Kerala Unniyappam Recipe | Nei Appam Recipe | Banana Paniyaram Recipe | Sweet Appam | Instant Sweet Paniyaram Recipe

Vishu (Kerala New Year) and the Tamil New Year is just around the corner!! Today I’m here to share Kerala Unniyappam Recipe, Nei Appam or Sweet Appam. It’s Kerala’s version of Sweet Kuzhi Paniyaram, as it is called in Tamil Nadu. Traditionally, Nei Appam is made with rice and requires little planning ahead like soaking the rice and grinding. Unniyappam/Unniappam is a variation (instant version) of Nei appam in which mashed plantain is added to the batter. Unni in malayalam means small, Nei means ghee/clarified butter and Appam means a small rice cake.

These pancakes use indigenous ingredients that form a staple diet in most South Indian Cuisines – Rice/Rice flour, Coconut, Banana, my most favourite sweetener, Jaggery and the star ingredient, a few pinches of cardamom powder. The batter is then spooned into a ghee-coated Appachatti pan/Appe Pan (a special pan with divots, similar to Aebleskiver or Takoyaki pan) and fried until deep brown. Appe pan delivers great appams without any fuss….Frankly speaking, you actually don’t require any oil at all…But, I smeared a little ghee to get the authentic flavour of the dish.

The two sad looking bananas in my fruit basket, which were on the final stage of their life were pleading to be used. I usually end up making either banana dosa or banana bread. But, this time I wanted to make something different. Then, it was just the matter of few minutes to put together and voila – the smooth batter for Banana Appams was ready. Crispy on the outside and a soft pillowy inside with a yummy banana flavour, these cute little balls are a true delight in every bite. The coconut and sesame seeds you get in between makes this incredible. My kitchen air was filled with a lovely aroma of the appam with a touch of ghee…. Sure made me feel festive 🙂

Off to Kerala Unniyappam Recipe !!

Watch Quick Video

Unniyappam Recipe Kerala Style – Instant Unniyappam

Steps to follow for Kerala Unniyappam Recipe:

Click HERE  to see How to prepare rice flour at home. You can also use Idiyappam flour.

• Lightly roast semolina, wheat flour and rice in a heavy bottom pan over medium low heat. It takes about 4-5 minutes. Ensure not to burn it.

• In another pan, heat 1 teaspoon ghee and fry cashews till golden brown and remove.
• In the same pan, lightly roast fresh coconut (grate or small pieces) until light brown.

• Mash or blend bananas to a fine paste.
• Melt Jaggery in 1/4 cup water, make a syrup (bring it to a boil) and strain to remove impurities. Set aside to cool.

Let’s prepare the Batter for Kerala Unniyappam Recipe:

• In a bowl, add in the roasted flour mixture, baking soda, a pinch of salt, sesame seeds, cardamom powder, roasted cashews and coconut. Mix well.

NOTE:

A dash of salt enhances the sweetness of the jaggery.

If you want to rest the batter for a while (30 minutes), then add the cooking soda just before preparing Unniappams/Paniyaram.

• Now add mashed banana, jaggery syrup and mix well.
• Add plain water as needed to get a dosa batter consistency.

• Heat Unniyappam Pan/Appam Pan, pour ghee/oil in each round. I’m using only half teaspoon ghee for each, but, if you wish you can also fill ghee/oil to half level of the mould.
• When the ghee/oil is medium hot, pour the batter with a ladle into each round. Fill the mould only half way through with batter for better result as it will rise up a bit. 
• Close with a lid and cook well. Adjust heat and make sure it doesn’t burn.

• When you see brown colour around the circumference, turn sides, cover and cook on the other side.
• Once fried well the colour will change to slightly dark shade of brown since we are using jaggery. The colour will also depend on the colour of jaggery, darker the jaggery colour, darker will be the unniappams.
• Once done, remove and drain excess oil on a paper towel.

