Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Sweet Apam


This is one of the nicest things my mother used to make for tea-time, when we had emptied the contents of her tins and she needed a quick sweet at tea-time!
I love the blend of jaggery and now I use whole wheat flour, as the kind we get in the Indian grocery stores are as fine as the maida (all purpose flour) we used in India.
The whole wheat flour is more nutritious, the jaggery does not send my blood sugar soaring as long as I eat one apam only, so this is an all around winner for a diabetic.


1 cup whole wheat flour.
1/2 cup jaggery, broken into small pieces or shaved off the jaggery 'block' with a knife.
(Brown sugar might work here too but I haven't tried it with brown sugar yet).
1/4 cup water.
1/2 tsp cardamom powder.
1 Tbsp raw cashewnuts (quartered if they are whole, halved if they are in two pieces)
1 Tbsp golden raisins (soaked in water for 5 mins to plump them up, and strained).

Melt jaggery in water and strain through a fine strainer. (I always do this with any dish I'm using jaggery for as there are always some impurities in the jaggery).
Watch carefully so jaggery just melts and does not harden...if needed add little more warm water to dilute quickly.
Cool and then add to flour with all other ingredients.
Mix like dosa pouring consistency...for those of you who do not make dosas mix like pancake batter, adding more water if necessary.
Spray a non-stick pan, heat on medium high, pour one spoon of batter to make a 2-4 inch circle...my mother painstakingly did 3 inch circles...with me size depends on how quickly I want the job finished.
Flip apam over and brown other side.
Eat hot, eat cold...delicious both ways.

Tips: If your jaggery is very hard, soften it in the microwave for a minute but be very careful handling it as it starts to melt from the inside out.
Do not make batter too watery.
Do not pour too thick as inside will not cook well...1/4 cm comes out great.
Do not cook crisp.
Apam should be golden reddish brown and soft.
Outer edge just get a little crisp but the rest should be soft.

1 comment:

KLINC said...

I was looking for ways to use up some rock hard jaggery I've had sitting in the cupboards, and I came across this recipe. Now that I've tested it out - I had to come back and let you know I thought it was absolutely delicious! :) I really appreciate you sharing this recipe! :)
I'm sure I won't have any trouble with using my jaggery stores now that I have this in my recipe collection. :) :) Thanks again! - Kate