Nei Appam - Traditional Sweet Delicacy

'நெய்' அப்பம் - நெய்யிலேயே  சுட்டா  இன்னும் நல்லாத்தான் இருக்கும்... 😊

Nei appam is a simple sweet deep-fried food made with rice flour and jaggery which i always consider as the healthy combination. the typical south Indian desserts are made with rice or its flour and jaggery as main ingredients. some dishes even call for coconut milk than regular milk.

rice flour, jaggery and cardamom in it.. is a divine taste. the unique special touch to this dish is the cumin seeds. cumin seeds and jaggery 's sweetness is different level. sometimes i add saunf instead of cumin. that twist is also good. 

this appam is supposed to be deep fried in ghee or நெய். or even coconut oil. but today i am frying it in regular ground nut oil. 

this nei appam, sweet paniyaaram (vellam'inippy paniyaaram), adhirasam, vellam seedai,etc all tastes similar yet each one is unique in the way they are being made. they all have different textures. vellam paniyaram is softer, adhirasam is litttle firmer and has a touch of sourness because of the fermentation of the batter, this nei appam is little crisp on the edges than the centre and vellam seedai is the hardest of all these. 

the thickness of the batter is quiet important in this recipe as the shape of the appam itself will change and wont even look like an appam rather it will look like "disaster". 😀

this dish has shelf life of 5 days. here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• raw rice - 1 cup
• jaggery - 3/4th cup
• water - 1/2 cup
• sesame seeds - 2 teaspoons
• ghee roasted coconut pieces - 2 tablespoons
• salt a pinch
• cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon crushed in between your palms
• cardamom few pods
• oil to deep fry

Procedure:

• soak the rice for 3 to 4 hours. if you have plan to make this in the evening, then soak it in the morning itself.
• soak the jaggery in half cup water. let it dissolve.
•  then transfer the soaked rice to a blender along with few cardamom pods and use that jaggery water alone to make a paste of it. add the jaggery water little by little at a time. or this will become too watery. this will never become fine paste. it will be like fine sooji or rava consistency only as we have added jaggery water to grind. that's okay.
• the consistency should be like dosa batter. not too thin. other wise the appams will be out of shape and harder too.
• add the ghee roasted coconut pieces, sesame seeds, crushed cumin seeds and salt and mix well. 
• let this rest for minimum 4 hours. now the batter would have become little thicker. mix well before frying.
• heat some oil is a deep frying pan and add a ladle of batter to this. 
• first the batter sinks into the oil. later they puff up and raise to the surface of oil. let it cook for couple of minutes. flip it.
• let it cook both the side. the sizzle will stop. the appams will get this beautiful dark golden brown colour.
• remove from oil and let it drain the excess oil on a tissue paper.
• eating this hot is one taste and eating it the next day or couple of days later is another level taste. try both :).

this is one healthy and tasty snack too. crunchy on the edges and not-very-crunchy centre but still firm.

Tips:

be care full with the amount of water you add while grinding the rice.

if you ended up in watery batter, then still don't panic, add few teaspoons of all purpose flour (maida) and if you don't have this then go ahead and add few teaspoons of rice flour. but i would recommend use all purpose flour as the last-minute addition of rice flour will make the appam little hard but still good to eat.

Happy cooking !!