KARTHIGAI APPAM/ INSTANT APPAM

                     Appams are deep fried sweet dumplings usually made from wheat flour, white flour, banana and jaggery mixture. It is an important snack offered in various festivals like Krishna Jayanti and Karthigai Deepam.

                     India is a land of  festivals and of course, the diversity of the festivals is its beauty. Karthigai Deepam is one of the oldest Tamil festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu [has its roots in Sangam Age (200 B.C to 300 B.C), as per Wikipedia!!].
                     It is celebrated by lighting rows of agal vilakku (earthen lamps) during evening (just like north indians do on diwali). Actually the whole month is auspicious and lighting lamps is done throughout the month, but on Maha Deepam/ Karthigai Deepam day, whole house is decorated with oil lamps. Pori urundai, appam, seedai, kadala urundai, athirasam and vadai are the usual offerings given to god on this day. The festival falls on 5th december 2014 this year.
                    This is one the easiest sweet recipe that can be munched on lazy rainy evenings!! Sounds delicious right?

KARTHIGAI APPAM/ INSTANT APPAM RECIPE

Cuisine - South Indian

Category - Snack/ Sweet

Yields - about 10 to 12 nos.

INGREDIENTS

Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Plain flour/ Maida - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 2 tablespoons
Jaggery powder/ Sugar - 1/2 cup (or as needed)
Ripe Banana (optional) - 1 no
Shredded Coconut/ Coconut bits (optional) - 2 tablespoons
Cardamom powder - a generous pinch
Baking soda - a pinch (optional)
Water - as needed
Chopped Assorted nuts (optional) - 1 to 2 tablespoons
Oil - For deep frying

METHOD
1. Mash the banana well and mix it with all the ingredients except oil, with needed water.
2. The batter should be of dropping consistency.
3. Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, add a drop of the batter to it, it should come up. Now, pour a laddle full of batter to the hot oil.
4. Fry on both sides and transfer it to a plate with kitchen towel.
5. Fluffy instant appams are ready!! Dive in and enjoy.

TIPS
1. Allow the batter to rest after mixing. This would ensure even spreading of sugar. Alternatively, sugar/ jaggery can be dissolved in water before mixing.
2. The appams can be fried in paniyaram pan too, the low fat version!!