Tradition · fermented rice pancake
Appam and hoppers
Also known as Appam, Aappam, Āppam, Hoppers, Idiyappam, String hoppers, Appachatti
Appam is a thin, bowl-shaped pancake of fermented rice batter and coconut milk cooked in a deep pan called an appachatti, eaten at breakfast or supper in Kerala and, as hoppers, across Sri Lanka. A close relative of the dosa, it appears in Tamil Sangam poetry, which describes appams like honeycombs sold in Madurai's night markets, and an early recipe is carved on the walls of the Srirangam temple. Its noodle cousin, idiyappam, is the string hopper.
- Function
- Other / mixed
- Material
- rice, coconut milk
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered
Worth knowing
In the late eighteenth century the Carmelite Paolino da San Bartolomeo reported that Kerala's Saint Thomas Christians shared appam at their agape love-feast, and the Cochin Jews were noted for fermenting the batter with fresh toddy instead of yeast.
The Sangam attestation is K. T. Achaya's reading, as relayed by Vir Sanghvi.
Connections (3)
- AnalogueIdli and dosa
Appam and dosa are close relatives in the South Indian family of fermented rice batters. Early dosas were made from rice batter alone, and black gram was added later until it became essential, whereas the appam kept to rice and coconut milk and, according to Wikipedia, its recipe has remained unchanged for centuries. Appam is cooked thick in the middle and lacy at the edge in a deep appachatti, dosa is spread thin on a flat griddle, and their cousin idiyappam is steamed.
- Associated withSaint Thomas Christians
At the end of the eighteenth century the Carmelite friar Paolino da San Bartolomeo reported that the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala celebrated the agape, the Christian love-feast, with a rice-cake dish called appam. Kerala's Syrian Christians also keep their own variants, such as the fried, tube-shaped kuzhalappam, and Jewish historians note that the Cochin Jews fermented the batter with fresh toddy instead of yeast, so the dish runs through each of Kerala's old trading communities.
- Historical linkShrirangam
One of the earliest recipes for appam is carved on the walls of the Srirangam temple, recorded there as an offering to the deity, according to the history given in Wikipedia's Appam article. The food historian K. T. Achaya also finds appams in Sangam Tamil poetry, sold alongside modakam in the night markets of ancient Madurai. The Srirangam inscription places the dish in a temple's offering kitchen centuries before its Kerala and Sri Lankan forms became everyday breakfasts.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Appam". K. T. Achaya as quoted by Vir Sanghvi, cited there.
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