Achappam - Rose Cookies

Last christmas I invited all our friends for a tea party. Since my MIL was here with us, we were able to make a lot of Christmas 'palakarams' . The party was a hit. But, there was one 'palakaram' which was total disaster. Women from Nangil Nadu are known to make a mean kho-khos, better known acchappam,. Since both of us hail from Nangil Nadu, we could not believe that it stumped us. Acchappam would not fall from the mold and even if it did it was shriveled. Believe me, when I say that it was a total disaster.

Its been three months since our last disaster and I was not about to give up on it. So, I tried to make it again today. And what do you know,a disaster again!!! It was same problem. The acchappam will not fall off the acchu. I thought that there might be some problem with the acchu itself. I was lucky this time since my aunt who is visiting from India lives close to us. And she has an acchu which she regularly uses to make acchappam. So, I went and borrowed her acchu. And Voila!! Perfect acchappam.

Now for the recipe itself, I found lot of receipes for Acchappam all over the net. But I used this recipe to try my hand at acchappam again. I did make some changes to it. Here is how I made it,

Acchappam

Ingredients
Rice flour - 1 Cup
Coconut milk - 1 Cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 pinch
Baking soda - 1 pinch
Egg - 1
Oil for frying

Instructions

1. Beat the egg well
2. Mix rice flour, sugar, baking soda and salt
3. Add the beaten egg and coconut milk to this and mix well.
4. The batter will be resemble a thick dosa batter
5. Place the acchu in the oil and heat the oil(This is very important, heat the oil and acchu together)
6. Once the oil is meduim hot, place the acchu in the batter till its 3/4th covered
7. Place the acchu in hot oil.
8. Oil will bubble a lot and then die down. Acchappam will fall off by itself or you can give it a light shake
9. Once its light brown, take the acchappam out and drain the oil.
10. Acchappam is ready!!

You need to have a good acchu to make acchappam. If you can beg/borrow/steal from you Mom/GrandMom/Aunt, DO IT!! The acchu I brought from India was lightweight and useless. If you are buying it new, make sure its of beal metal and heavy. Before you use it for the firsttime, place the acchu in kanji thanni (water from boiling rice in it ) for a 2 weeks. That is supposed to season the acchu. Once you have made acchappams, DO NOT wash the acchu. Just wipe the acchu with a soft cloth to remove excess oil.