Appe Recipe

Appe Recipe made with rava, spices, herbs and vegetables. These soft, fluffy and crispy appe are an easy breakfast that you can make instantly, without having to soak lentils, grind or ferment the batter. Also known as Paniyaram or Paddu, these are a popular breakfast from the Indian Cuisine, made by pan frying the batter in a special cookware known as appe pan or paniyaram pan.

The traditional recipe calls for soaking the lentils and rice for several hours, then they are ground to a batter and fermented. With this appe recipe you will be able to bypass all of these steps and make the batter under 20 mins.

Spoon the batter directly to the cavities of your appe pan and cook your crispy fluffy appe. You will be surprised at how good they taste. These can be eaten on their own but a chutney & hot tea/coffee pairs well.

These Instant Appe are a cross between the Rava idli and Paniyaram. They have the shape and crisp texture of paniyaram but made with Rava Idli batter. It’s the pan frying that makes these so much delicious.

To make these I use my Rava idli recipe but love to add more veggies to increase the nutrition profile. Also I cut down the yogurt to bring down the fat content, as appe are fried in little oil.

You can also make the batter and the appe ahead and refrigerate. The batter keeps good for a day and the appe for 3 to 4 days. If you make the batter ahead, add the leavening agent when you are about to make the appe.

More Instant Breakfast Recipes
Moong Dal Chilla
Upma Recipe
Moong Dal Dosa
Rava Uttapam

How to Make Appe (Stepwise Photos)

Pour 2 tablespoons ghee or oil to a large hot pan or kadai. When the oil turns hot, regulate the flame to low and add ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds and ½ teaspoon cumin seeds.

When the seeds begin to splutter, add 2 tablespoons chopped cashews (about 8 whole cashews) and fry them until lightly golden.

Add 2 sprigs chopped curry leaves, 1 to 2 chopped green chilies and 1 teaspoon ginger paste. Stir and fry until aromatic for about a minute.

Add 1 cup rava/ semolina and roast it on a medium heat until crunchy, stirring often to prevent burning.

This step takes about 4 to 5 minutes. Add ½ teaspoon salt. Turn off the stove and cool this completely. Once cooled, you can also transfer this to a container and store in the fridge for a month.

Pour 1 cup water and mix the appe mixture well to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. As you mix, most of the water will be absorbed. Rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile grate 1 medium carrot to get ½ cup gratings and ¼ cup fine chopped coriander leaves.

Pour ½ cup yogurt and 1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice or 1 teaspoon lime juice. (If using Greek yogurt, mix together ½ cup yogurt with ¼ cup milk or water or yogurt whey).

Add the carrots to the appe mixture and mix together. Taste test and add more salt if required. I started with lesser water while soaking so used some yogurt whey here.

On a medium flame, heat your appe pan with 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon oil in each cavity. While the pan is heating, mix together ¼ teaspoon baking soda with 1 teaspoon water or 1 teaspoon eno with 1 tablespoon and pour it to the appe mixture.

If using soda, you can add directly but make sure you mix well.

Mix well to incorporate the leavening agent with the batter. The consistency should be thick and slightly more flowy than rava idli batter. At this stage if you want you may sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoon water, if it is too thick. (read my notes below)

When the oil is hot in your appe pan, stir the mixture and fill the cavities just until the rim. Mine holds about 2 tablespoons in each cavity. You can either use a 2 tbsps measuring cup or a scooper.

Cover and cook until the base becomes firm, golden and turns slightly crisp.

Do not attempt to pull them out when they are too soft. With the help of a skewer or a wooden appe spatula turn them to the other side. Press down gently into the cavity. Cook until done on the other side as well.

To test if they are fully cooked inside, poke them with a fork or a skewer, it should come out clean and not wet or moist with batter.

Remove them to a plate. I prefer to turn off the stove between batches so the pan is not too hot. Very hot pan overcooks and browns the appe too quickly without cooking the batter inside.

Serve appe hot or cold with a chutney or just with tea/coffee. Coconut Chutney, Tomato Chutney, Coriander Chutney and Pudina Chutney with coconut go well.

Tips & Notes:

Water: On various occasions I had different experiences with the batter. If the veggies are too fresh and juicy they let out water and you won’t need any more to adjust the consistency. Sometimes I felt the need to add 2 to 3 tablespoons more water and sometimes I didn’t have to add more water at all.

So focus on the texture and adjust the consistency if required just before you make the appe.

Resting: The initial resting of 10 mins softens the rava so they come out softer and fluffy inside but still crisp outside. Soaking it longer makes the inside softer and fluffier.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card