Appa/Yeriyappa (Healthier version)

Yeriyappa is a must sweet at my mother's place for Navaratri festival. It is usually prepared on the Saraswathi Pooja day. Yeriyappa is called appa in Udupi/Mangalore.

We had been to our relatives place here in Singapore. We went there without informing about our visit. As soon as we reached there, she started preparing something.., within minutes we were given guliyappa/paddu/gundpongalu. When we tasted.., we were pleasantly surprised.., it was a sweet dish :))

As I generally do everywhere, I asked her about the recipe, she said.., it was made of maida & banana..,I could not get the full recipe from her, but she also told me that the yeriyappa batter can be used to make sweet paddu/gundpongalu. I tried with the yeriyappa batter & it was impressive.

Why I call this healthier version is because the appa is not deep fried in oil. It is prepared using gundponglu/paddu pan.

So, here goes the healthier version of yeriyappa,
Ingredients:
1 cup raw rice
2 ripened bananas
1/3 cup jaggery
1 tbsp dry fruits of your choice ( I used cashew nuts + raisins)
a pinch of powdered cardamom
a pinch of baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oil

Method:

• Soak the rice in water for around 3-4 hours.
• Make a fine paste of rice, bananas & jaggery (dont add much water), batter should be like normal idli batter.
• Mix the dry fruits, sugar, cardamom powder, salt & baking soda to this batter.
• Keep aside the batter for 10-15 mins.
• Heat the guliyappa pan, add 2 drops of oil to each of the holes in the pan. Pour the batter to each of the holes. Cook the appa on both sides on a slow flame, it takes a little more time than the normal guliyappa
  

Guliyappa pan can be seen in the below photo.


Here is some appa for you to taste :)