Vattayappam For ICC

This is the first month I am participating in SriValli's ICC. This month's recipe was Vattayappam from Shn's Blog.  The moment I saw this recipe, I was thinking if I would be able to succeed. But as and when I started the process, it was actually simple. Let me directly take you to the recipe without making you wait any further. 

Ingredients:

Raw Rice - 1 cup soaked overnight. 

Ground rice paste - 2 tbsp

Water - 1/3 cup

Coconut - 3/4 cup grated

Cooked rice - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1/2 cup and 2 tsp for proofing yeast

Cardomom powder- 1/2 tsp ( I crushed it coarsely)

Raisens and cashews roasted in ghee  - 1 tbsp ( I just had cashews. But you can add raisins too)

Active dry Yeast - 1/2 tsp

Process:

First grind the soaked rice into a coarse paste with minimum water just sufficient to grind it to a paste. Do not add lot of water as there will be more to add at later stages. So just little to enable it to grind it to a coarse paste. Take 2 tbsp of this paste and set aside to make the thari kurukku / porridge. 

Now add coconut and grind it. Also, in the meantime proof yeast in 1/3 cup of warm water or even less water just enough to proof yeast and 2 tsp sugar ( My batter was in dosa consistency at the end but it should be like that of idly batter consistency).So make sure you add   water only when it is necessary. Let it aside for 15 mins. 

Now in a pan heat about 1/3 cup of water and add this 2 tbsp coarse paste and bring it to a boil stirring continuously until it turns out into a porridge. Let it cool. 

When the thari kurrku comes to room temparature, add it to the ground mixture and grind it again to a smooth batter. Finally add yeast and pulse once or twice for it to blend well. 

Pour the batter in a steel vessel which is big enough to hold double the quantity of the batter after it ferments. Let it ferment for about 4-6 hrs. If its warm place 4-6 hrs is more than sufficient. If you live in a cold climate,pre heat oven and when it starts to heat up and reaches 101 degree Fahrenheit, turn off and place this batter inside and leave it with just the light on for about 6 hrs.( This is what i did) 

When it ferments, you will clearly get the sharp fermented smell. Now add 1/2 cup sugar, mix well and let it ferment for another 1/12 to 2 hours. Mix the roasted nuts and raisins in the batter and it is ready to be steamed.

I steamed the batter using  a round steel vessel greased with ghee in my pressure cooker. I filled the pressure cooker with 1- 2 inches water and placed this vessel filled with batter inside the pressure cooker. I let it cook for about 10 mins till it is cooked well. 

Place a tooth pick inside the cake to see if it is cooked well. 

Serve warm !!!