Neyyappam

The most favoured sweet of Kerala which is served alost in all temples.This is a simple yummy recipe.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour/atta - 2 cups
ripe banana- 1 big or 2 small ones
Jaggery - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Sugar crystals-2 tsp
Water as required
Oil for frying

Procedure:

1.In a pan add jaggery and pour water to the level jaggery sinks. Heat the stove and aloow the jaggery to dissolve completely. Switch off the stove and allow the mixture to cool .Sieve the jaggery water andtake out all the sediments if any.
2.Now add wheat flour and banana to jagger water and mash well with hands or you can put it in blender. The dough should have the consistency of vada dough.
3. Make balls like bonda and deep fry in oil. If you are using appam mould, the can be a little watery like dosa batter.Fry till brown (not golden brown;requires deep frying)
4.Once all appams are fried, transfer it to a serving bowl. Pour the ghee on top along with the sugar crystals. Now the appams are coated with ghee and sugar crystals which will make them yummy!

*Some people add a handful of rice flour to the batter. But I have avoided because (a) it will make the appams hard (b) the sweet will have crispy edges whereas authentic appams are totally soft

Coconut Cheedai

A favorite snack of Tamilnadu made during Krishna Jeyanthi! One of the riskiest and complicated snack which is worth taking pains.

Ingredients:

(From top left to bottom right in picture 1)

Urad dal powder-1/2 cup
Shredded coconut-3/4 cup
Rice flour-2 cups
Oil-1/2 litre
Butter-1 tbsp
Salt- 2tsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Asafoetida-1/2 tsp
Water as required

Procedure:

1. Soak 1/2 kg of raw rice in water; drain out all the water, dry and powder it. Or you can use ready made rice flour.
2. Roast a cup of urad dal and make fine powder out of it.
3. Sieve rice flour and dal powder and extract the fine flour. Do not allow any piece ofdal or rice or any coarse particle in the flour. Else, cheedai will burst while frying.
3.Mix the flour well along with butter, salt,asafoetida,cumin and enough water to get the consistency of chapathi dough.However do not make it very soft like chapathi dough.
4.Make small lemon sized balls from dough and deep fry until they turn golden brown.