Jan 6, 2012

Nei-Appam

Wishing all of you a very Happy New 2012 ahead. Hope you have made your resolutions and sticking to them for a few days at least. Hope you all have a healthy and happy year ahead. Make this the year where you do something new or unique for a change. Take up a challenge, accomplish something, try something new. Do that thing that no one would expect you to do. And even if it might not work out, at least you would have tried. Enjoy the year ahead.

This post is bringing  you some comfort food along with it. There is comfort food and then there is this particular comfort food. Warm, sweet, ghee-laden comfort food. Now can it get any more comfortable?

Nei-Appam - little sweetened rice balls cooked in ghee. Thank heavens they are small..and perfect to be eaten in bunches. Now who would not want comfort in bunches? This is a traditional south Indian sweet prepared for festivities especially during karthigai. And that's when I prepared it too but of course this post is coming to you late. 

There are a couple of different methods to make this delicacy. Some people add banana to this batter and then call them little unniappams - of course a specialty of Kerala. I prefer to do this however without the banana ..just because I'm not a fan of banana as many of you are aware. Let's get to the post. 


Soak 2 cups of rice in warm water for about 2-3 hours. Once the rice is soft, grind to a smooth batter and set aside.


Melt about 1 1/4 cups of jaggery in a small pan with a few drops of water.


Add the melted jaggery to the rice batter and mix well.

 

Add a couple of pinches of cardamom powder to the batter and mix well.


In a little kuzhi paniyaram pan, add a couple of drops of ghee in each cavity and heat up.


Slowly pour spoonfuls of batter into each cavity and let it cook. Make sure the pan is in medium heat so that the appams cook inside and don't overcook on the outside.


Flip over each appam using a skewer and let cook for a few minutes on the other side.


And they are done. Easy as that. Comfortable to make and totally comforting to eat. Now that is what I call good food.


We also made some peanut ladoos for karthigai and here they are.


Say your prayers and dig into wholesome festival goodness.


They just look awfully cute to me. Can you imagine working on wall street in New York and you step out for a snack and there is a little vandi kadai vendor selling these hot off the grill. Poor little hot dogs will need a run for their doggy money.


 Go ahead, grab some. And let me know if you liked them.




Enjoy. Peace Out!

12 comments:

  1. Lovely :) I posted these few days back Anu. I never added so much ghee though. Must have tasted heavenly!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the vandi kadai thought... Wish we had nei-appam vandi kadai's along with the road side isthri wala too.... :))

    ReplyDelete
  3. lovely Appams..never made it myself:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nei appam and kadalai urundai looks delicious. I am a great fan of neiappam. In coimbatore, as it is close to kerala, it is made by all for ayyappan poojas.

    ReplyDelete
  5. love the appams - great post with complimenting pics - happy new year to u !!

    ReplyDelete
  6. These looks sooo... good that I just wanna grab then off the screen!!!
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy new year, Anu.. hope the little one is doing fine. Lovely appams.. may I ask you were you got the pan from? It is larger pan than the ones I have seen. I have a non-stick small one and have been looking out for a large iron-cast one.
    Also in my house I use the short-cut method.. I use the regular rava, poha, grated coconut and jaggery with a pinch of baking soda.. comes out very soft. Amma made it your way. You can also add grated cucumber to it as is added in temple back home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Arc! I got this pan from India long back. This is a non stick one and even though I don't use non stick much, I do use this because of the ease. Will try your version sometime - never made it with rava and poha.

      Delete
  8. Just mouthwatering...looks so yummy & delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yum yum, feel like having some..Happy new year wishes Anu, hope ur baby and urself doing well..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anu! That pan of yours is amazing. you must send for my "kitchen things" posts :D then again, i have been slacking in that area for ages now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure thing will do - let me know when you need it. And don't even talk about the slacking part...my blog shows it!

      Delete

Thank you for stopping by! Let me know what you think.