Unni appam

Mashed ripe banana in the batter, cooked in the moulds of an unniyappakaara.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 300 g raw rice, soaked 4 hours
• 250 g jaggery, grated
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 60 g fresh coconut, in small pieces
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 4 tablespoons ghee, for the coconut
• oil for the pan

Method

1. MASHED RIPE BANANA IN THE BATTER, COOKED IN THE MOULDS OF AN UNNIYAPPAKAARA. Its article gives both: the batter is MADE FROM RAW RICE THAT IS SOAKED AND GROUND, SWEETENED WITH JAGGERY AND MASHED RIPE BANANA, AND FLAVOURED WITH CARDAMOM, and THE BATTER IS POURED INTO THE ROUNDED MOULDS OF A HEAVY PAN CALLED AN UNNIYAPPAKAARA. The banana is what makes it spongy -- the article's own word -- and the pan is what makes it round.
2. SO IT IS NOT NEYYAPPAM, as on its own page, although that article calls this a variant of it. Neyyappam has no banana and is deep-fried loose in ghee; this one has banana and sits in a mould. And the pan is the same kind paddu uses for a savoury batter, which is the third dish in this country built on those hollows.
3. THE NAME IS THE SIZE. In Malayalam UNNI MEANS 'SMALL' AND APPAM MEANS 'RICE CAKE'.
4. GRIND THE SOAKED RICE THICK, NOT SMOOTH. Slightly grainy is right. Too fine and the texture goes dense.
5. THE BANANAS MUST BE OVERRIPE. Black-skinned. An underripe banana gives neither the sweetness nor the lift, and this batter is not fermented so the banana is doing that work.
6. FRY THE COCONUT AND SESAME IN GHEE AND STIR THEM IN. The article has PIECES OF COCONUT FRIED IN GHEE STIRRED INTO IT, and names roasted sesame among the ingredients.
7. REST THE BATTER TWO HOURS AND DO NOT LET IT FERMENT. It thickens and the rice hydrates. Overnight in a warm kitchen it goes sour, which is a different thing.
8. HALF-FILL EACH HOLLOW WITH OIL, THEN THE BATTER, AND TURN THEM WITH A SKEWER. More oil than a paddu takes -- these are closer to frying than to griddling. Four minutes, turned once, until dark brown and crisp outside. Its article notes a common variation uses JACKFRUIT PRESERVES INSTEAD OF BANANA.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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