Unni Appam-Sweet rice dumplings

I can bet that almost all the south Indians would swear by the sweet unniappams or kuzhipaniyarams. It is flavorful dish made from rice and jaggery. Its made in almost all the important functions and a sadya is never complete without it. On Krishnashtami or Gokulashtami unniappam along with other sweets are made to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. My DH and son love it very much and sometimes crave for it. Interestingly, once when we were shopping at the cooperative store, they were selling mini banana cup cakes! I bought them as a eat-in-the-car snack while going back home... within minutes the box of 12 cupcakes was empty, all the while my son telling me "Amma that tastes like the brown round thing you make"... well who would have thought banana cupcakes could substitute for unniappams!!!!!

Yummy all the way!

The traditional method calls for soaking raw rice in water, drying it and then powdering it to make these sweet dumplings. My mom taught me an easy way to make these unniappams. You will also need a Kuzhipaniyaram pan to make these and that is easily available in the Indian shops.

Ingredients

Raw rice flour - 1 cup

Wheat Flour  - 2 tbsp

Banana (very ripe medium size) - 3 nos mashed

Jaggery (molasses) - 1.5 cup

Cardamom - 5-7 pods (remove skin and powder the pod)

Water - Just enough to make a paste not too thick or not too thin.

Oil/ ghee for deep frying

Method

1. Place the jaggery in a pan and add 2-3 tbsp water. Let the jaggery melt. Once melted, switch off the stove and let it cool. Strain the jaggery liquid for any impurities. Set aside. 

2. Take a deep bowl and add rice flour, wheat flour, mashed banana, jaggery water, cardamom powder and mix well for consistency. Add water as required to get to the right consistency. Alternatively you can put all the ingredients into a mixer and add little by little water and bring it up to that consistency.

3. Place the kuzhipaniyaram bowl on the stove top and add oil up to 3/4ths to cover the cups. You can also use half and half of oil and ghee. Ghee will give an unique flavour to the dish.

4. Once the oil heats up fill the cups with the batter. Let it cook on medium heat until the appams cook through and get a brown colour.

5. Pick the cooked appams using a spoon or a long sharp needle (similar to a knitting needle, you can get this too in any Indian shop) and strain the oil. 

Savor these appams hot or cold. They will stay good for upto 2-3 days if you can resist the temptation!!