Wednesday 19 August 2015

Recipe for Chicken Stew with Appams (Indian Pancakes)

Hi guys – I am blogging after a while as ... well I have no excuse, I have just been lazy!

Yesterday I tried my hand at Chicken stew with Appam (pancakes made with Rice and Coconut). Now this is essentially a South-Indian meal so I won’t say my recipe is perfect but it is safe to say that it is delicious. And I also must admit that I did browse through various recipes before trying this one out just to get an idea of the ingredients involved.  

The recipe below is good for 4 people. If you are cooking for more people, then you could just double the quantity of the ingredients.

For the Chicken stew you will need –

1.        one whole Chicken quite obviously, or Chicken parts if you prefer
2.        4-5 tbsp of Oil (any vegetable oil)
3.        1 tbsp of Coconut Oil (I used Parachute which comes in a blue plastic bottle and is available in most grocery stores eg Carrefour)
4.        a small stick of Cinnamon
5.        2 dried Bay leaves
6.        2 Cardamom pods
7.        5-6 black Peppercorns
8.        1 large chopped red Onion (if you don’t have red even white or yellow Onions will do)
9.        5-6 cloves of chopped Garlic
10.     a little chopped Ginger (about an inch long)
11.     1 tsp red Chilli powder
12.     ½ tsp Turmeric (Haldi) powder
13.     1 tsp Coriander (Dhaniya) powder
14.     1 medium chopped Tomato
15.     1 medium sized tin of Coconut Milk
16.     1 chopped Potato
17.     1 chopped Carrot
18.     1 cup of Water

For the garnishing you will need –

19.     a few curry leaves (Karipatta)
20.     a pinch of dried Fenugreek leaves (Kasuri Methi) (This is optional)
21.     a few Coriander leaves (Dhaniya)
22.     a squeeze of 1 small Lime
23.     Salt (as much or as little as you like)
24.     a pinch of Pepper

Now to make the all important Appam you will need –

25.     1 cup raw rice soaked in a cup of Water (I used Basmati rice but not the very expensive kind)
26.     1 tbsp cooked rice
27.     about 3/4th of a cup of fresh grated Coconut
28.     a pinch of Baking Soda
29.     1 tsp of Salt
30.     2 tsp of Sugar
31.     1-2 cups of water depending upon the consistency achieved
32.     Oil for frying

I know it looks like a tonne of ingredients but trust me it is worth the little bit of effort.

To start with the stew, take a deep dish vessel/pot. Add the vegetable and Coconut Oil. Now add the Cinnamon, Bay Leaves, Cardamom and Peppercorns and fry. After about a minute add the chopped Onion, Garlic and Ginger and stir. Now add the Chilli powder, Turmeric powder and Coriander powder and continue frying for about another minute. Add the chopped Tomato and stir. Let it fry for about another minute so that all the spices are cooked well.  Now add the Chicken pieces and let it brown a bit. Then add the Coconut Milk, a cup of Water, chopped Potato and Carrots and cook on a low flame for about an hour or so until the Chicken is completely cooked.

To garnish add ingredients no. 19-24.

Now let’s move on to the Appam

The Appam batter needs to be mixed a day before so that it ferments a bit.

So one day before soak a cup of raw Rice for a few hours in a cup of Water. Blend the raw Rice with the cooked Rice and Coconut in a Blender with half a cup of Water. Blend it well so that there are no lumps. Now keep this mixture in a container, overnight, in a cool room and let it ferment. Put it in the Refrigerator the next morning.

Take it out of the Refrigerator just when you want to eat them. Add about a cup or two of Water, Salt, Sugar and Baking Soda and give it a good stir. You should aim to achieve a pancake batter like consistency (not too thick and not too thin).

Now to fry the Appam, take a tsp of oil in a non-stick pan, pour a ladle of batter into the pan and fry until you see the edges browning. It should take about 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, if you like you can flip it and fry it for about half a minute on the reverse to ensure it is cooked. Cover the pan to speed up the frying process. And voila you should get a tasty Appam. Continue the process until the batter is over. I didn’t count but I think I got around 9 or 10 Appams.

 I didn’t click any photos so I don’t have anything to show you what it looks like, but to give you a general idea they look very similar to white thin pancakes.

Let me know if you try out the Recipe. I would love to hear what you thought of it. All the ingredients listed above should be available in either Lulu or Carrefour supermarkets.