Small, round, crisp-edged rice and banana dumplings sweetened with jaggery and cooked in coconut oil in a paniyaram pan.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup raw rice, soaked 4 hours (or 1 cup fine rice flour)
- 2 ripe small bananas (palayamkodan or elaichi)
- ¾ cup jaggery cubes
- ½ cup water
- 2 tbsp semolina (rava)
- 2 tbsp thin coconut slices (thenga kothu)
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp black sesame seeds
- a pinch pink salt
- a pinch baking soda
- as needed cold-pressed coconut oil
Method
- Melt the jaggery cubes in ½ cup water over low heat, strain and cool.
- Grind the drained rice with the bananas and jaggery syrup to a thick, slightly coarse batter.
- Stir in the semolina, cardamom, pink salt and sesame seeds. Rest the batter for 1 hour.
- Fry the coconut slices in 1 tsp coconut oil until golden and fold them into the batter along with the baking soda.
- Heat the unniyappam (paniyaram) pan and pour about 1 tsp coconut oil into each cavity.
- Fill each cavity three-quarters full. Cook on medium-low heat until the base is deep brown, then flip with a skewer and cook the other side.
- Lift out, drain briefly and serve warm or at room temperature.
Yogsutra tip: Use bananas that are fully ripe with a few black spots; they give the batter its sweetness and soft centre. Go generous with coconut oil in the pan for those signature crisp edges.
