Kerala style Unniyapam

Since time immemorial, Unniyappam has been one of the favourite recipes of Kerala. Unniyappam is a very popular snack prepared with rice, sugar, jaggery and ghee and is an inevitable sweet dish during the festive season. Some of the temples in Kerala have Unniyappam as one of the main offerings.

Ingredients

-1/2 cup Coconut (chopped into small pieces)

-1 cup Jaggery

-Water, as needed

-1 1/2 cups Rice Flour

-1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

-2 large ripe Bananas

-A small pinch of Salt

-A large pinch of Baking Soda

-1 tsp Cardamom Powder

-1 tsp roasted Sesame Seeds

-Amrutam Ghee, for frying

Steps

-Soak rice overnight. Drain the water and blend it to a semi coarse batter.

-Grind the bananas separately to thin paste.

-Add the melted jaggery to the banana paste and blend once more.

-Mix together rice batter, maida, banana – jaggery paste well.

-Add water in parts. The batter should be semi-thick with dropping consistency.

-Add the fried coconut bits, sesame seeds, cardamom powder and baking soda to the batter.

-Keep it idle for 30-45 minutes. Heat Amrutam desi ghee in a Paniyaram pan or Unniyappam kara and pour the batter in each pit up to 3/4th.

-When the bottom gets a golden dark brown, turn the Unniyappam and cook the other side until they are fully done. Insert a toothpick in the centre to check if it comes out clean.

-Transfer to a plate and serve.

Notes

While making Unniyappam preferably use raw rice. With rice flour, the appams have a dense texture at times. It could be due to the organic rice flour.