Godhumai Vazhaipazha Appam / Wheat Banana Appam

Wheat Appams, Godhumai Appams are easier to make during festival days. My mom used to make these Godhumai Appams on Saraswathi Puja day. I added a big ripe banana into the appam batter and made it. Appams tasted almost like a banana walnut muffins..

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 1.5 Cups

Rice Flour - 2 tbsp

Jaggery Syrup - 1 Cup

Elachi / Cardamom Powder - 2 tsp

Bananas - 1 big ripe banana mashed

Oil - Enough to fry the Appams

Method

1. Make a Jaggery Sryup with 1 Cup of Jaggery in a separate vessel. The Syrup should be little thick and should drop down but not too watery.
2. Meantime, in a vessel add all the ingredients for making the Appam Batter and keep it ready.
3. After the Jaggery syrup is done and cools down little bit, pour them slowly over the appam batter and mix it thoroughly without any lumps.
4. In the frying pan, add some oil and heat it. When the oil gets heated up, drop small rounds of appam batter into the oil carefully.
5. Flip them on both sides and fry them till they become golden brown in colour. Drain them all in a flat vessel with a paper tissue on it to soak the extra oil from the appams.
6. Likewise, continue the same for the rest of the batter. Mostly these appams wont drink that much oil. Arrange all the appams on a plate after they are drained completely and its ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips

Consistency of the appam batter is very important here. If the batter is little loose and thin, it drinks lot of oil. Try to make the appam batter mostly with the Jaggery Syrup itself. Still if the batter is too thick, you can add some water into it and make the batter like the Idly batter.

Variations

You can add crushed nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, pistas into the batter.

You can add few fresh coconut flakes into the batter too and try them out.

Paruppu Vadai / Ama Vadai / Pappu Vada / Dal Vada

Paruppu Vadais also called as Aama vadais are more commonly made during the festival days and its a South Indian speciality snack. As they are made out of different kinds of Dal / lentil, they are rich in protein. There are different versions of Dal Vadas and every variety depends on the kind of Dals and the proportion they use to make them. I used thuvar Dal ( Thuvaram paruppu / Kandhi pappu ), Channa Dal ( Kadalai Paruppu / Sena pappu ), Urad Dal ( Ulutham paruppu / Mina pappu ) and Moong Dal ( Pesara pappu / Payatham paruppu ) in my preparation.

Ingredients

Thuvar Dal - 1 Cup

Channa Dal - 1/2 Cup

Urad Dal - 1/2 Cup

Moong Dal - 1/4 Cup

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Curry leaves - 1 or 2 stems

Dry Red Chillies - 3 or 4.

Oil - For Frying

Salt - To Taste

Method

• Soak all the Dals in the water for an hour. Then, grind them coarsely with red chillies, hing and some salt. Add the crushed curry leaves into the vadai batter and mix it.
• Meantime, heat the oil in the frying pan. When the oil gets heated up, take a small ball of the vadai batter and make a small round and drop it slowly into the heated oil. Continue the process for the rest of the batter.
• Fry the vadas till they become golden brown and crispy. Drain all the vadas from the pan carefully and put them on a plate with a paper tissue on its top to soak the excess oil from the vadas.
• Now the parppu / Dal Vadas are ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips / Variations

You can add crushed coriander leaves, onion pieces into the batter too and fry them during non-festival days.