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Appams--Lacy Pancakes from India

Pancakes for breakfast--that's terrific. I'm not talking about the usual golden pancakes with maple syrup, but about South Indian appams.

These lacy cakes are browned and crisp at the edges, a little thicker at the center. At New Bhimas in Artesia, they come with either vegetable kurmah, which is a mellow vegetarian sauce, or sweetened coconut milk (at top).

Ever since I met up with appams in India, I've eaten them only with the sweet sauce, because they're so delicious that way, like a morning dessert. 

You don't throw them together with a mix. In one Indian hotel, I had to place an order the night before so the batter would have time to ferment. 

In the book "Flavours of Kerala," author Hena Jacob allots 7 to 8 hours for preparation, with the cooking time additional.

Her recipe includes two types of rice flour, yeast to start the fermentation, coconut milk and sugar. The distinctive shape results from cooking the batter in a shallow iron wok called an appam-chatti.

Jacob calls this type of appam pal-appam as opposed to idiyappam, or string hoppers. "Usually served as a starter dish for formal get-togethers, it is also a popular breakfast dish and is served with vegetable/meat stew," she writes. "It also tastes wonderful with thick coconut milk with a dash of sugar."

New Bhimas puts cardamom in its sweet coconut milk sauce, which makes it doubly delicious. The one flaw was that the restaurant served the sauce cold. When they heated it, it was wonderful. I could have eaten it without the appams, like a dessert soup. 

New Bhimas restaurant, 18752 Pioneer Blvd., Artesia, CA 90701. Tel: (562) 880-5678.

Top Choices at Spicy B.B.Q.

Any meal at Spicy B.B.Q, the Thai restaurant in mid-Los Angeles, is good. But lunch one day seemed even better than good, a perfect combination of textures and flavors.

The top dish was the restaurant's namesake spicy B.B.Q. meat. You can choose pork or beef, but pork (at top) should be the only option, it's that delicious. You get a plateful of pork strips glistening with dark marinade--sweet, crunchy and fabulous, true meat candy.

A spicy dipping sauce comes with this, but why mask the flavor of anything so perfect? 

Mild crispy fish (above) is anything but plain. Crispy in this case means really crisp. You could crunch the coating like a snack, without caring about the fish inside (sole the day I was there).

The dip for this combines fine shreds of green apple, red onion and cashews in sweet and sour sauce. It's a nice complement.

The crispy fish is one of Nong's specials in the northern Thai section of the menu. To tie these two dishes together, the perfect choice would be another of Nong's specials, papaya salad with grilled shrimp (above). It's juicy and refreshing, with bright sweet and sour flavors.

Nong, who runs this restaurant with her family, is from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. She goes there every year to bring back ingredients so that she can cook really authentic food. That's why this tiny place--hardly big enough to turn around in without bumping into someone's table--is always crowded.

Spicy B.B.Q. Thai restaurant, 5101 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90029. (323) 663-4211.

The "New" Language of Wine

You know about Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

But what about Crljenak, Zweigelt, Posip and Teran?

If you want to be in on what's happening in the wine world, you'll have to learn these and other names connected with the wines of Croatia and Slovenia.

They're just now trickling into California, and at affordable prices, so keep watching for them. 

One you'll like for sure is Teran. A grape varietal from the Karst region of Slovenia, it makes a gorgeous Lambrusco style sparkler so dark that it's almost black. That's the Vinakras Sparkling Teran 2010 at the top. 

"It's grapey, juicy, just right for now, the sort of wine that you drink on a deck on a sunny day," says Ilya Shchukin, the importer.

A tasting on a hot day in the patio of Lucques restaurant was the perfect place to show it off.

Some of the wines Shchukin set out had familiar names, such as PInot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer and Malvasia.

The Kozlovic Malvasia 2011, from Istria, Croatia, was aromatic, but fresh and dry.  It could be your go-to wine if you eat a lot of Asian food.

The Traminer (Pullus Traminer G 2008 from Stajerska, Slovenia) would work well too.

And so would Enjingi Welschriesling 2009 from Slavonia, Croatia. The wine is flowery, as the word Riesling would lead you to expect, but it's not related to German Riesling, despite the similar name. Welschriesling is the most widely grown wine grape in Croatia. This example is made with both fresh and late harvest grapes. 

Posip Cara 2010 comes from the island of Korcula in the Adriatic sea. There, it's the traditional wine to drink with fish. Full flavored and dry, an eye-appealing gold in color, it would be a great match for chicken, hummus--anything that needs a white wine that's not wimpy. Posip is the grape varietal. 

If you're interested in wine history, the red wine to look for is Zlatan Crljenak 2008 from Dalmatia. The Crljenak grape is the original Zinfandel, genetically the same, although in a blind tasting you might not identify it as a Zinfandel.

The other reds ranged from a light red, Bura Plavac Mali 2011 from Dalmatia, to Enjingi Zweigelt 2007, the oldest wine at the tasting, as its brown tones indicated.

Rich and expressive, with 3.9% residual sugar, this Slavonian wine is one to drink right away, if you can find it.  The winemaker crafts his own barrels, which shows how much he cares about his wines.

Temecula Wines--Give Them a Try

Temecula wines don't get a lot of attention. Although the region has plenty of wineries, they seem to have fallen off the radar, except perhaps for those who live in the area.

So when I saw a Temecula table at the California Wines Road Trip Tasting yesterday at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, I tasted everything displayed.

Of the six wines, most were pleasant, one was hard and a little funky, and two stood out, in a class with those from other regions that I starred on my program. 

One was Monte de Oro Winery's 2011 Viognier, which was very fruity and crisp, a dry white wine with authority. The suggested retail is $22. Just 260 cases were produced. 

The other was the 2009 Catfish Vineyard Merlot from Palumbo Family Vineyards & Winery. Deeply colored, it was beautiful to taste, with great tannins, everything you could want in a wine to serve with a great steak or roast.  The price is $42. Only 142 cases were produced.

Interesting that winemaker Nicholas Palumbo trained and worked as a chef before starting in the wine business. Perhaps that's why his wine is so food-friendly.

If you want to go Palumbo and taste the wines there, you can easily avoid traffic. The winery has a heli-pad, which you can use if you make an appointment.