• Serve warm or after it cools down.
• You can store in an airtight container for two days or store in fridge for up to a week….heat up in oven before serving.
• Trust me, this yummy little snack will finish off the same day especially if kids are around.

A Quick Summary:

Print Recipe

Kerala Unniyappam Recipe | Nei Appam | Banana Paniyaram | Sweet Appam | | Instant Unniyappam

Kerala Unniyappam Recipe/Nei Appam or Sweet Paniyaram is an easy to make instant low fat sweet appam recipe prepared in an Appe-Pan.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Course: Dessert / Festival Recipe

Cuisine: Indian (South Indian)

Author: Padma Veeranki

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Rice Flour
• 1/4 Cup Wheat Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Semolina
• 1 teaspoon Ghee
• 10 Cashews broken to small pieces
• ½ cup Grated Coconut
• 1/2 Cup Jaggery dissolved in 1/4 Cup Water Adjust sweetness to your taste buds
• 1/4 teaspoon Cooking Soda
• A Pinch of Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Roasted Sesame Seeds
• 1 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
• 2 Bananas mashed
• ½ cup Water or as required to make batter
• Oil for frying

Instructions

• Dry roast lightly rice flour, wheat flour and semolina in a heavy bottom pan over medium low heat.
• In another pan, heat 1 teaspoon ghee and fry cashews till golden brown and remove.
• In the same pan, lightly roast fresh coconut until light brown.
• Melt Jaggery in 1/4 cup water, boil for 2 min. and strain to remove impurities. Set aside to cool.
• In a bowl, add in the roasted flour mixture, baking soda, a pinch of salt, sesame seeds, cardamom powder, roasted cashews and coconut. Mix well.
• Now add mashed banana, jaggery syrup and mix well.
• Add plain water if required to get a dosa batter consistency.
• Heat Appe Pan, pour 1/2 teaspoon ghee/oil in each round.
• When the ghee/oil is medium hot, pour the batter with a ladle into each round half way through. Close with a lid and cook well on both side until golden brown.
• Remove and drain excess oil on a paper towel.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Notes:

1. Always use ripe banana. This gives soft & spongy texture and flavour to the Kerala Unniyappam Recipe.
2. The consistency of the batter is very important to get soft appams. Batter should not be too thick or too thin, it should be in the dosa batter consistency. If the batter is thick, the appams will turn hard. If the batter is thin, the appams will absorb more ghee/oil. 
   
3. You can also add the jaggery as such to the batter without melting, but make sure it has no impurities.
4. If you add more water while making jaggery syrup, then the batter may get watery, so be careful while melting the jaggery.
5.  If the batter turns too watery, add a little rice flour or wheat flour to balance it.
6. If you do not have appe/paniyaram pan, you can deep fry the appams in a kadai in ghee by spooning the batter. Or just add a teaspoon of ghee/oil in a kadai and spoon the batter. But in this case, you can make only one at a time.
7. Cooking soda helps in cooking the inside of the paniyarams and also helps to give softness. 
8. You can add a pinch of dry ginger powder (Sukku) as it helps in digestion and adds flavour. But, this is optional.
9. Appams should be slightly on the darker shade so keep in low medium heat and fry till reddish brown.
10. You can also add coconut pieces for extra crunch.
11. Feel free to be generous in adding ghee to get even browning. You can also mix sesame oil to ghee and use. 
12. If you have time, you can make the batter half an hour before with all the ingredients except cooking soda. Don’t give any resting time after adding cooking soda, and also don’t add too much.

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Would love to hear your feedback if you happen to try out this Kerala Unniyappam Recipe !!

Do check out other DESSERT RECIPES  &  FESTIVAL RECIPES .

Other collections from blog!!

1. DIWALI SWEET RECIPES
2. HOLI RECIPES
3. DESSERT RECIPES
4. DIWALI SNACKS
5. 15 EASY DIWALI SWEETS
6. DIWALI FESTIVAL RECIPES

Many more to come!!…..STAY TUNED!!

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Happy Cooking 🙂

Cheers !!

Padma.