Achappam

Achappam is a thin fried sweet from Kerala made with a flower-shaped metal mold. The heat reaches all the way between its layered, cut-out petals, so it turns out light and crisp. It is also called rose cookies and is well loved as a Christmas sweet.

Coating a heated mold with batter

In a recipe from the cookbook Paachakam, rice flour, coconut milk, egg, sugar, sesame seeds and cumin are mixed to a pourable consistency. The mold is heated in the oil, about three-quarters of the mold is dipped into the batter, and it is then returned to the oil. Once the batter sets, it is released from the mold and fried, and the mold is heated again before the next piece.

If the whole mold is submerged in the batter, the coating wraps over the top as well and the piece will not come free. The upper edge of the mold is left exposed so that the piece can be released with its flower shape intact. When the batter clings thinly, the moisture escapes even with brief cooking, creating a delicate texture.

Tins at home, and flower shapes across the sea

One maker looks back on a childhood in which their grandmother, before Christmas and Easter, fried enough to fill several tins. That household did not bring them all out at once; they were moved into small tins and eaten a little at a time with afternoon tea. Later, when making them themselves, this maker borrowed a mold from a neighbor and learned over the phone from their grandmother about the consistency of the batter and how to handle the mold.

At Christmastime, some families pack achappam, tube-shaped kuzhalappam and other sweets to give to friends in the neighborhood and to relatives.

In another household, rice is soaked, drained, spread out on a cloth and then finely ground. A batter made by combining squeezed coconut milk with egg, sesame seeds and cumin is fried one piece at a time in the mold.

Similar flower-shaped fried sweets are also found in regions across the sea. Sri Lanka’s kokis is likewise a sweet fried in a mold, and it appears on festive sweet platters. This Kerala example uses rice and coconut, but a similar shape alone does not make it possible to determine from which place, or when, it was passed on.

Glossary