Instant Rava and Poha Appe

Suji appe or paniyaram is a common South Indian breakfast which is crispy on the outside and soft and flavourful on the inside. Made with rava, it has less oil, very healthy and is an instant recipe- you can whip it out anytime!  Making appe is very easy, and it comes very handy on rushed and lazy mornings alike. 

Not just breakfasts, these are great for some snacking too! Ever since quarantine has started, my mother is always fed up with me lurking around in the kitchen looking for some snacks here and there, being so choosy with biscuits and toasts and "I want to eat something salty". So my mother makes a large batch of these, and whenever I am hungry, I take the batter out of the fridge and make myself a few appes!

Instant recipes are such a hot topic these days. Right from dhokla to dosa, everything has an instant version. Appe is one of my favourite instant dishes. Doesn't need any roasting like upma, or any fermenting like dosa. Just a little mixing, and then all you need to do is pour it into the appe pan. They are this small pan with round moulds in it. Very easy to find, you can find them on amazon too: 7 cavity appe pan and 12 cavity appe pan.

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This is the pan I have.

Most appe recipes call for only rava, but my mother once suggested adding ground poha to the batter since it gives a nice texture to mix dosa. So I thought, why not? the result was a fluffier and softer appe as opposed to the usual plan sooji one.

I have added baking soda to my appe because it has a neutral taste, but you could also go for Eno. Just make sure you use the normal blue flavoured one and not some lemon or orange or coca-cola flavoured.

Meanwhile, you could also prepare mint chutney along with it(tastes impeccable!) You might have a scroll down past the bechamel sauce..... I am still figuring out how to make this blog look presentable!

You might also like:

Bread Rolls Recipe

Veg Seekh Kebab Recipe

Soya Manchurian Recipe

So here is the recipe for instant rava and poha appe-

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time:       7-8 minutes      

Serves:                  4

Ingredients:

1 cup Suji
Half Cup poha
2 tablespoons of curd
Two and a half cups of water
1/4 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup grated cabbage

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon oil(for making appe)

For the tempering:
2 teaspoons oil

A pinch of asafoetida(hing)
Half teaspoon mustard seeds

A few curry leaves

Instructions:

1. Take half cup of Poha and grind it to a coarse powder.
2. In a large bowl, take the ground poha, suji and mix well.
3. Once thoroughly mixed, add 2 tablespoons of curd, and stir until fully incorporated. You could go for more than 2 tablespoons of the curd if it is very fresh or if you like things a little sour.
4. Next up, we add water. 2.5 cups is how much water my batch took, but it doesn't mean you will need the same amount. It depends on the type of suji and the poha because finer type of semolina takes up less water and so on and so forth. I would suggest you add 1 cup of water initially, mix well and if it becomes very thick, go on to add some more water. I usually wait for about 15 minutes for the semolina to absorb water so I can judge its consistency. 
5. We are looking for a medium consistency batter, something not too thick or very flowy. Somewhat like a cake batter, or something you can pour with a spoon. 
6. Once you have reached this consistency, Add the grated vegetables. I have mentioned carrots and cabbage because they are easy to get hold of and don't have a very dominating flavour. You can add boiled peas, corn or maybe even grated beetroot...
7. Last step in preparation: tempering. In a small pan/kadhai, heat up 2 tablespoons of ghee/oil. Add the asafoetida, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds and wait until they pop. Then add a few curry leaves, let it stop spurting and add the tempered ghee to the batter and mix well.
8. Let it rest for about 10-15 minutes. Let the ingredients know each other, take a stroll, the point is, just leave it alone.
9. After its done resting, if the batter is too thick, add a little water to loosen it up. Add the baking soda and heat up your appe pan. Once hot, add some oil into each slot and add about a spoonful of batter. It should be enough to just come up to the brim of the slot. fill the slots up, and cover it with the lid and put the flame on maximum for 30 seconds, then lower the flame to a minimum. 
10. Let it cook for about 5 minutes, then uncover and check the surface of the appe. They should have risen and almost look like balls. If they look solid, flip them over with a spoon(or you could use a toothpick, poke it and flip it over). 
11. Cover it again and let it simmer for another 3-4 minutes.
12. Well, you are done! Take the appe off the pan, the chutney in a bowl, serve it and savour them right away!

Let me know in the comments how your appe turned out! 

~Meghana