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Steamed Rice Cake | Vattayappam | Soft and Fluffy Appam Recipe | with step by step photos and video. A healthiest traditional tea time snack with almost no oil from the Kerala Cuisine. A pristine white, spongy cake made with fermented rice batter.

A very popular Kerala tea-time snack. This sweet cake is naturally gluten-free and vegan. It’s perfect for breakfast, brunch, as a snack or for dessert. You can even make it savory and serve it with curries.

What is Vattayappam?

Vattayappam, made up of a rice and coconut based batter and is pretty unique in that the batter is first fermented and then steamed. This process results in a perfectly soft and slightly spongy cake.

About the Ingredients:

The main ingredients in this cake are rice and coconut. Other ingredients used are yeast, sugar, roasted cumin powder and cardamom. Moreover, any flavoring and spices used are optional.

We tried using shortcuts like making this with rice flour and canned coconut milk but ultimately found that the best way to make this in an instant pot is to grind the rice and coconut yourself. So in this recipe we share the recipe method using grinding process. It is quite simple.

Rice

The flour used in this steam cake is ground rice flour. If you are not familiar with these rice varieties you can use the store bough rice powder too. The quality of rice flour is very important, do not use sticky rice flours. Less starchy flours work better here. Usually Indian grocery stores carry rice flour for making Vattayappam or use the raw rice flour available there. Another option is to soak rice and grind as prescribed here. The typical Indian varieties of rice like ponni rice, idli rice, sona masoori, jeera or even basmati will work well in this recipe.

How to know when the vattayappam is cooked through ?

Usually 30 minutes of steaming is all that is needed to cook vattayappam. Moreover, it depends on the size of mold we use. When cooked the cake will begin to pull away every so lightly from the sides of the pan. Another way to check is to stick a tooth pick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean the cake is done cooking.

How to prepare steamed rice cake or vattayappam?

Steamed Rice Cake | Vattayappam | Soft and Fluffy Appam Recipe | with step by step photos and video. A healthy snack very easy to digest, light and delicious. Rice, coconut grind and some spices are ground together and fermented with yeast. Its a very soft spongy and slightly sweet cake. perfect for tea time. For a twist for the flavor, we had added a small amount of vanilla essence. This is completely optional to be added. For the softness of the cake we need to add either one of these: aval or poha, cooked rice or kappi(a thick porridge). Here we use kappi for the softness. Kappi is a local name.

Furthermore, if you like to add some nuts or raisins, you can add them. Its the flavor of cardamon which plays havoc to your taste buds in this super soft rice cake, so try not to omit them.

Additionally, I would like to highlight, some of our trending recipes from our collection. Hope you would like them too.

Steamed Rice Cake | Vattayappam

Course: SnacksCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

Inch Cake Mold

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

minutes

Steamed Rice Cake | Vattayappam | Soft and Fluffy Appam Recipe | with step by step photos and video. A healthiest traditional tea time snack with almost no oil from the Kerala Cuisine.

Ingredients

1 cup Raw Rice/Rice Flour (1 cup = 250 ml)
1 cup Coconut (Grated)
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Cooked Rice/ Aval/ Kappi
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
1/4 tp 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder
1/4 tsp Yeast
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 to 3/4 cup Water/ Coconut Milk
Salt As required
For Kappi
2 tbsp Rice Flour
1/2 cup Water

Directions

Wash 1 cup of raw rice or idly rice twice or thrice. Soak the washed rice for about 4 to 6 hrs in water. Then drain and keep aside.
Now, for the kappi, take a pan add 2 tbsp rice flour and 1/2 cup of water. Mix it lump free and switch on the flame.
Cook until it thickens. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool down.
Take a mixie jar. Add the drained rice, 1 cup Coconut (Grated), 1/2 cup Sugar, 1/2 cup of kappi we prepared, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder, 1/4 tsp Yeast, salt as required.
Grind it to a fine paste using 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water or coconut milk.
Transfer the batter into a large bowl. Close the bowl and allow it to ferment for 6 to 8 hrs.
Once fermented, add 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and mix it well.
Brush some oil in the mold which is used for steaming the appam. Here we are using a 8″ inch cake tin.
Place a steamer on the stove top and add 1 to 2 cups of water.
Now place the mold over a stand and pour the full batter.
Close the lid and steam cook for 35 to 40 minutes. To check if it is done, stick a tooth pick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean the cake is done cooking
Once done, remove from the steamer and allow to cool down.
Upon cooling, cut and serve the delicious soft vattayappam.