- 1
Mash 2 ripe bananas, about 200 gms until smooth, using a fork or potato masher. Do this until it's creamy forming no lumps. The perfect fit for this dish is ripe bananas, as it's sweet and soft; it adds to the flavour and texture of your appams.
- 2
Now, it's time to mix in the jaggery. Add to the mashed banana along with 100 gms of grated jaggery. Jaggery is a traditional, unrefined sugar product that adds depth in richness, caramel-like sweetness, and flavour to the batter.
- 3
Mix this solution until the jaggery has fully dissolved. Let it take a minute or two because jaggery is a bit coarse. Let the sweetener be well dissolved in the banana mixture.
- 4
Now, will will add the rice flour and spices.
- 5
Add 100 gms of rice flour in the banana-jaggery mixture.
- 6
Rice flour is used in this appam recipe and helps to give thickness and a slight crispy exterior to the appams. Add the rice flour along with ¼ tsp of cardamom powder for the warm, aromatic flavour, and a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness. Mix it into thick batter. If it is too thick, add a bit of water-a tbsp at a time, until you get a smooth, pourable consistency.
- 7
Heat a non-stick appam pan or paniyaram pan over a medium heat. This recipe involves using special pans with small, rounded molds for cooking the appams evenly.
- 8
Add a few drops of ghee or oil in each mold so that appams don't stick to it and also give golden crispy edges to them.
- 9
Heat the pan but beware of heating too hot, as uneven cooking may take place of the appams.
- 10
Cook the Appams Once the pan is hot, using a spoon, fill each mould ¾ with banana batter. The batter should slightly spread out, where a small circle shape is achieved.
- 11
Immediately place a lid over the pan to steam through for the cooking of the appams. Cook at low to medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown.
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The covering also makes it soft inside and helps in even cooking.
- 13
Once the edges start to turn golden, carefully flip over each appam with the help of a skewer or spoon, so that both sides will be evenly cooked and golden brown. Cooking on the other side might take up to 2-3 more minutes.
- 14
Bring out the cooked Banana Appams and place them on to a serving plate. Here's a fun fact, this appam tastes good when it is very hot with accompaniments of either coconut milk, honey, or even a little sprinkle of nuts for more texture. Repeat this with the remaining batter frying every appam until golden.
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