Pesaha appam

A rice cake made unleavened on purpose, like the matzo it is said to come from.

Vegan.

Ingredients

400 g rice flour
100 g fresh coconut, grated
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
4 shallots, chopped fine
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
about 450 ml water
2 tablespoons coconut oil

Method

A RICE CAKE MADE UNLEAVENED ON PURPOSE, LIKE THE MATZO IT IS SAID TO COME FROM. Its article makes the absence the defining fact rather than an omission: the cake IS NOT FERMENTED WITH YEAST IN ITS PREPARATION, it IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN DERIVED FROM Jewish MATZA, and LIKE MATZO, IT IS PREPARED WITHOUT YEAST. Everything else in Kerala's rice-batter family rises; this one is built not to.
WHICH IS WHY NOTHING IS LEFT TO STAND. A dosa batter, an appam batter, surnoli's batter -- all of them sit overnight. This is mixed and steamed within the hour, and any souring at all would be a fault.
AND IT IS MADE FOR ONE NIGHT. The article has it served ON THE NIGHT OF MAUNDY THURSDAY (PESAHA), in a ceremonial manner in Christian households across Kerala, and gives KURISHAPPAM as the other name.
THE BATTER IS THICK, NOT POURING. Rice flour with the water added gradually to a paste that drops from a spoon in a lump. Too loose and it will not hold as a firm cake, which is the article's own word for it.
COCONUT, CUMIN AND SHALLOT GO IN RAW. No tempering, no frying first. The cumin is the flavour people recognise and it stays whole.
STEAM IT AS ONE CAKE IN A GREASED TIN. Not as small parcels or in moulds -- one round, about three centimetres deep, in a steamer for thirty-five or forty minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
LET IT STAND TEN MINUTES BEFORE TURNING IT OUT. Hot, it tears; rested, it comes away whole and slices.
SERVED IN SLICES WITH PESAHA MILK, WHICH IS THE OTHER HALF OF THE NIGHT. Thick coconut milk sweetened with jaggery, poured over. The cake is barely sweet by itself, which is what makes the two work.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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