Nei appam is made during several festivals like Gokulashtami, Karthigai deepam etc. A special recipe made with just rice and ghee as main ingredient.
You can prepare this during festivals as well as when you crave for something sweet with jaggery.
Checkout my latest Kandarappam recipe and Instant version in this website.
Ghee is used in this nei appam preparation as the name indicates. This is the first time I am trying the Nei appam / Neyyappam. Mom always used to make instant appam with wheat flour and banana. It's a deep fried one. Or we make sweet paniyaram.
This recipe for nei appam sounded interesting with only rice, jaggery and coconut. Thought this would be helpful for many of you as Karthigai deepam is nearing!
I have beautiful memories about karthigai deepam. It is the most beautiful festivals according to me those days. Two eyes won't be enough to see all the lamps lit all over. Mom had a few collections of lamps with her.
Few pithalai vilakku of different shapes, few special lamps made out of 'maa-kall' and a lot other clay lamps. Every year, she buys few new lamps to add in the collections and it's a must for her. My MIL also have similar collections and she lights tea light candles mostly to decorate.
Celebration
I have only some with me now and I too use tea light candles to fill the spots. Me and my brother always save few crackers, flower pots and sparkles that dad buys for Diwali and light it on the day of karthigai deepam.
So we will be excited. One of my aunt told and taught about a rare and unique karthigai fireworks (Karthigai pori - Here pori means spark) especially done for this festival. It's made with the dried palm flowers. Its a bit dangerous but my bro once bravely did that.
Not to forget the karthigai pori varieties and pori urundai made. I used to ignore it those days, but craving for those now 🙂 Now to the recipe, I got an idea about the recipe from Shanthi's Thaligai. But adapted the recipe to suit my taste. Let's learn how to prepare nei appam, below are the step by step pictures and instructions.
Stepwise photos
- First soak rice for 3 hours. Grind it with less water to a thick paste.
- Melt the jaggery with very little water and strain to remove any impurities. (If it is pure, you can add as such to rice and mix or grind too). Add it to the ground rice batter and mix well. Keep aside.
- At the time of preparing, add salt, powdered elachi, cooking soda, coconut and mix well. Heat a paniyaram pan and add 1 teaspoon of ghee to each partition and pour the mixed batter to fill each one. Apparently one can deep fry too in ghee.
- Cook covered for 1 - 2 minutes in low flame. Turn with the paniyaram skewer or a spoon and add more ghee if dry.
- Cook for another minute or two in medium flame until golden brown and inside of the paniyaram gets cooked. Collect the paniyarams in the serving bowl.
Crispy outside and soft inside nei appams. Enjoy!
My notes
I leave the sides of the mixer which has rava like batter stuck to it without wiping. I like the texture it gives to the paniyaram. Though we grind the batter smooth, the rava like rice add a nice texture to the paniyarams.
So it's up to you, to choose if you want smooth batter (soft texture) or slightly coarse texture (pola-pola brittle texture).
If you don't have paniyaram pan, heat about one or two inch of oil/ ghee in a kadai and use one ladle to spoon the batter. You can make only one at a time, but it will be bigger like a kandarappam.
Related posts
Click here to read the recipe in tamil
Recipe card
Nei appam
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw rice
- 1 cup Jaggery
- ¼ cup Grated coconut You can use upto ½ cup coconut for more soft results
- 1 cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon Cooking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- Ghee As needed
Instructions
- First soak rice for 3 hours. Drain water completely from rice, add cardamom and grind well. Do not add excess water.
- Melt the jaggery with very little water and strain to remove any impurities. (If it is pure, you can add as such to rice and mix or grind too).
- Add it to the ground rice and grind again to make a smooth batter.
- Keep aside for couple of hours for best results.
- At the time of preparing, add salt, powdered cardamom, cooking soda, coconut and mix well.
- Heat a paniyaram pan and add 1 teaspoon of ghee to each partition and pour the mixed batter to fill each one. Apparently one can deep fry too in ghee.
- Cook covered for 1 - 2 minutes in low flame. Turn with the paniyaram skewer or a spoon and add more ghee if dry.
- Furthermore, cook for another minute or two in medium flame until golden brown and inside of the paniyaram gets cooked. Collect the paniyarams in the serving bowl.
Notes
- If you add more water while making jaggery syrup, then the batter may get watery, so be careful while melting the jaggery. In emergencies if your batter gets too watery, then add wheat flour to balance it.
- You can also add the jaggery as such to the batter without melting, but make sure it has no impurities.
- Grated coconut also is an important ingredient to get a soft paniyaram. You can grind along the rice too.
- You can add a mashed banana in this to get pillow soft paniyarams, though nei appams are meant to be crispy and dense.
- Cooking soda helps in cooking the inside of the paniyarams.
- Be generous in adding ghee otherwise it may not get even browned. If you are guilty in adding a lot of ghee, then you can mix sesame oil and use generously.
- Use indolium or iron paniyaram pans for even and perfect browning.
- This needs no fermentation, still making the batter an hour or more prior is better.
Nivedhanams Sowmya says
very authentic and delicious!!! very festive too!
Sowmya
Ongoing Event - CWF - Whole Wheat Flour
Ongoing Event - Let's Party - Eggless Bakes and Treats
Premalatha Aravindhan says
Yummy nei apppam,luks perfect...
Veena Theagarajan says
so yummy looking nei appam
http://great-secret-of-life.blogspot.com
Pattu Raj says
As usual, a very tasty recipe explained in easy steps.
