Neyyappam

Neyyappam

Neyyappam is Kerala's own rice pancake deep fried in ghee. It can be compared to the North Indian deep fried pancakes called Malpua . I thought that it is intricate and difficult to prepare Neyyappam at home, but it is not. It is very easy as long as you have a dependable recipe and all the ingredients. I did a detailed research about Neyyappam before trying it, 'coz none of the photographs i saw online had the texture and colour of what i have seen in the ones we buy from store. And also because this is not a family recipe, just my trial to check whether i can be successful with it. 

If any of you who have a traditional recipe for Neyyappam, do let me know whether cardamom and dry ginger is added. Because the taste i have known does not have cardamom or any other flavourings, so i have left out in my recipe, but if you feel like you can add it. The measures of cardamom and ginger is given here on the basis of a similar Anglo-Indian snack called Soulinjha which we prepare during Christmas season.

ingredients for the recipe

rice flour (puttu podi)  - 2 cup (200 gms)

jaggery, grated - 2 cups (approx 175 - 200 gms)

plantain (palayamkodan) - 2 or banana - 1

water to crumble the rice flour - 100 ml

water to melt the jaggery - 100 ml

butter or ghee - 1 tbsp

coconut bits - 2 tbsp (cut thin slices of coconut and dice it into 1.5 cm pieces)

sesame seeds - 1tsp

oil for deep frying

Though the name literally means made of ghee, i have used vegetable oil for frying. Use a flat bottom pan to fry the neyyappam as seen in the picture below.

Neyyappam being fried

Place the rice flour in a deep bowl. Add the water and crumble it as done for puttu or for a pastry dough. Keep it aside for one hour. Mash the plantains and place it in the rice crumble. Add the butter. Knead it into a smooth dough. 

Heat water and melt the jaggery. Let it cool down to room temperature. Add one third of the syrup into the rice mix. Start mixing with your hands or a whisk. I mixed with hands. Get rid of all the lumps and mix till you get a smooth batter. Add the remaining two thirds of jaggery and mix well.

Fry the coconut bits in ghee or oil and add it to the batter. Wash the sesame seeds 2 to 3 times and add it to the batter. Let the batter rest for 5 hours or overnight. It would have become a thick batter now, but it will be in pouring consistency. 

If you like to add cardamon , powder 3 cardamoms and add to the batter at this stage. Additional spice is dry ginger. You can powder 1/4 inch piece and add to the batter alongwith cardamom.

Heat adequate ghee or oil in a pan. Use a small ladle to pour the batter. Or else you can use a spoon from which you can pour the batter in one direct stream. When the bottom of the neyyappam is cooked it will leave the pan by itself, otherwise you can slightly loosen it once the sides start turning brown. As you see in the picture , the first set i fried is the blacking brown colour, since i was not aware of the cooking time. So you can test with one and then repeat the frying process.  Switch heat between high to medium or even to low while frying Neyyappam.

This can be stored for a week or two in air tight containers.

Enjoy!