The making of a South Indian appam is not intuitive to me. It’s nothing like a straightforward rice boil or a roti flip on the stove. The saga of culinary steps involved in making an appam – soaking uncooked rice in water, grinding it up with cooked rice and coconut water, sprinkling in a leavening agent, letting the whole gloopy mixture ferment for hours and then rotating about a spoonful of it in a small, heated appa chatti fry pan until fluffy and angelic – would never occur to me were I faced with a lone coconut stew in need of a carb accomplice.
Which is why I’m thrilled that there are souls exponentially more ingenious than myself who wander into kitchens and devise edible wonders such as the appam. What’s fascinating about the appam is its duality of textures – it is both crunchy and spongy at the same time. The batter is made to gyrate around the wok-like edges of the chatti, leaving behind crispy slopes that I’m convinced become the sheer organza of a bridal dress in an afterlife. Eventually, gravity forces the batter to plunge down into the valley of the utensil, transforming the centre into a soft, cushiony, perforated reservoir of cooked batter.
The role of the appam in Keralite and Sri Lankan communities is similar to that of rice and roti. It is not a main course by itself, but one that exists for the sole, selfless purpose of helping you sop up another vegetable or meat dish, preferably one that’s soupy and needy of a carb soulmate to help mop it up. One of life’s unsaid truths is that for every South Indian vegetable stew, duly thickened with coconut and tempered with chillies, whole mustard and curry leaves, there exists a stack of hot appam that’s waiting to be ripped, dipped and savoured alongside.
Available at Calicut Paragon, Karama, 04 335 8700, or at Simran’s Aappa Kadai, multiple branches, 04 334 8030
Arva Ahmed blogs about hidden food gems in Old Dubai at www.ILiveinaFryingPan.com
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
Dubai World Cup Carnival card
6.30pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (TB) US$100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (Turf) 1,000m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
8.15pm: Meydan Challenge Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
8.50pm: Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m
9.25pm: Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m
The National selections
6.30pm: Final Song
7.05pm: Pocket Dynamo
7.40pm: Dubai Icon
8.15pm: Dubai Legacy
8.50pm: Drafted
9.25pm: Lucius Tiberius
