Kerala Unniyappam / Sweet Paniyaram / Dutch pancakes with rice

Unniyappam / Sweet Paniyaram

What is the recipe that first comes to your mind when there are over ripen bananas at home ??


Many may say Banana bread...... I do agree with that..


But for me these sweet little treats called Unniyappams are the first ones in the list , as my little one just loves them a lot....





Kottarakkara is the place in Kerala that is linked to unniyappams , which is renowned for the Kottarakkara Ganapathi temple....And the delectable unniyappams served there as prasadam / offering is quite famous.....I had the chance of trying them a number of times...They are definitely addictive...


We happened to watch the Malayalam movie Salt n pepper recently and just loved the way Unniyappams were highlighted in it......Here is the scene if you wish to watch....


Now lets get to the recipe and do some offering for the little tummies....


Ingredients

Ingredients

1. Rice flour - 2 cups
2. Powdered Jaggery - 1 cup
3. Over ripe banana - 3 Nos [ Palayam thodan is the variety used traditionally]
4. Water - 1 1/2 cups
5. Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
6. Milk - 2 Tbsp
7. Chopped coconut - 1/4 cup
8. Ghee - 1 Tbsp
9. Cardamom Pods - 8 Nos

Preparation

Unniyappam preparation

1. Take water in a sauce pan and add jaggery to it. Bring it to boil and simmer for 10 mins. No need to wait for a thicker syrup. Turn off the flame and allow this to cool.
2. Meanwhile heat ghee in a small pan and roast the coconut pieces in it until they turn golden brown. Keep this aside.
3. Take the rice flour in a flat pan and roast on a medium heat for about 5 mins. Allow this to cool.
4. Peel the bananas and take them in a blender / mixer and blend to a smooth paste. Now add the cooled jaggery mix to this and blend again until all well combined.
5. Now take the roasted rice flour in a bowl and add the banana jaggery mix to this and combine well without any lumps. This step also can be done in the mixer / blender for a smooth batter. I had used the mixer to do the job.
6. Add the baking soda, roasted coconut and powdered cardamom powder to this and mix well.
7. Keep this aside for a minimum of 1/2 hr.
8. Once ready to make the unniyappams, check the consistency of batter. It should not be too thick. Add milk at this stage and mix well.
9. Now heat the unniyappa chatti / mini dutch pan and add oil or even ghee for a better taste. Make sure that the individual moulds are only half filled with oil.
10. Once the oil is hot, keep the flame on a medium low and spoon the batter to individual moulds till they are 3/4th full. Dont overfill the moulds.
11. Once the rims of the appams turn brownish, turn over to get the other side done.
12. Unniyappams can be taken out and drained on a paper towel , once both the sides are uniformly golden brown in color.
13. Arrange on a serving bowl and sprinkle some sugar [ optional ] and then start munching.

Unniyappam / Sweet Paniyaram

Can anyone stop with just one ??? I bet you cant....

They were crispy outside and so soft inside....

Loved those little bites of coconut pieces too....

Unniyappam

Note : I could make 30 unniyappams from the above recipe.



You can add cashew or any nuts of your choice [chopped and roasted ] to the batter if you prefer , instead of coconut.

Enjoy and have a great Weekend......

I'm sending these unniyappams to be part of the Kerala Kitchen event hosted this month by Khushi at A Girl's Diary.

They are going to be part of Healing Foods : Coconut hosted by Saffronstreaks and initiated by Siri of Cooking with Siri