It took me a while to come to terms with Kerala cuisine, odd considering most of my first culinary references are South Indian from around Chennai and Bengaluru. And it all began with the Appam. Unless you have a Kerala connection, appam usually refers to the Hopper – a bowl shaped pancake cooked with fermented rice and grated coconut, that is soft at the centre.
In Kerala, this is the Vella Appam, the most popular of the appam varieties that include Kallappam that uses toddy and the Palappam that uses coconut milk instead of grated coconut. These two types of appams come closest to the quintessential appam as the rest of India knows it. But ask a Syrian Christian and you are likely to hear at least a few more varieties – like the Neyappam (Ghee Appam) and the crispy Kuzhal Appam – a crispy curled up version.
Yes, if there’s one community that can truly claim to own the Appam, it is the Syrian Christians. Chef Aji Joseph, (Corporate Chef for Oriental cuisines that owns the Ente Keralam chain of restaurants in Bengaluru and Chennai) grew up watching his mother and grandmother make the most exquisite appams. He believes that there’s no staple that defines Syrian Christian cuisine better than the appam. Whether it’s breakfast or dinner or special occasions like weddings, appams are always in the mix. He reminisces about family weddings when large quantities of appams would be stored in huge containers. Quite a few Syrian Christian weddings today make appams ‘a la minute’ with at least four or five live counters.
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