What will we have for breakfast?

Pan fried Appes

What will we have for breakfast? That is one mandatory question we ask each other after waking up after exchanging the good morning pleasantries. When oats, muesli, bread, roti, poha gets boring then appe comes to the rescue.

I have come to this ripe old age without eating appes my entire life but now it is one of my favourites. I came to know about it about 3 years back when a very pleased hubby returned from an evening snack at a colleagues place. His wife had made appes. He would often tell me about the easy snack called appes that is made with suji and dahi. So finally I decided to search on the internet to know what it actually is and easily found many do-able recipes.

But what if you dont have a appe pan/patram? Thats a cast iron utensil specially designed for making appes. It is also called Paniyaram pan. I did not have one. So I put off making appes for nearly 3 years!

appe pan

Till very recently when now we have to come up with easy and exciting breakfast ideas to kickstart thyself from a zombie to a human! I improvised by baking the batter and came up with appe muffins which are equally delicious and healthy.

Also I was able to buy an appe pan as well. So I made the fried and baked version simultaneously.

appes
appes being flipped in the pan

So now we all are happy to have one more answer to “What will we have for breakfast” and a successful addition to our list of “ Things that we can have for breakfast”!

Ingredients

  • Sooji/Rava/ semolina 1Cup
  • Dahi 4 heaped tbsp(1/2 cup)/ Buttermilk
  • Salt, sugar and crushed black pepper
  • ( to taste)
  • Red Chilli powder( to taste)
  • Chopped carrots,beans,spinach, green chilli and coriander (or any veggie of your choice) 2 to 3 tbsp
  • Baking Powder 1 tsp
  • Water ½ cup( as required
  • For tadka/ tempering
  • 2 tbsp ghee/oil and some extra for greasing appe pan/muffing moulds.
  • Mustard Seeds ½ tsp
  • Dry Red Chilli 1
  • Curry Leaves 5 to 6
  • Soaked Chana Dal 1 tsp
  • Finely Chopped onion(1) and ginger

Method

In a bowl mix the sooji, dahi, salt, sugar, red chilli powder. Add in the water to make a smooth batter. Cover and keep this batter for 10 to 15 minutes.

After this time you will see the sooji has soaked up the liquid and is swollen. If it is too thick you can add some water as necessary. Mix 1 tbsp of the ghee into the batter .

In a pan add 1 tbsp ghee/oil, heat it up and add all the other tadka ingredients and fry for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour this into the batter and mix well to incorporate the ghee into the batter. At this point add in 1 tsp baking powder and mix well.

Place the appe pan on flame ,brush some oil into the cavities and preheat it. At the same time preheat the oven at 180°C.

Add the chopped veggies into the batter, adjust the seasoning and mix. Spoon the batter into the appe pan cavities and remnant batter into greased muffin/ cupcake sillicon moulds. Top with a sprinkle of rock salt and crushed black pepper if necessary.

Cover and cook the appe on each side for 3 to 4 minutes till brown. Bake at 180°C for 15 to 17 minutes or till firm. Insert a knife/ skewer to check if its cooked through. Serve hot with tomato sauce or chutney.

appes for breakfast
appes for breakfast


P.S
• This quantity makes around 12 appes in the pan and 3 medium sized muffins. When I made baked muffins I got 9 medium sized muffins.
• You can adjust the flavours according to your wish. You may skip the curry patta and add any other flavour of your choice. Grated cheese as a topping is a great variant which I have also tried.

25 Comments

  1. Thanks for introducing me to appe – I love it! I made it and it’s yum. It’s also easy to make (hardest part is chopping the veggies that’s it) and quick to cook. I preferred the fried version. Thanks for the preview of the post 🙂

  2. loved the recipe. Indeed a healthy and tasty breakfast option. I did not know that we can bake it too. thanks for sharing this addition. will try both ways.

  3. When you mentioned appe even I thought it was something new to me also. But the minute you said Paniyaram I realized what it is. Yes, you are correct. It is extremely tasty and a very good breakfast meal.

  4. Oh, I absolutely love appe. This is one of my go to breakfast and it is healthy too 🙂 I will be trying this recipe of yours soon.

  5. I could completely relate to the “What’s for breakfast?”. We make something similar but without the chana dal in tempering. Going to try that the next time. Thanks do much for sharing the recipe.

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