Appalam, also called Papadum, is another popular deep fried crispy which goes as an accompaniment with meals. Papadums are called appalam in Tamil Nadu, pappadam in Kerala, appadam in Andhra/Telangana, happala in karnataka, and papad in Punjab and Gujarat. They are mainly made in Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharastra, and Gujarat in the north. In the south, Kerala, Madurai district in Tamil Nadu, Kanchipuram, and Chennai are major manufacturers. Like the padagam, appalam is served as an accompaniment to meals or as a substitute to vegetables. Appalam is a thin, crisp, round flatbread made from peeled black gram flour (urad flour), either fried or cooked with dry heat. Papads are made with other flour too, such as lentils, chickpeas, rice, tapioca, certain millets and potato too.

In North India, papadums are served as an appetizer with toppings such as chopped onions, chopped carrots, chutneys or other dips, and condiments. In certain parts of India, like Rajasthan and Gujarat, papadums which have been dried, but not cooked, are used in curries and vegetable dishes.

Preparation:

Papadum recipes vary from region to region and from family to family. They are typically made from flour or paste derived from either lentils, chickpeas, black gram, rice, or potato. Salt and peanut oil are added to make a dough, which can be flavored with seasonings such as chili, cumin, garlic, or black pepper. Sometimes, baking soda or slaked lime is also added. The dough is shaped into thin, round flatbread and then dried (in the sun), and can be cooked by deep frying, roasting over an open flame, toasting, depending on the desired texture.

Ingredients:

Appalam can be prepared from different ingredients and methods.The most popular recipe uses flour ground from hulled split black gram mixed with black pepper, salt, and a small amount of vegetable oil and the mixture is kneaded. A well-kneaded dough is then flattened into very thin rounds and then dried and stored for later preparation and consumption. It may also contain rice, Jackfruit, Sabudana, etc., as main ingredients. Cracked black pepper, red chili powder, Asafoetida, or cumin or sesame seeds are often used as flavoring agents. Papad or Happala is also made from
Rice flakes, Ragi and Horse Gram also.

Black Gram Flour for Appalam in Bhaga Shastra

Smear gingelly oil on big Bengal gram. Dry it in the sun and machine grind it to break it into pieces. Again dry it, remove the black skin and grind it to a fine powder. Some people will soak the black gram, remove the skin, dry it and then powder the dal into flour. This will lessen the taste of the dal.

AVAL APPALAM

Ingredients:

Samba aval /flattened rice -1/2 padi

Salt – 3/8 palam

Asafetida – ¼ rupee coin size

Pure water – ½ padi

Cumin seeds – ¼ palam

Powdered pepper pods – 1/8 palam

Method:

● Dry samba aval and grind it to a powder. Separate thin powder and coarse ones (1/4 padi). Mix together salt, asafetida and pure water and boil it. Then strain the water and divide it into two portions. Add one portion to the coarse aval. Put cumin seeds, crushed pepper into the aval. Soak it and pound it well. Set aside.

● Smear the pounder with ghee and sprinkle the other portion of the water now and then and pound it again. Make big balls out of it and close this with a wet cloth. Take lemon sized balls out of this and make papad like the previous recipe. Smear the thinly ground aval flour on a smooth plank and take a lemon sized ball and flatten it. Take the papad machine and make round shaped appalam. Repeat this process for the rest of the pappad also. Smear the thin aval flour periodically. You can fry this in oil or ghee or in the fire directly.

● Instead of making papad out of the entire kneaded flour, papads can be made according
to the requirement in small quantities. You can make papads from lady finger juice, veldt grape juice, vasalaikeerai juice and thuthi ver juice. The same way yam juice, brinjal root juice can also be included in the appalam. Instead of the appalakaram, cooking soda is also added. By adding the juice of the leaves, roots, vegetables and vengaram, appalakaram etc. the appalam becomes big and fluffy.