Nei Appam | Appam using Rice Flour |Ghee Appam| 4 Ingredient Appam Recipe | Stepwise Pictures| Quick and Easy Festival Recipe by Masterchefmom

Hi Supermoms,

'Nei Appam' or 'Ghee Appam' is a popular sweet prepared for pooja specially on Ganesh Chaturthi, Avani Avittam/Upakarma day and also on Gokulashtami/Krishna Jayanthi days. A very simple sweet that can be made with just three ingredients - rice, jaggery and banana. Traditionally, raw rice is soaked for one to two hours and ground to a fine paste with equal amounts of jaggery. A banana is also mashed and incorporated in the batter. Small pieces of fresh coconut is added to give the appam extra taste. Also, these appams taste best when cooked with ghee/clarified butter.

Sounds so delicious !! 

Today, I am going to share a quick and easy method to make appams using rice flour. I regularly make appams for all functions/festivals  at home including Tamil New Year , Karthigai Deepam, Pongal and even during Navratri. Instead of rice flour, I often use wheat flour . So, when you are trying out this recipe, you can make it with rice or wheat flour. I did not add any soda in the recipe as bananas help in appam's soft texture. If you are omitting banana, then you can add a pinch of baking soda. The colour of the appams will depend upon the colour /variety of jaggery that you are using. 

If you do not have appe/paniyaram pan, you can fry the appams in ghee by spooning the batter . Turns out so yummy !

Nei Appam | Appam using Rice Flour :

Preparation time : 20 minutes

Cooking time : 20-25 minutes

1 cup = 250 ml cup

Makes : 20- 24 appams

Ingredients :

1 cup rice flour ( I used store bought rice flour)

1 cup jaggery ( grated or powdered)

1 banana ( ripe)

1/4 cup fresh coconut ( finely chopped)

1/2 cup water

pinch of cardamom ( optional)

2 tablespoons ghee/clarified butter 

Method :

1. In a vessel, add the rice flour, jaggery and banana.

2. Using your hands, mix the three ingredients using half a cup of water.

3. Add the chopped coconut pieces and allow the batter to rest for 20 minutes.

4. Heat the appe pan over low heat.

5. When the pan is hot, pour few drops of ghee in each compartment of the appe pan.

6. Spoon the batter in each compartment , cover and  cook the appam over low flame.

 Note : This step will take at least 7-9 minutes depending upon the type of the gas stove, if using Italian burner, it will take more time. 

7. Once one side is cooked, flip the appam using a fork or a chop stick for just about 1-2 minutes.

Nei Appams are ready!

Alternatively, if you don't have paniyaram pan, you can heat oil or ghee and fry them like the pictures below:

Yummy!

Your delicious Nei Appams are ready for offering/neivedyam.

Wishing you all a blessed festival season .

Happy Cooking !

With love,

Masterchefmom