If you are preparing these pancakes for breakfast, the preparation has to be done the previous night. Soak the raw rice in water for about 3 hours. Drain and keep aside. Then dissolve the yeast and sugar in the coconut water or plain water (at room temperature) and allow the mixture to froth (about 10 to 15 minutes). Now grind drained rice to a smooth batter using the yeast mixture. If you are using freshly grated coconut instead of coconut milk, then add to the batter and grind well. Add enough water to make grinding comfortable but ensure the batter is on the thicker side, consistency-wise. When the batter is almost done, add the cooked rice and grind well so everything is blended.
Pour the batter into a vessel, cover, and allow it to ferment overnight. Next morning, add the coconut milk (if using this, otherwise use water or a mixture of water and milk), salt and some water, if necessary, to dilute the batter to a somewhat thin batter (a little thicker than milk).
Heat the “aappachatti” (mine is non-stick), put a few drops of oil into it and wipe using paper towel so that a thin film of oil remains in the vessel. Turn the heat down to low and pour a small ladle of the batter (about 3 to 4 tbsp in quantity) in the middle of the pan. Now hold the pan by its ears/ handles, lift it off the stovetop and tilt the “aappachatti” in a cicular motion so that the batter is spread all over the pan, just short of the edges. Put the pan back on the stovetop. The excess batter will settle back in the centre of the pan creating a thick middle and thin lacy edges to the pancake. Now cover the pan and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. All this has to be done very quickly as the batter cooks very fast.
After a couple of minutes lift the lid. The centre should have cooked and puffed up a bit. If not, cover and cook for another minute taking care that the edges do not brown. Using a thin spatula, dislodge the pancake and remove. Repeat with the remaining batter and use it up.
Serve these Vellayaappams hot with the stew. They don’t taste too good cold. This batter should make about 15.