Sunday, August 14, 2011

Daring Cooks' August Challenge - Appams and Curry


Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.

This month’s hostess’ blog is one of my regular and favourite hang-outs, so I couldn’t wait to find out what she had planned for us. Mary didn’t disappoint.


I’ve made naan bread many times, and I’ve also had the unleavened bread chapatti in Indian restaurants, but appams were entirely new to me. They are basically yeasted pancakes, except that they are egg-free. And made from ground rice instead of wheat flour. And shaped more like a crêpe.

There was a lot of resting time, but overall the preparation was mostly similar to pancakes or crêpes. And, since I can almost never manage to make perfectly round crêpes, there’s no reason why I should have expected to be able to make perfectly round appams.


The appams tasted very mild, and I loved their light, slightly spongy texture.

As a main dish, I chose the chemeen pappas, or shrimp in coconut milk. I thought I had all the necessary ingredients on hand, but then realized I had no curry leaves. I searched and searched my (admittedly very cluttered) pantry, but couldn’t find any. I ended up using dried basil instead – not a substitute by any means, but the result was surprisingly palatable.


The shrimp were great, spicy with just the right amount of heat, and a great sauce that was just begging to be mopped up with the appams – and naturally, we obliged.

Thank you, Mary, for this instructive challenge! The rest of you, please check out the challenge recipes at the Daring Kitchen, and click through the Daring Cooks’ blog roll to see the tasty dishes served this month!

11 comments:

  1. Wow - your appams came out absolutely perfectly. I did the same curry - loved it!

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  2. That looks wonderful!! Great job.

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  3. Your appams look great! I made the Sri Lankan beef curry which was delicious, but will definitely be trying this shrimp curry soon.

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  4. Very nice appams and I love shrimp curry. Cool basil substitute!

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  5. It looks fantastic, Valerie! I love the photo where you are holding the lacy appam. Thanks for participating and it was great to finally meet you on Saturday! I think I am heading to Yuki Bakery today for some more of that mochi--I'd never had it filled with pastry cream. Mmm.

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  6. I had to use curry leaf powder in mine, although I now have an actual curry plant, but it's way too small to use right now.}:P

    Great job on yours!

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  7. What pretty appams! And that's so cool about the basil substitution. I can see how it would produce some very yummy results. Great job on this challenge!

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  8. The appams look great and the shrimp curry looks delicious! Great job!

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  9. Val - youur Appams look fantastic, I love the photo of you holding it against the llight. I can't waot to make the shrimp in coconut milk - seeing yours makes me want it baaaad! Beautifully done, as always :)

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  10. OMG...all the typos, keyboard (or my fingers) going wonky!! lol

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  11. You did a fabulous job with this challenge. I'd love to have tasted it. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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