Indri appam and pesaha paal for Maundy Thursday

Pesaha or Maundy Thursday commemorates the last supper of Jesus Christ with his disciples. In most Christian homes, indri appam and paal (milk) would be prepared in the morning itself to celebrate the Pesaha. However, the holy day is celebrated in different ways in different places. In some places, the indri appam is steamed while it is roasted in other places.

Ingredients
For indri appam
1 kg raw rice
½ cup urad dal
1 ½ small coconuts
1 tsp cumin
20 shallots
For paal
3 coconuts
1 ½ kg jaggery
10 cardamom pods
1 ½ inches piece of dried ginger
1 tsp cumin
½ cup rice flour
Salt as required

Preparation of indri appam
Grind the raw rice into fine powder and mix it with urad dal batter and ground cumin, shallots and coconut
Add salt and water as required and mix well
Keep it aside for 3 €“ 4 hours
Pour two ladles of this batter into a flat vessel and cook it in steam.

Preparation of paal
Grind the grated coconut well and extract 2 liters of coconut milk from it
Into the coconut milk add melted jaggery (passed through a sieve), rice flour, dried ginger, cardamom powder and salt as required
Cook on simmer
Keep stirring until the paal thickens up
Small pieces of indri appam could be dipped in this paal and eaten.