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Best Achappam in New York
“A lightly sweetened, deep fried rose cookie shaped like flowers—Kerala's signature snack with a Dutch heritage.”
What the real thing tastes like
An achappam ('achh' meaning mould and 'appam' meaning food made with flour in Malayalam) or achu murukku ('murukku' meaning a crunchy snack in Tamil) is a lightly sweetened, deep fried rose cookie made with rice flour, coconut milk, sugar and egg, predominantly found in Kerala and other parts of South India. It is a signature Kerala snack believed to have originated from Dutch influence. It has since spread to South East Asia, where it has various local names such as kuih loyang (brass), acuan (mould), cap (stamp), bunga ros (rose flower), bunga durian (durian flower), goyang (shake), kembang loyang, dok jok (water lettuce), etc. Rose cookies are shaped like flowers, slightly sweet crunchy, and available in teashops and snack shops all around South India.
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An achappam is a deep-fried rose cookie from Kerala that marries the delicate with the crispy—rice flour and coconut milk meet egg and sugar in a mould, emerging as a lightly sweetened flower-shaped snack with an audible crunch. The Dutch left their imprint on South Indian snacking long ago; this signature Kerala treat carries that history in every bite, having since scattered across Southeast Asia under a dozen different local names, each culture claiming its own version of the same golden, petal-like form.
Order it here when it has
- distinctly crunchy
- lightly sweetened
- flower-shaped elegance
- widespread across South India
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