Unniyappam (Sweet rice pancake puffs)
A sweet dish similar to pancake puffs made of rice flour and jaggery.
Ingredients
- Rice-1 cup
- Banana-2 small or 1 big
- Jaggery-3/4 cup
- Baking soda-1/2 tsp optional
- Coconut pieces-1/4 cup
- Crushed cardamom-1 tsp
- Oil as required for frying
Instructions
- Soak the rice for at least 4 hrs and grind it with banana using very little water.
- Melt jaggery and add it to the batter along with soda and mix well.
- Keep it aside for 2-3 hrs.
- Fry the coconut pieces in a little oil until golden brown, drain and add it to the batter once cooled.
- Mix in the cardamom.
- Now heat a Unniyappam chatti with enough oil.
- Once hot, spoon the batter into the indentations and cook until the batter on top has set.
- Turn them over and cook for another few minutes.
- Drain on a paper towel.
- Enjoy!
Notes
After mixing the jaggery, if the batter is thin (it should be like the batter for idli or pancakes),
You can add some all purpose flour/Rava/ rice flour and adjust the consistency.
Instead of grinding the rice, you can drain the rice after 1 hr of soaking, dry it on a muslin cloth and powder it.
You could directly use rice flour too.
If you are not using baking soda, then rest the batter longer. Say for at least 6 hrs.
Unniyappam chatti or pan is usually made of cast iron. The indentations are completely filled with oil. the batter is poured into that oil when hot. That is why you see the unniyappams made in these to be uniformly browned. But now a days you also get non stick version of these pans. I believe Non resident Indians prefer buying these pans as they are light weight and easy to pack in your check-in bags. Color of Unniyappams made in these pans depends on the amount of oil you use.
You can add some all purpose flour/Rava/ rice flour and adjust the consistency.
Instead of grinding the rice, you can drain the rice after 1 hr of soaking, dry it on a muslin cloth and powder it.
You could directly use rice flour too.
If you are not using baking soda, then rest the batter longer. Say for at least 6 hrs.
Unniyappam chatti or pan is usually made of cast iron. The indentations are completely filled with oil. the batter is poured into that oil when hot. That is why you see the unniyappams made in these to be uniformly browned. But now a days you also get non stick version of these pans. I believe Non resident Indians prefer buying these pans as they are light weight and easy to pack in your check-in bags. Color of Unniyappams made in these pans depends on the amount of oil you use.