NEIAPPAM

INGREDIENTS:

Raw rice	1 cup
Coconut	¼ cup grated
Banana	1 small
Jaggery powder	1 cup
Salt	A pinch
Coconut bits	1-2 tbsp
Cardamom powder	¼ tsp
Ghee	As needed

METHOD:

• Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in water for 2 hours. Drain the water completely from the rice.
• Melt 1 cup jaggery powder with ½ cup water in a pot. Strain the melted jaggery to remove any impurities and keep aside to slightly cool down.
• In a blender jar, add the soaked rice and grind into semi-fine powder. When powdered, add the grated coconut and chopped banana to it.
• Grind everything into a smooth paste. Now add the melted jaggery, cardamom powder and a pinch of salt. The salt is to balance all the flavors so only a pinch is needed.
• Grind everything well and then transfer it to a bowl. Let the appam batter ferment overnight or for 6-8 hours.
• Before making the neiappams, roast the coconut bits in a tbsp of oil till golden and add to the batter. Also adjust the consistency of batter to smooth flowing consistency by adding few tbsp of water. The batter should be around dosa batter consistency.
• Heat ghee in appam pan and add 1.5 tbsp of batter into all the holes. Let the batter cook on medium flame for a min and then turn to the other side.
• Let the neiappams cook on both sides and also turn golden-brown in color. Remove the neiappams from ghee using a spoon or neiappam skewer.
• Enjoy the neiappam while they are warm!