CHAKKAI APPAM | UNNI APPAM from PALAKKAD CHAMAYAL

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I was so delighted yesterday when we had our first cute little guests at our new home.A Robin had built a nest on a tree near our porch with 4 cute torquise colored eggs! Yes first guests are always special and is more close to heart when the special guest brings a smile in you.

And today I am much more delighted to have my first guest in my blog. I have made quite a few friends through blogging world and Kaveri was one among them. I have always admired her traditional recipes that are explained in detail with beautiful pictures and her effort in keeping up our tradition. I have also tried a few recipes from her blog (Pulishery, Vegetable cutlet to name a few- I am yet to post them). When I requested for a guest post, she immediately accepted and sent me this wonderful recipe. Thanks Kaveri!

Please welcome my first guest Kaveri from Palakkad Chamayal.

And click here for an elaborate list of Palakkad special recipes from her blog!

Hello, I am Kaveri and blog at Palakkad Chamayal.  When Shylaja asked me to do one, I agreed immediately. Thank you Shylaja for letting me share a post at your space. Shylaja has a lovely space called Amuthi’s Kitchen where she has shared many traditional recipes and others too. I found it really difficult to come up with a recipe to share as she has shared most of the traditional recipes. So do check out the amazing recipes at her space

Now, I had a box of Chakka Varatti/Jackfruit preserve, which my mom had sent from India. I had wanted to make something out of it and this unniappam came to my mind. I had tasted this a long time back at one of friend’s home in Bangalore.

So here is the recipe:

Makes about 28 to 30 small appams

What you’ll need

Raw Rice/Sona Masoori – 1 cup

Chakka Varatti/ Jackfruit Preserve – ¾ cup

Jaggery – ¼ cup

Scraped Coconut – ¼ cup

Cardamom Powder – ¼ tsp

Salt – pinch

Method

1. Wash and soak the rice in water for 4 to 5 hours.
2. Then, drain in colander until the water is completely drained. You can spread on a kitchen towel and allow drying in shade for about 10 minutes. The rice should not become completely dry and brittle.
3. In a mixie jar, add the rice and grind it without adding any water, until the rice is ground to a fine powder.
4. Now add the jaggery, coconut and grind, until well mixed. Also add the chakka varatti and grind.
5. Add about ¼ cup of water grind the batter to a smooth paste. If you find the chakka varatti is not getting mixed and is in lumps, then mix with hands and squeeze the chakka varatti, and then grind again.
6. Transfer to another vessel, add salt and cardamom powder and mix well.
7. Adjust the consistency of the batter to dosa maavu padam/or pouring consistency.
8. Heat a appa karol/Kuzhipaniyaram pan, with oil in each of the grooves.
9. Pour a small ladle full of the batter into each groove and cook on medium heat for a minutes. Flip the appams to other side and cook for couple of minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
10. Serve warm.

Note:

• The consistency of batter is important; if the batter is very thick appams will be hard.
• You can add half oil and half ghee in each groove for frying.
• You can use fresh ripe jackfruit pieces instead of the varatti. Use about 2 cups of Fresh fruit bulbs, grind into a smooth paste along with rice. Adjust quantity of jaggery depending on the sweetness of the fruit.