Sweet Nei Appam (South Indian Sweet made from wheat flour, jaggery and bananas) - Karthigai Deepam Recipes

My grandpa says, "Nei appam thinnal rendundu kariyam" which can be translated and elaborated as "Eating Nei Appam yields double benefit - it gives you the satisfaction of eating a sweet + it fills your stomach too".  நெய் (nei) in Tamil refers to Ghee (or Clarified Butter) which is an essential ingredient of Indian Cuisine :-) This recipe is a low-fat version as we don't deep-fry the appams, so the quantity of ghee consumed is minimal.

I made these a few days back when we performed Ganapathi Homam (a form of Hindu prayer) at home. You can also make these for Ganesh Chaturthi (Vinayaka Chaturthi).

Sweet Appam (Nei Appam)

What You Need -

What you need to make Sweet Appam

• Whole Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups
• Rice flour - 1/2 cup

(Ratio of wheat to rice flour should be 3:1 , my mom says)

• Jaggery , powdered - 1 cup
• Banana - 2 small or 1 long one 
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp (optional, to enhance taste)

• Ghee - to fry (since we use Appa kaarai (அப்பகாரை ), we can make appams with lesser ghee than if you were to fry them in a kadai. Another advantage is that you get a well rounded, uniform shape for all your appams).

How To -

1. Take a bowl, add wheat flour and rice flour.

2. Take powdered/grated jaggery in a kadai, add 1/4 cup water and let it melt.

3. Once the jaggery mixture boils, add it to the bowl with the flours. Mash the banana and add it as well.

4. Mix them all together to make a liquidy paste. Add cardamom powder now. Add some boiled water if it is too thick and pasty. This is to ensure the appams turn out to be soft.

Add caption

Note : The mixture in my picture is a bit thick, so make sure you make it slightly liquidy.


5. Get your appakarai (or aebleskiver pan) ready and grease the 'holes' with enough ghee :)
My Appakaarai was gifted by my mom-in-law and it is really useful. See Paniyaram recipe made using the same  pan :)

Appa Kaarai or Aebleskiver pan

6. Keep flame on med-high and pour the mixture into the holes. You can see the right consistency of the mixture in this picture.

7. Once the sides start browning, turn them over using a small stick (usually comes with the appakarai pan package)

8. Slid some more ghee through the sides so that the other side gets cooked and crisp too :) You need to wait patiently on medium flame for it to get cooked well inside.

Sweet Nei Appams

Enjoy the sweet appams just like that (plain)!

Sending these to "Dish -it-out with Wheat flour and Jaggery" event conducted by Vardhini's Kitchen and South Indian home.