Thanks.
Faseela Noushad says
yummy n tempting//.....
Sharmi says
very nice recipe, can you also tell me the wheat flour method(ur mother's)!!
RAKS KITCHEN says
Sharmi its already there. Hover over the words in the post and click on it. Anyways here it is http://www.rakskitchen.net/2008/10/wheat-flour-appam.html
Meenal Ramanathan says
soft nei appams.
without cooking soda will it be soft ?
Aruna Manikandan says
wow...
looks yummy and very tempting raji 🙂
jeyashrisuresh says
My mom makes a similar one but she deep fries that mostly which i can eat almost 5-6 at a time. I never tried this as i thought it has to be deep fried. Now i can make this guilt free one in paiyaram pan too. Nicely captured
Nagalakshmi V says
it's come out great raks. even i have beautiful memories around karthikai 🙂
RAKS KITCHEN says
Meenal, yes it will come out soft, but u have to add a mashed banana to the batter...
Sangeetha Priya says
This comment has been removed by the author.
Happy Cook / Finla says
Mom used to make these too and we always loved it. These look so good.
Pavithra Elangovan says
We make similar ones sometimes with poha too 🙂 whatever it is this is absolutely tasty and yummy 🙂
Prathima Rao says
I have actually never tasted sweet appam..Looks so good that I want them this instant!!
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner
divya says
tempting and inviting dear
Priya says
Been ages i had these nei appams, tempting.
Unknown says
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown says
Beautiful!
Unknown says
One point...You know what is special about your blog?? Even the step wise pictures are very neat and clean, almost inspiring me to do the same in my kitchen.. 🙂 I have actually seen old dented vessels, dirty stove tops, unclean fingernails, and spilled ingredients on other blogs !! :O
I have been cooking for almost a decade now, and already know most of your recipes.. but still i visit your blog everyday just to enjoy the neatness and final presentation!! 🙂
I click my food pics and send them to my friends/family alone, no patience to maintain a blog, but I wouldn't dare to click my stove or my kitchen counter !!
Love your blog! 🙂
raaji says
tempting of course
Janani says
Raks these are my favorite too but I always love to add bananas to them.They taste so yum.Lovely picture so bright and fresh.
Usha Shivshankar says
Raji,ur nei appam looks perfect.
I make this way . I am sharing my experience.
1 cup raw rice-soaked for 3-4 hrs,1 cup powdered jaggery,1 banana,3 pods cardamom, 1/4 cup grated coconut.
Grind soaked rice well add cocnut,cardamon,jaggery and banana.Grind smooth. Make appams as usual. i do not add soda.
Poornima Nair says
Raks, The appams look so good, lovely color! This is exactly how mom makes it.
Kavi Foodomania says
Love the pics!! the nei appam looks amazing!
Priya R says
My husband saw this and said he wants some 🙂 they look super cute
Aruna says
Looking really nice...im going to try it our today
Rita Bose says
I have heard a lot about appam. Loved the step-by step presentation. Will definitely try this at home!
Sharmilee! :) says
Perfect nei appams.....looks very tempting!
Aruna says
I tried this with banana and it comes out to be really nice...
Sandhya says
i tried this at home. it was too dry. i dunno wr i missed it. but i dint want to waste the batter. so i baked them in muffin tray greased with ghee. it tasted even better.
Raks anand says
Add more cooking soda and coconut, some time the variety of rice that matters. If still happens and run to trouble, you can trouble shoot by adding mashed ripe banana which makes it pillow soft...
Sandhya says
thats a good tip. Wil make a note .
kalyani says
raji, i have prepared the batter but today morning, but kept it in the fridge, bcoz i need to come to work, is that ok?
Raks anand says
Yes keep it outside for sometime before making. If possible for an hour or half hour.
kalyani says
oh cool 🙂
Swetha Srini says
can we add banana's to the batter ??? and thanks for the great recipe ....
Raks anand says
yes, i have already mentioned this in the post under notes section...
akshaya says
can i add instant rice flour instead of raw rice mixture into the jaggery mixture? pls reply asap as i need to make this eve.
Raks anand says
Yeah try and see. Add 1/2 banana and a tsp of maida for soft texture. Give some standing time.
Prabha Sivaram says
Followed your recipe only doubled the quantity. Came out perfect thanks.
Unknown says
No fermentation required/ will it be soft?
Raks anand says
If you want you can ferment for 2 or 3 hrs. Otherwise taste will vary. If you want softness, you can add mashed banana.
Shanthakumar says
While making this, one side of the paniyaram was not cooked well. even keeping it in a low flame for 2 minutes didnt help.. Any idea why?
Raks anand says
Do you mean it is not briwned the otherside or the batter remained raw?
Shanthakumar says
it didnt get browned.. Also the batter kinda remained raw... not full raw.. but it was half cooked.
Raks anand says
Little more cooking soda will help.
Kavitha Krishnan says
Hi,
What rice can we use? I have basmathi rice with me. will that work?
Raks anand says
Sona masoori works, basmati also you can try.
SUMATHY SUBRAMANIAN says
My nei appam just stuck to the pan. What could have been the problem? I made it very low heat, and it didnt make at all & kept sticking to the pan. Why?
Raks Anand says
Is it problem with the pan? First batch please add more oil or ghee. Make sure to pour only when the pan is hot not heat the pan along the batter