A spate of festivals just passed by with “Karthikai Deepam” yesterday. Food is an integral part of every festival in India and is considered very sacred. Traditional festive food and “neivedhyam” to God is made with native ingredients. Hence the use of rice, jaggery, coconut and ghee along with spices such as pepper, dry ginger, saffron and cardmom in various festive preparations. Every festival has a special offering and for “karthikai”, “Pori urundai” and “appam” is a tradition offering.
Appam also known as “neiappam”, kuzhiappam”,” unniappam”has its place in almost all Tambram festivals such as” Varusha Pirappu”,”Avaniavittam””Srijayanthi”and “Karthikai”. It is made of a mixture of raw rice, jaggery, coconut and banana which is shallow fried in special cookware called the “appakaral” made of bronze.
This year I made instant appam with a slight deviation in the traditional ingredients.
RAVE NEI APPAM RECIPE
- Equal cup measures (1 cup) of roasted rava (sooji), maida, milk and jaggery.
- 1 ripe yellow banana well mashed
- 1 pod cardamom powdered
- Few strands of saffron
- 2 Table Spoons of tutti-frutti
- 2 Table Spoons of grated coconut/coconut slivers
METHOD
- Mix all the ingredients well and leave it undisturbed for about 4 to 5 hours.
- Just before shallow frying adjust the mixture to a pouring consistency with milk or water.
- Spoon in ghee into every cavity of the appakaral.
- Ladle small quantities of the mixture into each cavity.
- Cook well till both the sides are crisp and light brown.
- Remove and ladle the next batch of appams.
This will result in brown roundels, crisp on the outside with soft and spongy insides. Every bite will be a burst of sweet taste interspersed with the tutti-frutti bites and flavors of banana and saffron. This is a delicious preparation that can be stored at room temperature for 3 days or more.
Rava Nei Appam Recipe in தமிழ்
