Sweet Appam Recipe (Banana Appam)

Sweet Appam are South Indian sweet dumplings made with wheat flour, jaggery, banana and cardamom powder. These sweet dumplings are known as nei appam, banana appam or appalu and are a festive treat. While the traditional version uses rice which is soaked and ground, my recipe uses wheat flour for ease of making.

Also this recipe does not require resting the batter and can be made instantly. They make for an amazing festive dessert and are a kids’ favorite. These sweet appam are great for entertaining your guests, family or kids. Serve a batch of these with some savory snacks like Chivda, Makhana, Churumuri or Bhel puri.

About Nei Appam

Nei appam is a popular sweet snack made during the Tamil festivals like Karthigai deepam and Gokulashtami. These are also known as unniyappam and made in numerous ways. The same is also made in Andhra Pradesh and go by the name appalu. But these are made during Navaratri or varalakshmi to offer Goddess Durga and Lakshmi.

I have seen our families making these with fine semolina which is cooked to a halwa consistency and fried in ghee. They taste fantastic and divine. The banana appam shared in this post are our favorite for an anytime snack. Sometimes when I have excess bananas, I freeze them and use to make these later.

You also make a large batch of these and store in the refrigerator for 2 days. Reheat in the air fryer or oven and they are perfectly hot to be eaten. Though traditionally sweet appam are deep fried in ghee, this version uses the paniyaram pan to fry them in little ghee.

Paniyaram pan is also known as a Aebleskiver pan (outside India) and is easily available online or in the Indian stores. You can find non-stick and cast iron pans like the one I am using below. However if you do not have one or don’t want to buy, simple make small pan cakes in an omelette pan (egg pan). It is essential to fry them on a really low heat until crisp.

Here are a few similar recipes
Semolina Appe Recipe
Kuzhi Paniyaram
Sweet Paniyaram with leftover batter

Photo Guide

How to make Sweet Appam (Stepwise photos)

1. Heat half cup water in a pan. Switch off and add grated jaggery or karupatti. I used raw jaggery.

2. Stir and dissolve it completely.

3. This is the ripe banana I used. It weighed about 110 grams (with skin on) and was 6 inches long. We are adding banana only to enhance the sweet flavor. Using too much banana may make them very dense, so giving you more details about size and weight. You can reduce the quantity of banana.

4. Mash the banana very well.

5. Filter the jaggery syrup.

6. Add coconut and cardamom powder.

7. Add rice flour, wheat flour and pinch of baking soda (optional). Mix very well and make a thick batter using more water as needed.

8. Make sure the batter is of thick but pouring consistency and is lump free. Whisk very well for a minute.

9. Grease your paniyaram pan very well. Add ghee as desired and heat it.

10. Fill the moulds upto 3/4 level with batter.

11. Cover and cook for few minutes. Check if the base if firm and is cooked to golden. Then flip them with a skewer, chop stick or wooden spoon and cook until completely cooked or the edges turn brown.

12. You can flip them again to make them slightly crisp.

Serve sweet appam hot or cold as desired.

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