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!! 

Maladu - Dalia laddoos

This is one of the first sweets that come to mind which amma used to make in a jiffy. Appa and I had the sweet tooth in the house and usually it started off with "onnume illai chapadarathukku" (there is nothing to eat)
amma: "murukku, mixture irukke, poyi eduthukko". (there is murukku and mixture, go take it)
me: "sweet onnum illai" (but there are no sweets)
amma: "maladu pannatuma." (shall i make maladu? )
me: ok (very very happy that amma consented to make something sweet)

In the present day my son loves this quickie and it is one of very few sweets he likes. He is more of a savoury person and I make it quite often. In tamil brahmin weddings, maladu is one of the primary sweets given to the invitees as cheeru. It is usually made to order and is big in size(almost the size of an apple) than the ones made at home.

Ingredients

Dhalia(pottu kadalai, porikadalai) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Method

1. Powder the dhalia and sugar together in a mixie to a fine powder. Set aside.
2. Add cardamom powder and mix well.
3. Heat ghee. Add it little by little and roll the mixture into small lemon sized balls. You will need to re heat the ghee often to make the laddoos as warmer the ghee the less it is needed for making laddoos.

Store in an air-tight jar for upto 2 weeks (if it will last that long!). The powdered dhalia- sugar mix can be prepared and stored ahead until needed and will be even quicker to prepare.

Pazham Nurukku - Banana Caramel

This is a traditional Kerala recipe, made from ethan pazham (ripe banana's of kerala variety). Its easy to make and is a great snack item.

Ingredients
Ethan Pazham -- 3 Nos chopped into bite sized chunks along with the skin
Jaggery/Gud --- 1 cup
Powdered cardamom -- 1 tsp
water -- 2 tbsp
Ghee -- 1 tbsp

Method
1. Steam the chopped ethan pazham pieces so that the banana chunks get partly cooked. The skin will peel off leaving a cooked banana.
2. In a thick bottomed vessel, place the jaggery and add 2 tbsp water. The jaggery will melt, turn down the stove, and add cardomom powder, 1/2 tbsp ghee and the peeled banana pieces.
3. Toss well, so that the banana chunks get a nice coating of the melted jaggery.
4. Add the remaining ghee and let the mixture simmer for a couple of minutes. All the the while make sure that the stove is turned down to minimum and the jaggery mixture does not become stringy.
Remove from stove and let it cool down a little. Serve warm.

Sharkarai Pongal

Sharkarai Pongal made in my antique venkala panai.

On festival days or on special occasions such as Devi puja, sharkarai pongal is the sweet dish offered as neivedyam. Sharkarai means jaggery in tamil and malayalam, and when mixed with rice it is called sharkarai pongal.

Ingredients
Rice -- Short grained raw rice 1 cup
Water - 2.5 cups
Jaggery (powdered) - 2 cups
Ghee -- 3 tbsp

For Garnish
Cardomom pods -- 5 pods
Cashewnuts -- 6-7nos broken

Method

1. In a heavy bottomed vessel cook the rice with the water.
2. Once the rice is cooked add the powdered jaggery. Mix well. The jaggery will make the mix watery.
3. Add 2 tbsp if ghee to the rice and let the mixture simmer for a few more minutes. All this while keep the heat at medium and keep mixing the rice so that the bottom does not burn.
4. Powder the cardomom in a mortar and add to the rice. By now you will see a layer of ghee at the top, and the mix will be more solid consistency.
5. In a separate vessel fry the cashews in the remaining ghee and add to the mixture. Mix well. Let it cool a bit. Serve warm.

Note: Add jaggery only after the rice is cooked. Rice will not cook once the jaggery is added and will be hard to bite into.