
• 6-7 tsp sugar (more, if you want it to be sweeter)
• 3-4 pods of cardamom crushed
• 8-10 cashewnuts broken into pieces
• 8-10 raisins (I haven't added raisins in this recipe though)
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method

• Mix rice flour with coconut milk and yeast and refrigerate it over night. Alternately you can also prepare the batter in the morning if you wish to make appams in the evening.
• If you mixed the flour with yeast and coconut milk in the morning, leave it out to ferment for a few hours. Add coconut water and let it stay for couple of hours more.
• Add crushed cardamoms, raisins, cashews, sugar, salt and stir it well.
• Pour it in a shallow dish as shown in the picture. Fill water in a idli cooker or a pressure cooker, place the dish in it and steam on low heat for 15 minutes.
• Cut them into pieces when it cools down and serve.
  
  Tip: Add toddy (alcohol made by fermenting coconut water) instead of coconut water for yummier, fluffier appams!

Happy Easter everyone. Revel in the spirituality and the celebrations. Spend time with your family, have fun!