Vattayappam for ICC

This month Srivalli challenged us to make a unique dish from Kerala known as Vatteppam or Vattayappam. Initially I thought of skipping this challenge as I was really taken aback by seeing the long recipe, but after reading the recipe for 2-3 times and seeing comments from fellow bloggers who already made this..I decided to give this a try. And after seeing and tasting the end result I was really happy that I tried this.

Thanks to Srivalli who gave this wonderful challenge and also to Shn whose recipe we followed.

Ingredients:

Raw Rice- 1 Cup (soaked for 6 to 8 hours)

Cooked Rice- 2 tbsp

Grated fresh Coconut- 3/4th cup

Thari Kurukku (Porridge)- 4 tbsp

Instant Dry Yeast- 1/4 tsp

Sugar- 3/4th Cup

Cardamom- 1tsp

Cashewnuts- Broken and Roasted in ghee

Raisins- Puffed in ghee

Procedure:

• Grind the soaked rice in a mixer adding very little water and when it is little coarse remove 2 tbsp of it for making thari kurukku.
• After removing 2 tbsp of coarse paste add grated fresh coconut to the remaining paste and grind it till fine consistency is achieved. Use very little water to grind the paste.
• Add the cooked rice to the batter and grind again. Set aside with the jar to cool.
• To make thari kurukku- In a pan combine the 2tbsp of coarse paste with 1/2 cup of water and cook it on medium flame stirring continuously till it reaches a thick porridge consistency. Switch off the gas and keep the paste aside.
• Add 4 tbsp of this thari kurukku mixture to the ground batter and grind again in the mixer.
• Add the instant dry yeast to this mixture and pulse 2-3 times for everything to blend well.
• Transfer the final batter to a big steel utensil and allow to ferment for 6 hours or overnight.
• When the batter is fermented add 3/4 th cup of sugar and mix gently. Keep to rest for 2 hours.
• Before steaming add the cardamom powder and mix in nuts in the batter.
• Pour the batter in a greased round cake tin and keep it in the pressure cooker filled with water without whistle to steam for 30 minutes or till done.
• After removing the cake tin from the pressure cooker allow the vatteppam to cool completely before taking it out.

• Transfer it to a serving plate and cut in wedges. Serve and enjoy.