Recipe for Nei Appam made during Karthigai deepam festival. Nei Appam is also called as unniyappam in Kerala. With step by step pictures.
Nei appam reminds me of so many good memories. Nei appam is made in Tamilnadu for Karthigai Deepam festival. I love Karthigai Deepam for several reasons. When we were young, the diwali crackers would be rationed between me and my brother and some would be kept in the loft safely for Karthigai Deepam. Karthigai deepam meant bursting all the stored crackers. The entire neighborhood would be lit with little mud lamps and its such a beautiful sight. My aunt would send us these Nei Appam and I used to wait for these. Here is my aunts recipe for Nei Appam. For traditional Nei appam made with soaked and ground rice, refer to this recipe.
https://www.kannammacooks.com/unniyappam-recipe/
Sukku or dry ginger powder is a very important ingredient for making this Nei Appam. There is a saying in Tamil which my aunt says. சுக்குக்கு மிஞ்சிய வைத்தியமில்லை, சுப்பிரமணியனுக்கு மிஞ்சிய தெய்வமுமில்லை. It means “There is no greater medicine than dry ginger, there is no greater lord than Lord Subramanya.” Karthikai Deepam is a Hindu Tamil Festival of Lights. Karthi means Lord Subramanya (Muruga). So if you are doing Nei Appam for Karthigai Deepam, be sure to add dry ginger powder.
Here is how to do Nei Appam.
Boil Jaggery with water until the jaggery is fully dissolved and the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Switch off the flame and strain to get rid of dirt and impurities that may be in the jaggery. Almost always there is some fine sand particles present in jaggery. Keep the jaggery syrup aside.
Remove the seeds from cardamom and grind the seeds to a smooth powder using a mortar and pestle. Add it to the jaggery syrup.
Now add in the important flavoring ingredient for this recipe. Dry Ginger. Add in a teaspoon and mix well.
Take two very ripe bananas and mash it into a paste. Add it to the jaggery syrup.
Now add in the rice flour and baking soda. Mix well. The batter will be thick. Set aside. Let the batter rest for 2 hours.
After the rest, lets make Nei Appam. Heat the paniyaram pan until hot. Add a big teaspoon of oil or ghee in each of the mold. Be generous with the oil or ghee. I like to use an ice cream scoop to spoon out the batter into the paniyaram pan as its a very thick and sticky batter. Icecream scoop makes it easy and mess free. If using a spatula, use another spoon to release the batter from the spatula. Cook the nei appam on both sides until crisp and brown. Add little more oil or ghee if you think after turning the appam on one side.
Be generous with the ghee. You can use a mixture of ghee and oil if you want to cut down on the ghee.
Remove off the pan and allow it to let it cool. Nei appam is ready.
Nei Appam
Recipe for Nei Appam made during Karthigai deepam festival.
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 mins
- Yield: 20 appams 1x
Ingredients
- Measurements used – 1 cup=250 ml
- 3/4 cup Jaggery
- 1/2 cup water
- 5 Cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon dry ginger
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup ghee for frying appam
Instructions
- Boil Jaggery with water until the jaggery is fully dissolved and the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Switch off the flame and strain to get rid of dirt and impurities that may be in the jaggery. Almost always there is some fine sand particles present in jaggery. Keep the jaggery syrup aside.
- Remove the seeds from cardamom and grind the seeds to a smooth powder using a mortar and pestle. Add it to the jaggery syrup.
- Now add in the important flavoring ingredient for this recipe. Dry Ginger. Add in a teaspoon and mix well.
- Take two very ripe bananas and mash it into a paste. Add it to the jaggery syrup.
- Now add in the rice flour and baking soda. Mix well. The batter will be thick. Set aside. Let the batter rest for 2 hours.
- After the rest, lets make Nei Appam. Heat the paniyaram pan until hot. Add a teaspoon of ghee in each of the mold. I like to use an ice cream scoop to spoon out the batter into the paniyaram pan as its a very thick and sticky batter. Icecream scoop makes it easy and mess free. If using a spatula, use another spoon to release the batter from the spatula. Cook the nei appam on both sides until crisp and brown.
- Remove off the pan and allow it to let it cool. Nei appam is ready.
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Festival Dishes
- Cuisine: South Indian, Tamilnadu
Can I skip using Baking soda? or is it a must?
you will need it.
Hello Namaste nicw recipe of unniappam
Thanks for knowledge
Hey Sugu,
I jus tried this recipe for Vinayak Chathurthi…zimbly superb. .and really simple..and the measurements were just perfect…my son is just gobbling them up.. So thank you…*hugs*
Thank you so much Achu! xoxo!
What kind of rice flour should be used the roasted or the unroasted type. Can I use the idiyappam powder (store brought)?
I have used plain rice flour. Not idiyappam.
What kind of rice flour should be used the roasted or the unroasted type. Can I use the idiyappam powder (store brought)? Is this same as Unniyappam( except for the addition of ginger powder everything step is similar)
This is plain raw rice flour. Not idiyappam flour.
Thank you
Great recipe! Tried it today and it was heavenly! Liked your tips esp. about filtering the jaggery water. This was the first time I noticed that there IS a ton of sand in it! Also, can you add the amount of baking soda needed to the recipe? I couldn’t find it in the text or in the printable. I took a wild guess today with 1/4 tsp. Thank you!
Thank you Sridhar. Have updated. Thanks a lot for letting me know.
It tasted heaven sister..Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you!