When we(my brother
and I) were kids we relished appo’s made by amma to the core. The whole house
would smell divine with the fragrance of appo, maybe it was the appo or the ghee
that would be added to it. Amma has a big appe kayli/appe pan/paniyaram pan in
which she could make around 18 appos at a time where I have a smaller one. People
make this on special occasions like sankashti, ganahoma, and ganesh chaturthi. Amma
used to make it during Ganahoma(a pooja/yajna performed for Lord Ganesha) or
any auspicious pooja as Prasad for people and sometimes just as a snack for us.
The appo’s amma made were so yummy that some used to even ask them to be made
for them to carry way back home and she happily did and enjoyed seeing others
happy. She always said the secret behind very tasty appo is right ingredients
and lots of ghee, if we get stingy with ghee then the appo gets sweet yes but
dry!
Here even though I have
used non stick appe kayli I have added enough ghee as I wanted my kids to enjoy
the real taste of appo and not tell me amma this is dry ;). This is the first
time I am making appo and I am very happy with the results and my elder
daughter even said it is similar to cupcakes.
So do try and let me
know how you liked it.
Ingredients
1 cup wheat flour
½ cup grated jaggery
¼ cup rawa [semolina]
2 tbsp grated coconut
Fistful of broken cashews
Cardamom powder [ 2 pods used here]
Pinch of soda
Water as required
Ghee to grease the pan moulds before pouring the batter in them
Method:
Take the jaggery in a pan and add just a 2-3 spoons of water to immerse the jaggery. Now heat it and melt completely then strain the jaggery solution and allow to cool completely.
Mix jaggery solution, and grated coconut. To this add wheat flour, rawa, broken cashew pieces and elaichi powder. If needed add little more water to make a batter without any lumps and of pouring consistency (just like we get done for cakes). Add soda and give a nice mix. This will help the batter to become fluffy. Keep it aside to rest for 10 mins.
Meanwhile take the appe pan with concave shaped moulds in Konkani we call it as appe kayili. You can see the pan in the below pic.
Add ¼ th tsp ghee in all the moulds and heat it
on low flame. Fill in the batter into each mould. Fill upto ¾ th of the mould.
Cover with a lid and cook on low flame till they become golden brown and when
bottom portion is done carefully flip it with a small spoon add a few drops of
ghee again and allow it to cook golden brown in the other side too. Serve it
hot, warm or room temperature.
We ate it just like that but some serve with extra ghee( as I
have added enough to make appo I do not prefer more on top) or honey.
You can serve it to god as Naivedya or make it just for breakfast or evening snack and even for kids tiffin/snack box.
Note:
You can grind the coconut and jaggery together instead of
melting the jaggery and adding coconut separately.
If you are calorie conscious you can just add few drops of
oil but once in a while this way is Perfect.
Happy cooking,
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