Pola (Palappam)

Pola is one of the favourite breakfasts of kerala. It is also known as palappam or vattayappam in many parts. I remember, I first had pola when I was a little child back in UAE. It was brought to us by one of our relatives when he returned back from India. Until recently I thought it was my mom who made it and I asked her for the recipe. She then told me that it was not made by her and in fact she never made them. I then started searching for the recipe and mixed up quite a few recipes to get my version that tasted exactly like the one I had when I was young.


Ingredients:
2 cups long grain rice (pachari)
1½ cups cooked rice
2 cups freshly grated coconut
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp dry active yeast
4 tbs semolina
¾ cup water
2¼ - 2½ cups water
¾ - 1 tsp salt (appx)

Preparation:
1. Soak the long grain rice in water for at least 2 hours.
2. In a separate bowl, add ¾ cup of boiled water in semolina and stir well to avoid lumps. Using a wire whisk to stir makes it easier. Let it cool.
3. Grind rice and cooked rice along with the rest of water until the rice is ground well.
4. Add coconut and yeast and grind well again.
5. Pour the ground mixture in a large bowl and add semolina and stir well until it is well combined.
6. Add sugar and salt and mix well and keep in warm place to rise for about 8 hours or overnight.
7. Oil a small bowl and pour in a ladleful or a couple of ladles of the batter and steam it for about 10-15 minutes in medium heat until it is cooked. Cool for 15-20 minutes before taking the pola from the bowl. Pola will be sticky when hot. Alternatively, you can spread a small piece of cling film or a plastic sheet over the bowl, then spread oil on it and steam it until the batter is cooked. When done just lift up the cling film and tip the pola in a plate.
8. Serve warm with sweet stew that is made with mashed banana,milk and sugar.
9. The left over Pola can be stored in refrigerator in a closed container and can be reheated in a microwave or even steamer before serving.

Notes:
1. Sometimes, when the climate is cold, the batter doesn’t get raised easily. What I used to do is, I keep the bowl of batter over another bowl containing very hot water (straight from kettle) making sure that the bowl containing batter doesn’t touch the water at all. The steam will provide enough heat and the batter will get fermented as usual.