Pesaha Pal and Appam

 

If you're confused with the heading, don't be. It's just the malayalam word for Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday. Here in Kerala we celebrate it with eating a Pesaha appam (which is the semicircular pizza like stuff on the plate.) and Pesaha Pal (malayalam for milk) There are two variations for the appam , a steamed variety and a baked variety. I prefer the baked one, but it's upto you. Anyway, the head of the family, pour the Pesaha Pal into glasses and breaks he bread and serves it to the others. It's to remind ourselves or how Jesus poured wine and gave bread to his disciples in the Last Supper. It's an extremely tasty dish. Like I said, there are two varieties, the steamed variety is made more towards to south of kerala while the baked one is made more towards the north.It's called inri appam here. And just like in passover, it's unleavened.

In case you're wondering why that appam is semi circular, it's cause I remembered to take the photo only after eating the other half. That was a delicious other half.

Pesaha Paal

Jaggery – 100gm
Thick coconut milk – 1 cup

Melt jaggery with a little water. When it is completely melted, strain it. Boil the jaggery in medium heat. Once it boil, add the thick coconut milk while stirring continuously and changing the heat to low heat Do not boil once the thick coconut milk is added. Remove from heat and serve!

Pesaha Appam

Steamed one:

Rice powder – 1 cup
Urad dal (uzhunnu) – ¼ cup
Coconut – 1 cup, heaped
Garlic – 1 if it is big and 2 if its small
Small onion – 3-5
Jeera – a pinch
Water – 1 – 1½ cups

 Soak urad dal for 2 hours and grind it into a smooth paste by adding little water. Grind coconut with garlic, small onion and jeera with little water, until everything is combined well. Add salt & keep the water to boil, when bubbles start appearing add rice powder, little by little (vattikuzhakkuka) , making sure its not watery. The dough should be soft. Add urad dal paste and coconut paste. Combine everything well. The consistency of batter should be same as that of Idli batter. Transfer the batter to a well greased steaming tin. Place the cross made with palm leaves on the middle of the batter. Cover the tin with aluminium foil. Steam in appachembu/steamer for 18 – 23 minutes. Let it cool for sometime and then transfer to a serving dish. Use the same flame till the end, ie if you are using medium flame, cook on medium flame through out.