The tradition of making Pesaha Appam and Paalu on Pesaha would have come from the early Jews who came to Kerala. The Jewish tradition is preserved in the consumption of Pesaha pal (passover coconut milk) instead of wine on the night of passover along with Pesaha appam.
Pesaha Appam
Ingredients
Rice Flour – 2 cups (It doesn’t have to be roasted)
Grated Coconut – 1 1/4 cup
Uzhunnu (Urad Dal) – A handful (soaked in water for a few hours)
Shallots (Kunjulli) – 5 or 6 pieces
Garlic – 2 cloves
Cumin (Jeerakam) – 1/2 tsp
Salt – to taste
Water – as required
Preparation Method
Take rice flour in a big vessel and add a pinch of salt.Grind the soaked uzhunnuparippu with little water to form a fine paste and add it to the rice flour.Grind shallots and garlic to form a fine paste and add it to the rice flour.
Grind coconut and 1/2 tsp jeera to form a coarse paste.Mix everything together adding little water to form a thick batter. Add more salt if required. The consistency of the batter should be slightly less than that of idli batter.Keep the batter for around 2-3 hours but no longer or it will ferment.
Grease a steel plate or line it with Banana leaves and pour the batter and spread it evenly (I used Aluminum Foil for lining the vessel). Make a cross using the Palm Leaves from Palm Sunday and place it on the middle of the batter. This Appam with the cross is known as Kurishu Appam.Steam it for around 15 minutes in an AppaChembu or Idli Cooker.With the remaining batter, you can make appam in the same way without the cross.
Pesaha Coconut Milk
Ingredients
Coconut Milk – 3 Cups
Sharkara (Jaggery) – 1/4 kg (Use Black Jaggery for a dark color)
Rice Flour – 1/4 cup (Try to use Roasted Rice Flour)
Powdered Dry Ginger (Chukku) – 1/2 tsp
Powdered Cardamom (Elakka) – 1/4 tsp
Powdered Cumin – 1/2 tsp
Black Sesame Seeds (Ellu) – 1 tsp
Preparation Method
Melt jaggery by boiling it slowly in around 1/2 cup of water. Filter the syrup.Take coconut milk in a saucepan. Keep it on low heat and bring it to a boil stirring continuously.Add jaggery syrup to the coconut milk and stir for a few minutes.Dissolve the rice flour in little water and add it to the above mixture so that the mixture thickens. Keep stirring so that there are no lumps.Add the powdered spices (dry ginger, cumin and cardamom) and finally some sesame seeds to the milk.You can add small pieces of the palm leaves to the Pesaha Milk.
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