Ingredients:
For Soaking Rice
1 cup rice or 200 grams rice – use any type of short grained rice
Water as required
For Frying Coconut
½ tablespoon oil for frying coconut
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coconut
Other Ingredients for Unniyappam
2 medium sized banana or 175 grams bananas (with their peels) or ¾ cup chopped bananas
1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
½ cup jaggery powder or add as required
¼ cup water or add as required
3 to 4 green cardamoms
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon dry ginger powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda – you can also add ⅛ teaspoon baking soda (about 2 pinches)
½ to 1 teaspoon coconut oil or ghee for each mould
Recipe:
Rinse 1 cup rice in water a couple of times. Then soak rice in enough water for 3 to 4 hours. You can even soak rice overnight if you want. Later drain all the water and add the soaked rice in a grinder jar. Add ¾ cup chopped bananas, ½ cup jaggery powder or grated jaggery and seeds from 3 to 4 green cardamoms. For a more sweet taste you can add ¾ cup jaggery. Then add ¼ cup water or add as required. Grind till you get a fine rava like consistency in the rice grains. The batter should be ground to a semi-fine consistency. Now pour the batter in another bowl or pan. Keep aside. Next heat ½ tablespoon coconut oil or ghee in a small pan or tadka pan. Add 3 tablespoons chopped coconut pieces. Chop the coconut in small pieces. Stirring often fry the coconut pieces till they become golden.
Making Unniyappam Batter
Add the fried coconut pieces along with the remaining oil in the batter. Then add 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin powder, ½ teaspoon dry ginger powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda. You can also add a pinch of salt if you want. Baking soda can be skipped too, but adding them makes the appams have a soft texture. Mix very well. Now heat the appe chatti pan. Add ½ to 1 teaspoon coconut oil in each mould. Keep the flame to a low. When the oil becomes hot, with a spoon pour batter in the chatty moulds till ¾ of each mould. On a low to medium-low flame cook till the base is golden and crisp. Then turn over each unniyapam with a wooden skewer or stick. You can turn over a couple of times more for even cooking. Once golden and crisp from all sides, then place the unni appams on kitchen paper towels. Prepare unniappam with the remaining batter in the same way. If there is oil in the moulds, then no need to add extra oil. Serve unniappam warm or at room temperature as a sweet snack. You can even place them in a casserole. In the casserole these appams stay warm for some time. The recipe makes for 28 unniyappam. These stay good at room temperature for 1 to 2 days. You can even refrigerate them.
Author:
Mrs. Shruti Prashant Kulkarni
B.Sc. (Foods & Nutrition), M.Sc. (Public Health)
Clinical Nutritionist, Diabetes Educator & Counsellor, Ph.D. scholar
Research & Product Domain Expert (Atreya Innovations Pvt Ltd)
Chief Nutrition Counsellor (Germany)
Chef’s Touch: Hrushikesh Gokhale (5-star Culinary Expert)
Credits: Turyaa Wellness