Neyyappam/ Deep Fried Rice Pancake Fritters

Neyyappam is a traditional Kerala snack which is golden brown deep fried delicacy made with rice and jaggery as the main ingredients. These are sweet rice pancake fritters made in pure ghee.

Lot of memories are associated with this snack. When we were in Kerala during vacations,my grandmother used to make lots of snacks like unniappam, neyyappam, cut cake, bonda and so on. Each one of them were filled with a burst of flavors and also with lot of love, but among all, I love these golden fried neyyappam.

There are different variations in making these neyyappam, I love this version. These can be stored in airtight containers for about a week. These neyyappam consists of four stages, soaking , grinding, fermenting and frying. If the batter is watery then it will drink too much of oil so adjust accordingly.

Ingredients:

1. Rice- 2 Cups
2. Melted Jaggery- 1 ½ Cups
3. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
4. Water- as required
5. Ghee- 2 tbsp+ 1 tbsp
6. Maida- 2 tbsp
7. Coconut Pieces- a handful
8. Sesame Seeds- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat a small pan with 1 tbsp of ghee and fry the coconut pieces to golden brown in colour. Keep this aside.
2. Wash and soak the rice for about 2 hours and grind it to a thick paste using little water.
3. Transfer this to a bowl. Add the melted jaggery  (add this according to your taste), cumin seeds, roasted sesame seeds, maida, 2 tbsp ghee and fried coconut pieces. Mix with water to form a dosa batter.
4. Set this aside for 4- 5 hours or overnight to ferment. When it gets fermented, heat oil in a thick bottomed pan and pour a spoonful of batter into the hot oil.
5. Fry both the sides to golden brown colour. Repeat the process till all the batter gets finished.Enjoy hot golden fried neyyappam.

Homemade Schezwan Sauce

Schezwan sauce is a spicy, red, tasty and light tangy flavored, which can be used in almost all the dishes that we love to have a twist in taste. This sauce has become a part of our daily menu. I like to call this a magical sauce, as this can be used while making dosa, noodles, as a spread on sandwich and so in. In near future you can see many dishes with this magical sauce in my blog.

We can make this sauce and refrigerate for many days. If we prepare this sauce using Kashmiri chillies, we will get the perfect red color and it won't be spicy. Kids will love this. In the last add little bit of sugar to cut the pungent flavor of chillies. Just try this out and you will love it…

Ingredients:

1. Kashmiri Red Chillies- 10- 15 nos
2. Chopped Garlic- 3 tbsp
3. Chopped Ginger- 1 tbsp
4. Pepper Powder- 1 tsp
5. Soy sauce- ½ tbsp
6. Vinegar- 1 tbsp
7. Salt- as required
8. Water- ¼ cup
9. Sugar- ½ tbsp
10. Oil- 2 tbsps

Method:

1. Soak the red chillies in water for about an hour and grind this to a nice paste.
2. Heat a wok, add oil. When it is hot add the chopped ginger and garlic.
3. Sauté for about a minute, now add the ground chilli paste. Sauté well.
4. In this add the  pepper powder, soy sauce and salt. Add vinegar and required amount of water. At this point add sugar, mix and switch off the flame.