How to make Kerala Unni appam in paniyaram pan
Unniyappam is a Kerala famous sweet recipe made with rice flour, wheat flour, coconut, bananas, jaggery and cooked in ghee. Learn how to make Kerala Unni appam in a paniyaram pan with step-wise pictures and a video.
Originated from Kerala this Unniyapam is very popular in South India. You might have seen this as packed snacks in Malayali shops. This is a perfect tea-time snack and healthy food for kids compared to other sugary junk foods.
The traditional Kerala Unniyappam :
Unniappam is also called as karollappam and neiyappam. The traditional Kerala nadan recipe calls for soaking rice(some add urad dal too for softness) for three hours, grinding and mixing with coconut and other ingredients. Then it is fried in oil or ghee.
This process is a bit time-consuming. Nowadays most of the snacks at home we would be interested in preparing instantly with whatever is available right?
If you are like me to find quick fixes then this rice flour and wheat flour version is for you. There is another method with maximum wheat flour and that is deep-fried.
Actually speaking there are many recipes available for unniyappam like, rice+urad dal, rice flour, wheat flour, rice flour+wheat flour and so. I usually make two versions, one is soaking raw rice and urad dal, grinding and mixing other items(if I have time) and the other is an instant version.
Today let us the instant version that uses rice flour and wheat flour for binding softness (instead of urad dal). Other regular ingredients are roasted coconut, roasted sesame seeds, jaggery and a bit of salt.
Tips to get soft Unni appam with rice flour:
- Use the right mixture of rice flour and wheat flour. Too much rice flour alone will yield rough appams, the same way too much wheat flour alone will yield too soggy dense appams.
- To get light and soft unniappam, we need to leave the batter to rest(15mins atleast) to form the soft gluten. This is important to make the batter rise while frying.
- Also, try to use super extra ripe bananas for the naturally sweet taste. Banana mash when added with jaggery gives a melting sweet feel to the unniyappam.
- In addition, I add a bit of baking soda to get a fluffy appam-like cake. This is an optional ingredient and you can skip it if you wish.
- I use ghee to fry the appams and paniyaram pan for making. There is ideally no need to do deep frying due to health purposes.
- As a final note, don’t avoid coconut and sesame seeds as these are the native taste givers. You can use coconut bits or grated.
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Unniyappam | How to make Kerala Unni appam
Equipment
- Paniyaram pan
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 5 tsp ghee approx.
- ¾ cup grated coconut
- 2 large overripe bananas
- 1 cup rice flour
- ½ cup wheat flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking salt optional
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- ½ cup jaggery powder as per taste
- ½ tsp white sesame seeds optional
- 1 cup water approx.
Instructions
Preparation:
- Heat a tsp of ghee in a frying pan and add 3/4 cup of grated coconut. You can either use in grated form or small chopped bits. My kids don't like the bits hence I add grated coconut.
- Fry the coconut in ghee for up to five minutes until the coconut turns into light golden and aromatic.
- Switch off and keep aside.
- I use roasted white sesame seeds. If you don't have already roasted one, fry the sesame seeds in ghee for a min until they pop, switch off and keep ready.
Recipe:
- Take two large ripe bananas and mash them thoroughly.
- Add one cup of rice flour and a half cup of wheat flour.
- Put a 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of baking soda.
- Add a 1/2 tsp of green cardamom powder and 3/4 cup of jaggery powder. If the jaggery has impurities, dissolve it in water, filter the dirt and add the jaggery water.
- Put sesame seeds and the coconut.
- Mix all the ingredients once well and gradually add water.
- Approximately one cup of water may be needed to make the appam batter.
- If you are using jaggery water instead of powder adjust water accordingly.
- The batter should have a thick idli batter consistency.
- Leave this batter aside for 10 minutes to rest.
- How to fry unniyappam in a paniyaram pan:
- Heat a paniyaram pan with a 1/4 tsp of ghee or oil in each slot.
- Fill 3/4th portion of the slots with the batter.
- Cover with a lid and cook for around 3 to 4 minutes until the bottom sides become golden brown.
- Flip the sides and cook the other sides too for two more minutes until done.
- When both sides of unniyappams are fried, remove them from the pan and serve them warm.
Video
Notes
1) Instead of jaggery powder, you can also use white or brown sugar. Adjust the sugar quantity as your choice and based on the sweetness of bananas.
2) Allow the batter to rest for ten minutes before making appams.
3) Use fully ripe bananas and you can reduce jaggery based on the banana sweetness.
Nutrition
Preparation:
- Heat a tsp of ghee in a frying pan and add 3/4 cup of grated coconut. You can either use in grated form or small chopped bits. My kids don’t like the bits hence I add grated coconut.
- Fry the coconut in ghee for up to five minutes until the coconut turns into light golden and aromatic.
- Switch off and keep aside.
- I use roasted white sesame seeds. If you don’t have already roasted one, fry the sesame seeds in ghee for a min until they pop, switch off and keep ready.
Recipe:
- Take two large ripe bananas and mash them thoroughly.
- Add one cup of rice flour and a half cup of wheat flour.
- Put a 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of baking soda.
- Add a 1/2 tsp of green cardamom powder and 3/4 cup of jaggery powder. If the jaggery has impurities, dissolve it in water, filter the dirt and add the jaggery water.
- Put sesame seeds and the coconut.
- Mix all the ingredients once well and gradually add water.
- Approximately one cup of water may be needed to make the appam batter.
- If you are using jaggery water instead of powder adjust water accordingly.
- The batter should have a thick idli batter consistency.
- Leave this batter aside for 10 minutes to rest.
How to fry unniyappam in a paniyaram pan:
- Heat a paniyaram pan with a 1/4 tsp of ghee or oil in each slot.
- Fill the 3/4th portion of the slots with the batter.
- Cover with a lid and cook for around 3 to 4 minutes until the bottom sides become golden brown.
- Flip the sides and cook the other sides too for two more minutes until done.
- When both sides of unniyappams are fried, remove them from the pan and serve them warm.
Tips:
1) Instead of jaggery powder, you can also use white or brown sugar. Adjust the sugar quantity as your choice and based on the sweetness of bananas.
2) Allow the batter to rest for ten minutes before making appams.
3) Use fully ripe bananas and you can reduce jaggery based on the banana sweetness.
4) You can deep fry in ghee if you wish.
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