Nei Appam...Yumm!!!!

 Avi loves this and I had to learn this from my MIL. We made this together for janmashtami this year ( I know I am almost a month late posting this post) and we loved it. I usually make makkhan-misri (Sugar sweetened butter) for janmashtami and this year it was great to pair nei appam with makkan-misri (MM- too looong to type every time).

My MIL has quick tips ans shortcuts to make life easier in the kitchen and yet turn the food into something salivating.  I can't wait to make this on my own again. May be next year even Amo can have some. This year all he could have is MM and didn't he love his prasad.

           Makkhan-Misri with Nei Appam                   

The caramel-golden brown hued sweet just melts in one's mouth. I should be spongy and soft to eat laden with ghee/ clarified butter. You may use 50% ghee -50% sesame oil as well. The later is a healthier option. You may increase the sponginess by adding half of a large banana. But by adding banana you also reduce the shelf life considerably.  Usually nei appam last for 2 weeks with no refrigeration, but with banana added to the recipe, they last not more than a week.

Recipe:-
1 1/4 cup of powered jaggery
2/3 cup of small pieces of coconut
1 1/4 cup of rice flour
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of ghee (or 50 % use sesame oil)
Half banana mashed up (optional)
Little tamarind needed to avoid the ghee to fuzz up initially before making appam.

Method:-
Boil the water with jaggery until it melts completely without lumps.
Strain the liquid and keep it in the flame again. Keep flame in medium high.
Add coconut pieces and keep on stirring until it becomes thick.
Add the rice flour and mix well. take it off the heat. The mixture will be lumpy.
Let it cool (until the next day). Add water little by little and make the mixture into a paste with no lumps.
Add the banana at the stage if needed ( I didnt this time)
Keep the appam chetti in flame (medium) with all the holes filled with ghee/ghee-oil mixture.
Add some tamarind in all the holes and let the ghee get hot. This somehow doesn't let the ghee fuzz up and over flow. Remove the tamarind from all holes.
Add the paste in all the holes and cook on both the sides until golden brown.

Making misri is no big deal. This is Lord krishna's all time fav prasad and a must make for us. I usually cannot finish the misri all in one go. I refrigerate the rest and use it in my cooking (like adding a spoon in pulav before serving makes the rice yummy).

Makkhan- Misri Recipe:-

Ingredients:-
1/2 cup of butter at room temperature.
2 tble spns of mixed nuts chopped up
2-3 tsp of sugar/misri to sweet the butter.
Pinch of saffron
Pinch of salt

Method:-
Mix all together and serve at room temperature.

This year I made some semiya payasam, nei appam, makkhan-misri and some namak pare to welcome kutty (baby) krishna.