Unniappam - Sweet Appe

Unniappam... this is the sweet version made in the Appe Patra.  When we were kids, we waited for Saturday.. as my dad used to go to the temple and however late he got back home, we used to wait for the Prasad i.e. Unniappam.  You just can't stop eating one :).  I have tried making this several times earlier and it always turned out very hard. Unniyappams are noramally   crispy, spongy and moist.  

The day before I made Unniappams at my home, I visited mom-in-laws place,  as she required help to make Unniappams for the kids.  I reached her place and also helped with little cooking and after having lunch, I prepared the batter for the Appams and made it within an hour of making the batter.  This time it was sort of soft and also tasted nice... Mummy packed some for us and also distributed to all family members!  We made this in a hurry and so did not allow the batter to ferment well.

I was waiting for that night to pass by and the sun to rise early the next day... as I wanted to make the Appams the perfect way it should be.   I started work post lunch and got all the ingredients ready and allowed the batter to rest for around 3 hours.  Rajesh (my hubby) peeped into the kitchen and also commented... we just made them yesterday... you are making it again... very oily stuff.   Do you know what happened when I started making appams???...Rajesh kept taking the Appams as soon as they were placed on the plate and must have eaten around 25 of them and skipped dinner that night:)  Yeah... it was crispy, spongy and moist... and that’s exactly how it turned out this time I made this dish :).   It tasted awesome and my sister also mentioned, Chechi it tastes like the Prasad we get in Guruvayoor especially made by the Namboodiris :)   

Friend's  if you have not  tasted unniyappam yet, please do try it once.  Trust me, you will regret not having it earlier!   So it's time for jotting down the recipe and also making the dish in your kitchen :).  Do leave your feedback and comments!

Ingredients :

White raw  rice - 2 cups (soak in water for 3 to 4 hours)

Jaggery - 750 gms

Black Sesame / White Sesame - 2 tbsp

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Ripe Banana - 3  medium

Dried Coconut (Kopra) cut into pieces 1/3 cup

Maida / All purpose flour - 1 cup

Water - as required

Salt - a pinch

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 2 tsp

Method :

Grate the jaggery or break them into pieces.  Melt the jaggery in a sauce pan over medium heat along with 1/4 cup of water.  Cool this mixture.  Now wash and drain the rice and put this in the mixer jar. Seive the cooled jaggery solution into the mixer with rice and grind to a coarse paste.  Put this in a container.  Grind the remaining rice with jaggery solution to a fine paste and transfer to the container.

Peel the banana and add make a smooth puree in the mixer / blender.  Add this to the ground rice mixture.  Now add the maida to this mixture.  Add salt and mix well.  Now Roast the .dried coconut in ghee and add this to the batter. Add the sesame seeds, cardamom powder, baking powder and mix well.   Leave this batter aside for 2 to 3 hours.  The batter should be of Dosa batter consistency.  You can adjust adding water if required.

Now heat ghee or oil in a frying pan. Drop spoonful of this batter in hot ghee / oil and fry till golden on one side. Flip over and cook till the other side is golden colour.

Drain this and Serve.  You can stock this in air tight containers for upto 8 to 10 days.