Photo: Sharvarism · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Kerala · Dessert

Unniyappam

Bite-sized deep-fried temple rounds made from rice, banana, and jaggery batter — smaller and more delicate than neyyappam, cooked in coconut oil or ghee in an appe pan until perfectly golden and soft-centred.

🧺 Ingredients

• Raw rice: 150 g
• Ripe nendrapazham banana: 2 medium (200 g mashed)
• Jaggery: 150 g
• Fresh grated coconut: 50 g
• Cardamom: 4 pods (crushed)
• Dry ginger powder: ¼ tsp
• Cumin seeds: ¼ tsp
• Black sesame seeds: 2 tsp (8 g)
• Baking soda: ¼ tsp
• Coconut oil: for frying (approx. 150 ml)
• Coconut oil (not ghee) gives the authentic temple-offering flavour

👩‍🍳 How to make Unniyappam

1. Soak 150 g rice for 2 hours.
2. Drain.
3. Grind with coconut to a smooth, fine batter — add only 50 ml water.
4. The batter should be thick.
5. Dissolve 150 g jaggery in 60 ml water over medium heat.
6. Strain.
7. Combine rice batter, jaggery syrup, mashed banana, cardamom, dry ginger, cumin, sesame seeds, and baking soda.
8. Mix thoroughly.
9. Rest 30 minutes.
10. Heat appe pan over medium heat.
11. Add ½ tsp coconut oil to each cavity.
12. When oil shimmers, pour batter to fill each cavity about 80%.
13. Cook over medium-low heat 3 minutes until bottom is golden.
14. Turn.
15. Cook 2 minutes more until fully golden and cooked through.

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