Malayalis have umpteen reasons to love unniyappam as a snack, 'prasad' in temples, characters in popular stories and more. A little crisp on the outside and spongy soft on the inside, the cute rice cake is made on many different occasions including Onam sadya. But, if you feel like having a few with no special 'occasion' in sight, you can also quickly whip them up at home, that too without adding baking soda. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup raw rice (pachari)
1 banana
¼ cup grated coconut
¼ cup boiled rice
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1 pinch salt
200 grams jaggery
½ cup water
½ cup coconut bits
1 tablespoon ghee
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Coconut oil (as required for deep frying)
Preparation
Rinse the raw rice in water a couple of times
Now, soak it in sufficient water for 3 hours
Drain the water content and keep it aside
Heat ¼ cup of water, and add jaggery to it
Keep stirring on medium heat for the jaggery to dissolve
Filter it and set it aside to cool
Heat ghee in another pan
Fry the coconut bits and sesame seeds until they change colour
Put the soaked rice, coconut, boiled rice, and jaggery syrup into a mixer bowl along with banana, salt, and cardamom powder and grind well
Pour the batter into a vessel and add the fried coconut bits and sesame seeds to it
Combine them well through consistent stirring
Now, pour coconut oil into 'unniyappachatti' vessel and pour the batter
Deep fry the unniyappams, till you get a golden-dark brown colour on both sides
Drain the excess oil and serve tasty fluffy unniyappams
