Appe Recipe
Updated: July 16, 2022, By Swasthi
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
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Upma Recipe
Moong Dal Dosa
Rava Uttapam
Photo Guide
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
Appe Recipe (Instant Rava Appe)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 2 tablespoons ghee or oil
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoons cashews (chopped)
- 2 sprigs curry leaves (chopped)
- 1 to 2 green chilies (chopped, deseeded if required)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (grated)
- 1 cup rava (fine semolina)
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup carrot (grated, 1 medium carrot)
- ¼ cup coriander leaves (fine chopped)
- ½ cup yogurt
- 1½ teaspoon lemon juice or 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 to 2 tablespoons oil (for cooking)
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda (or 1 teaspoon eno)
Instructions
Preparation
- Add the ghee or oil to a large pan and heat it.
- When the oil is hot, turn the flame to low and add the mustard seeds along with cumin seeds.
- Add the chopped cashews and fry till golden.
- Add the curry leaves, chilies and ginger garlic paste for about a minute, without burning.
- Add the rava/semolina and increase the flame to medium. Roast till crunchy, stirring often so it does not burn. Turn off. Add the salt and cool completely.
- Pour water and mix well, let it rest for a minimum of 10 mins.
- Meanwhile grate the carrot and chop the coriander leaves finely.
- Add these to the mixture and add the yogurt with the lemon/lime juice. Mix well and taste test. Adjust salt to taste.
- The consistency should be thick yet a little loose than the rava idli batter. (not runny). If it is too thick sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons water.
How to Make Appe
- Heat the appe pan on a medium flame and pour ⅛ teaspoon oil to each cavity. If using cast iron pan, spread the oil all over the cavities.
- While the oil heats, mix the baking soda or eno with 1 teaspoon water. Pour it to the appe batter and mix well.
- Pour the batter to fill the cavities just until the rim.
- Cover and cook until the base is firm, golden and slightly crisp. Using a skewer or a wooden appe spatula turn them to the other side. Press down gently into the cavities.
- Cook well on this side as well. Test if they are cooked by poking with a skewer or a fork in the center of the appe. They should be clean without any wet batter. Remove them to a plate.
- Before proceeding to fry the next batch, make sure the pan is not too hot. I usually turn off the stove for a while to bring down the temperature. If the pan is too hot, the base of the appe with brown too quickly without cooking them from inside.
- Serve instant rava appe with Coconut chutney, Tomato Chutney or onion chutney. They taste good on their own or even with a cup of chai or coffee.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
What would you change in the recipe if I wanted to use idli Rava instead of semolina?
Can I substitute the semolina for something else as I need it to be gluten free.
super fine rice rava (not idli rava) may work. I haven’t tried but it should work with a little longer soak. I have the recipe to make rice rava at home here – rice rava
Thank you so much Swasthi for sharing your recipe. I can’t even explain in words how good the Appe was. It was so delicious and mouth watering. I doubled the quantity and served with onion coconut tomato chutney. It was sooooo yummy and the ginger flavour on top of it. 10/10 to you.
Simmi, Glad you like them. Thank you.
Thank you so much Swasthi for sharing your recipe. I can’t even explain in words how good the Appe was. It was so delicious and mouth watering. I doubled the quantity and served with onion coconut tomato chutney with . It was sooooo tummy and the garlic flavour on top of it. 10/10 to you.
The nutrition info is based on 1single piece of appe or what is the size of 1 serving ?
Yes it is per appe. It can change depending on the size of the cavities in your mould. This recipe serves 3 to 4
Wow! These appe are so quick to make. Tasted delicious.
Kindly create an app for swathi recipe
I never knew Appe can be made with rava. These instant appe are a hit in my home. Have been making them on the weekends since 3 weeks. My husband also loves them with your ginger chutney. Thank you! Keep sending us more recipes