Nei appam

Nei appam or unni appam is a traditional sweet dish of Kerala. This sweet dumpling fried in clarified butter or oil is an offering to the deity in many temples of Kerala, besides the ISKCON temple. This is also prepared during weddings and festivals like Karthigai deepam.

The basic ingredients for making nei appam are brown sugar, rice and clarified butter. However, other ingredients like yellow plantain, wheat flour, black gram and all-purpose flour are also added to make the appam softer.

A special frying pan made of bell metal is used to make this dish. It is heavy and has deep cups in it, which helps to cook the appam evenly. What is more important is that it cooks slowly and fills the kitchen with its sweet aroma.  

Ingredients:

Raw rice -1 cup
Brown sugar -1 cup
Cardamom powder -2tsps
Grated coconut - 2tsps
Clarified butter or oil for frying

Method:
Soak the rice in water for 4 hours. Drain and grind to a smooth paste along with brown sugar. Set it aside for 4 hours. Just before preparing, add the grated coconut and cardamom powder. Check the consistency. It should be in pouring consistency, like dosa batter. Heat the special vessel. When it turns hot pour clarified butter in each of the cup of the vessel. (Fill it lower than the brim of the cup). When the clarified butter reaches near smoking point, reduce the flame to the minimum. Then, pour one ladle of the batter in each cup. Allow it to cook. Turn it and cook on the other side. Pierce it to check if it has cooked in the inside. When it turns golden brown, remove it.