Paalappam & Vegetable Stew

Thanks to @ocd and @foodiesbeehive for this great opportunity to share about our traditional food PAALAPPAM AND VEGETABLE STEW.

Kerala, the Southern State of India, is famous for different vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Being a Keralite, I love the way different spices are being used in various cuisines. Culinary spices are in high production in our land and hence reflects in our cooking.
Rice and coconut forms the major ingredients of most of the dishes. Here in this post I would like to introduce you to the most common and tasty food with coconut and rice its main constituents.

Appam is a fermented rice pancake which consists mainly of rice and coconut. There are different types of Appam in which Paalappam being the tastiest. Vegetable stew is the most common combination of curry with Paalappam.

       **RECIPE**

Paalappam

1. Take 3 cups of raw rice (soaked for 4-5 hours) and transfer it to a mixer grinder.

1. Add 3 tablespoons of cooked rice, an egg, and 4 teaspoons of sugar along with the soaked rice in the blender.

1. Grind to make a thick batter.

1. Add 2 cups of coconut milk and 3 pinch of yeast.

1. Keep it aside overnight for fermentation.
2. Next morning we can see that the batter is fermented.

1. Add some salt to the batter ( to balance the taste) and mix well.

1. Preheat the pan ( called appachatti in Malayalam ) for 2 mins.
2. Pour the batter to the centre of the pan and turn the pan in circulatar motion so that the batter takes a circular shape.

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1. Close the pan with a lid and cook for 5-10 seconds. The paalappam is ready to be served.

Vegetable Stew

1. Take 2 carrots, one tomato, a potato, some beans, and 2 onions. Cut them to square pieces.

1. Add veggies to the pressure cooker.
   
2. Add some salt and 1/4 cup of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

1. Take a pan and transfer the cooked veggies.

1. Add coconut milk to the pan.

1. Add chillies, curry leaves, and coarsely pounded black peppercorns.

1. Add some salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar and stir well.

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1. Let it boil for 5 minutes.

1. Our vegetable stew is ready . Serve hot with Paalappam.
   
   NUTRITIONAL FACTS
   Paalappam
2. Coconut milk ( one among the main ingredients of paalappam) contains some amount of potassium which is good for people with high BP.
3. The lauric acid present in coconut milk helps in controlling cholesterol levels.
4. Rice ( the main ingredient of paalappam) is a great source of carbohydrates which is the most essential source of energy.
   Vegetable Stew
5. The coconut milk has the same nutritional value as above.
6. The veggies used contains great amount of vitamin including vitamin b and c.
7. The vegetables are also very good source of minerals including magnesium.
8. The peppercorns helps in digestion.
   TASTE
   Paalappam is shaped like a cup and to its middle portion we serve the hot vegetable stew. The aroma of the stew will enlighten our taste buds. We can feel the peppercorns,and the coconut milk in its aroma.

The stew soaks into the paalappam making it delicious.
When we eat it we will get the sweet taste of sugar, coconut milk, rice and the spicy flavour of pepper.
This taste indeed makes us happy. What a great start for a day!!!