Appam / கோதுமை அப்பம் - Step by step- Karthigai Deepam recipes

   

   Appam is a sweet made of wheat flour and jaggery. It is used to prepare during the "Karthigai deepam" festival. During karthigai deepam, all our houses are decorated with earthern candles.The whole town will be illuminated very well. We used to burn our crackers .Those are beautifull memories.My mom used to give this appam as a sanck after school. Here I have given the healthy version, as these are cooked on a kuzhipaniyaram pan. But usually, they are deep fried on a pan of oil. I have added banana to give a natural sweetner to the appam. These appams can be made in many ways. I have given other alternations in the notes section. Wishing you all a "Happy Karthigai deepam".

 

 

Yield :      14 appams

Preparation time :   10 mins

Cooking time       :   15  - 20 mins

 

Ingredients:

1.Wheat flour            -        1 cup

2.Rava                       -         1/4 cup

3.Jaggery                   -         3/4 cup (grated)

4.Baking soda            -         a pinch

5.Banana                    -         half

6.Cardamom pwdr     -         1/4 tsp

7.Ghee / oil                -         2 tbsp.  

8.Water                      -         as needed

 

 

Method: 

Take a bowl, add jaggery  and little water to cover the jaggery. Just melt the jaggery over low flame.We don't need any consistency. Let the melted jaggery , cool for a while.

 



 

 Take a mixing bowl, add wheat flour,rava, crushed cardamom powder. Mix it well.

Filter the melted jaggery over the dry mixture. The jaggery should not be hot at this stage. If not , we will have lumps in the batter.

 

Now add the bananas. Let it get mashed very well ,with the flour mixture.

Now add water little by little and form a batter. Use a whisk to make it lump free.The batter should not be too thick or too thin.It should be like a idli batter. At last add the baking  soda and mix.

Now heat a kuzhipaniyaram pan and add little ghee in all the holes. We can also use oil.

 

Scoop in the batter in all the holes.Let it get cooked for a while. Now add drops of oil or ghee on top of the appam. If you are going to deep fry then, pour the batter on the heated oil and cook them both sides ,until it is golden brown.

 

After it is cooked one side, carefully flip it and cook the other side for a minute or until it is done.

Take the appams out using a spoon, when they turn golden brown.Strain the excess oil on a tissue. Serve hot.

 

Notes:
* These appams can be deep fried on a pan of oil. But to be healthy, I have cooked on a paniyaram pan.
* We can also replace wheat flour with maida.
* We can also use oil instead of ghee. But ghee gives a very good aroma.
* We can also use some shredded coconut or chopped cashews to make it richer.
* The amount of jaggery can be altered according to our taste.
* If we don't have time to melt the jaggery, just add sugar. But traditionally jaggery is used.
* Adding baking soda gives it a spongy texture, if not the appams will become chewy as it has wheat flour.