KINNATHAPPAM- A TRADITIONAL KERALA SWEET SNACK

Kinnathappam is a traditional Kerala ‘palaharam’ .Kinnam refers to a shallow copper or steel vessel in malayalam.Kinnathappam can be called as a steam cooked rice cake . Kinnathappam are of two types, one made with jaggery and the other with sugar. Here I have made sugar kinnathappm.Dont be confused with Kinnathappam and vattayappam.Unlike kinnathappm the latter is prepared with fermented rice batter. This is a delicious sweet snack  with smooth and soft texture.

Recipe by Lakshmi Nair

 Ingredients

1.      Raw rice( pachari)-1 cup

2.      Sugar-1cup

3.      Egg-1no

4.      Thick coconut milk-1cup

5.      Thin milk-2 ½ cup

6.      Cardamom powder-1/2tsp

7.      Jeera (cumin seeds)-1/4tsp

8.      Little oil or ghee for greasing the plate

Method of preparation

1.      Soak rice for 3 or 4 hours. Grind this into smooth paste by adding required amount of thin coconut milk. When the rice is fully grinded, add egg, sugar and cardamom. Grind again till sugar dissolves completely.

2.      Add remaining thin coconut milk and thick coconut milk. Mix well .Sieve this mixture through a fine cloth .This sieved batter will look like frothy milk.(see the pics below)

3.      Grease a shallow steel plate. Pour this batter. Fill only ¾ th of the plate. Steam cook this for 45 minutes .When it is half done, open the steamer ,sprinkle few jeera seeds over the top. Keep the lid on and cook again till it is done. Even after the mentioned time, the appam may look like uncooked and sticky on touch. But it will solidify upon cooling. So try not to cut while it is hot.

 Once it has cooled, cut into desired shapes and serve.

Notes: Kinnathappam is a thin cake .So always use a shallow vessel, preferably a steel thali plate. The batter should not be thick. With the above quantity two Kinnathappams can be made.

Sieved batter