Neiappam or Unniappam

Appam is a sweet delicacy which is popular in Kerala. Its also made in many parts of Tamilnadu esp during festivals like Karthigai .Its a soft delectable jaggery sweet with a lovely brown colour . Many temples in Kerala offer this as a  Neivedyam or as a offering to God .It is sought after sweet by young and old alike. It is a very easy and tasty sweet which can be easily made at home.

Appam

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • Rice flour 2 cups
  • Jaggery 2 cups
  • Cardamom 1 teaspoon (powdered)
  • Coconut scrapings half a cup
  • Sesame seeds (white ) 2 tablespoon
  • Ghee or Oil ( for deep frying )1 litre (Optional)

Method

Method

  1. In a thick bottomed pan or kadai , add water and jaggery. Let it dissolve well. Give it a boil . To check the correct consistency of the jaggery syrup ,drop a little of the syrup into a cup of water . If it sags without dissolving ,then it has reached the consistency. However do not let it reach hard ball consistency.
  2. Add the syrup to the riceflour and mix well . Add cardamom powder , coconut scrapings and the sesame seeds and mix well .
  3. Heat a appam making pan which has four to five depressions in it.
  4. Add oil or ghee to it . when the oil gets to a high temperature of frying , add a ladle of the appam batter ,into the holes of the appam pan.
  5. Cook on one side to golden brown. Deep fry the other side by turning it over.
  6. Golden brown hot appams are ready to be eaten.

Note

  1. Please note , while making the appam ,  the jaggery consistency should be correct. It should be well dissolved and when a teaspoon of syrup is  dropped in a cup of water , it should just sag but not dissolve.
  2. If it dissolves it should be heated further till it gets the correct texture.
  3. One can  add  a banana to the batter while grinding , to get a soft Neiappam.
  4. Rice flour can be made fresh at home while making such sweet preparations.Soak raw rice for two hours or so , drain and dry . Powder them to a smooth powder while they are three fourths dry.