Nei appam | Unniyappam is a traditional sweet generally prepared in our homes for Karthigai deepam, Janmashtami,Ganesha chaturthi and avani avittam. I have already posted nei appam, wheat appam and many more Karthigai deepam recipes. Two years back, when i learnt the recipe of Traditional Mysore pak from my friend’s mom, she told me the recipe of Nei appam too.Though i noted down the measurement of rice:jaggery, i didn’t note down anything else. But i remember the way she was explaining to me. So i tried the same using millets instead of rice. Varagu and Thinai will work out very well for sweet appams. I used Samai(little Millet) for making this nei appams and they turned out very well. Check out my full collection of Karthigai deepam recipes.
Preparation Time : 5 mins + resting time 8 hours | Cooking Time : 15 Mins |Makes: 12
Samai millet | little millet 1/2 cup
Jaggery 1/2 cup
Small banana 2
Cardamom powder 2 pinches
Coconut bits 1-2 tblsp
Ghee 4-5 tblsp
Salt a pinch
Method:
- Wash and soak the little millet for 2-3 hours.You can use kuthravali(barnyard millet) or thinai(foxtail millet) or varagu(kodo millet).
- Drain the water and grind this in a mixie till it gets a coarse texture.
- Add the banana and jaggery to this.
- Grind till the banana gets mashed completely.
- Alternatively you can melt the jaggery with little water and filter it and keep aside.
- Grind the batter with banana and add the jaggery syrup when it is warm.
- Add a pinch of salt and mix well.
- Let this sit undisturbed for 6-8 hours.
- Let the batter consistency be like dosa batter.
- Fry the coconut bits in 1 tblsp of oil till they become golden brown.
- You can add 2 tblsp of grated coconut too. Fry this in ghee till golden brown and add.
- Add this to the batter and add cardamom powder.
- Mix well.
- In a paniyaram pan add ghee till it fill 3/4th of the pan.
- Pour one big spoon of batter to the paniyaram pan.
- Keep the flame to medium.
- Cook this till it is done on one side.
- Gently flip this using a fork or a steel stick.
- Cook this till it is done.
- Repeat this for the rest of the batter too.
- These appams will stay super soft inside and crispy outside even after 3-4 hours.
Method with step wise pictures:
- Wash and soak the little millet for 2-3 hours.You can use kuthravali(barnyard millet) or thinai(foxtail millet) or varagu(kodo millet).
- Drain the water and grind this in a mixie till it gets a coarse texture.
- Add the banana and jaggery to this.
- Grind till the banana gets mashed completely.
- Alternatively you can melt the jaggery with little water and filter it and keep aside.
- Grind the batter with banana and add the jaggery syrup when it is warm.
- Add a pinch of salt and mix well.
- Let this sit undisturbed for 6-8 hours.
- Let the batter consistency be like dosa batter.
- Fry the coconut bits in 1 tblsp of oil till they become golden brown.
- You can add 2 tblsp of grated coconut too. Fry this in ghee till golden brown and add.
- Add this to the batter and add cardamom powder.
- Mix well.
- In a paniyaram pan add ghee till it fill 3/4th of the pan.
- Pour one big spoon of batter to the paniyaram pan.
- Keep the flame to medium.
- Cook this till it is done on one side.
- Gently flip this using a fork or a steel stick.
- Cook this till it is done.
- Repeat this for the rest of the batter too.
- These appams will stay super soft inside and crispy outside even after 3-4 hours.
- If the batter is too thick, it will make hard nei appams.
- If it is too watery, add 1 tblsp of rice flour to this and bring it to the right consistency.
- You can add a pinch of baking soda to the batter before making the appams.
- Raw rice or sona masoori rice can be used instead of millet, to make these nei appams | unniyappam recipe.
