Appam with Coconut Chicken Stew
Crispy, lacy appam (rice pancakes) served with a fragrant coconut and chicken stew. One pan for stew, one appam maker—simple, impressive, and ready in under an hour.
- Total time
- 55 min
- Servings
- 4
- Calories
- 520
- Protein
- 32g
Ingredients
- 2 cups appam batter (store-bought or freshly made)
- 1.5 lbs boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1.5-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, sliced thin
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste (or fresh ginger, grated)
- 1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy pot over medium-high. Sear chicken pieces without moving until golden, 3–4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
- 2
Add sliced onion to the pot. Sauté until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes.
- 3
Add minced garlic and ginger-garlic paste. Stir until fragrant, about 60 seconds.
- 4
Return chicken to the pot. Pour in coconut milk and 1 cup water. Stir well.
- 5
Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes until chicken is tender.
- 6
Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- 7
Heat an appam pan over medium-high until hot. Lightly oil each cup.
- 8
Pour appam batter into each cup until just full. Cover with the appam pan lid.
- 9
Cook 2–3 minutes until the edges curl and the base is crispy and golden. Do not flip.
- 10
Slide appam onto a plate. Repeat with remaining batter in batches.
- 11
Ladle stew into bowls and serve alongside warm appam. Appam is meant to scoop and soak.
Tools you’ll need
- heavy-bottomed pot with lid
- appam pan (ladle-shaped cast iron or nonstick mold)
- appam lid (or foil to cover)
- slotted spoon
- wooden spoon
- ladle
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