Unniappam

Unniappam: Unniappam is a popular snack in Kerala. In Malayalam, unni means small and ‘appam means rice cake. Unniappam is a small round snack made from rice, jaggery, banana, roasted coconut pieces, roasted sesame seeds, ghee and cardamom powder fried in oil. Variations of the unniappam, using jackfruit preserves instead of banana is also common.

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 cup jaggery, grated
• 2 tsp Semolina (Rava)
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp coconut pieces
• 1/2 tsp green cardamom powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp ghee
• Oil, for greasing

Special Equipment:

• Paniyaram/ Unniappam kadai

Method:

• Heat a pan on medium heat.
• Dry roast the sesame seeds.
• Keep aside.
• Heat a drop of ghee and roast the coconut pieces.
• Keep aside.
• Boil the water with grated jaggery, till it becomes thick.
• In a mixing bowl, add the rice flour, semolina, green cardamom powder, roasted coconut pieces, chopped banana and roasted sesame seeds.
• Mix well.
• Add in the jaggery syrup.
• Mix well.
• The batter should be in dosa batter consistency (if needed add little water).
• Keep aside for at-least an hour to ferment.
• Heat up the paniyaram/ unniappam kadai and then grease it with oil.
• Once the kadai gets hot, add a tbsp of batter in each hole.
• Drizzle little oil on the side for each unniappam, cover and cook it.
• Once the unniappam starts turning brown, use a spoon to turn to the other side.
• Cook for few seconds and take it out.
• Repeat for remaining batter.
• Unniappam’s are ready to be served.

Notes:

• I used paniyaram/ unniappam kadai to make unniappam, you can deep fry the unniappam also.

If you have any queries regarding the Unniappam recipe, please leave a comment.