Sweet Paniyaram: The Lovely Round Banana Discs

Craving a sweet decadent treat which serves the best taste and health too? Then this South Indian Paniyaram is for you! The sweet Indian delicacy is produced by heating the batter in a moulded appam pan. Because this is a dessert snack, unlike the traditional paniyaram ingredients, it includes banana and jaggery syrup along with other essential elements. The jaggery is first dissolved into syrup and combined with banana puree along with rice and wheat flour making up the base for the batter. Coconut and sesame seeds are added for a crisp texture. The fluffy, soft texture disturbed by the crunch of coconut is perfect. Cardamom powder is mingled together as a flavouring. Kids will surely love these dumplings, especially in their lunch boxes. The recipe is quick and delicious dumplings get ready in just 25 minutes. 

Kuzhi Paniyaram is a popular snack or breakfast, originally from Tamil Nadu. It is a savoury meal enjoyed since the beginning of the 8th century. Some of its alternative names are – paddu, yeriyappa (Kannada);  appe (Marathi); Paniyaram (Malayalam). Similar to the batter used to make idli and dosa, the batter is usually made of rice and black lentils. With the addition of chillies and jaggery, the meal can be made sweet or spicy. The dumpling-shaped balls are prepared on a special pan with numerous indentations.

• 1 cup Jaggery, crushed
• Water, as needed
• 4 tsp Ghee
• 1 cup Coconut pieces, thinly sliced
• 2 Bananas 
• ¼ cup Wheat flour
• 1 cup Rice flour 
• 1 tbsp Roasted Sesame seeds
• ¼ tsp Cooking soda
• 1 pinch Salt
• ¼ tsp Cardamom powder

Method

• In a heated saucepan, pour crushed jaggery and enough water. Let the jaggery dissolve and mingle with water to form the jaggery syrup. 
• Turn off the heat and remove. Strain the jaggery syrup to separate any solid matter. Keep aside.
• Take a separate pan and heat it. Add ghee and thin coconut pieces. Sauté them well until they turn brown and translucent.
• Now, take ripened bananas. Peel off the skin. Break into pieces and put them into a grinder. Blend well to form a fine banana puree.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the banana puree with the strained jaggery syrup. Mix thoroughly.
• Now add in the ghee-roasted coconut slices, followed by rice flour and wheat flour. Blend everything well.
• Add water, as required, to adjust consistency. Mix properly. The consistency should be thick but flowy.
• Add roasted sesame seeds, cardamom powder, salt and cooking soda to the banana appam batter.
• Grease the appam plate with ghee. Take a ladle full of Appam batter and fill the empty holes. Drizzle little ghee over top as well.
• Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes. Open the lid to switch the sides and cook again for another few minutes.
• Transfer to a plate, serve and enjoy! 

Relish these delicious Sweet Paniyaram with fruitful whipped cream and turn your monotonous morning into a special one!