Sweet Appam

Sweet appam used to be a very common snack that my grandma used to make for us cousins. I am always reminded of her and our blissful, worry-free summer vacations every time the aroma of appam batter wafts to my nose. It is also one of the several dishes whose batter is absolutely delicious! In fact my cousin used to insist on eating the batter as is and not frying it into lovely little puffy balls! Wonder if she has changed her eating pattern these days :)

Appam can be called as the South-Indian equivalent of donuts, although the tastes definitely differ. It is also quite simple (and safe) to fry.

Ingredients (Yield 14 appams)

1. 1 cup of whole wheat flour (i.e., aata flour)
2. ¼ cup of rice flour
3. ¾ - 1 cup of powdered jaggery/brown sugar/white sugar.
4. 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder
5. ¾ cup of water (or a little more)
6. 1 ripe mashed banana (I know, an uncommon ingredient for most. Nobody in my household uses/has used this ingredient. But those with Paalakad/Kerala influence, use banana in their appams. And I love the addition!)
7. ¼ cup of grated coconut (optional. I usually don’t add coconut)
8. 2-3 cups of vegetable oil to fry

Preparation

1. Mix the wheat flour, rice flour, and jaggery/sugar in a bowl.
2. Add ¾ cup (or an approximate quantity) of water and mix. It’s better to add water in ¼ cup increments until you get a thick paste that you can scoop out with a spoon/ladle and easily drop (without vigorous shaking of the ladle).
3. Add the mashed banana and mix well (the riper the banana, the better it is to mix, and the more flavorful the appam will be). If you need more water at this point, then sprinkle some.
4. Finally, sprinkle the cardamom and coconut. Some people also mix a teaspoon of ghee into this batter. But, I usually skip the coconut and ghee.
5. Heat oil in a deep heavy-bottomed frying skillet, on medium-high. Test if the oil is hot enough by dropping a bit of batter. If the batter starts sizzling and rising to the top, the oil is hot enough. Reduce the heat to medium.
6. Start frying by slowly dropping a small-ladle of batter into the oil. One can fry about 2-4 appams at a time (of course, depending on the size of your pan). Since one uses the ladle to transfer the batter into the oil, the fingers are safely out of danger-zone. Yet, be careful so as to not plop the batter into the hot oil, causing dangerous splashes.
7. Move and flip the appams until they are evenly cooked and fried to a deep golden brown. Transfer them onto paper napkins to drain excess oil.

And appams are ready. They are usually had as is, and disappear in no time!