Onam Sweet · Jaggery-Banana Fritter
Unniyappam
Photo: Irvin calicut / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
It's fried a spoonful at a time in a special pan of small round molds, called an appakkara, that gives every fritter the exact same dome shape — a single-purpose pan that exists in Kerala kitchens for no dish but this one.
Ground rice batter is mixed with jaggery, mashed ripe banana, and cardamom, studded with fried coconut bits, and spooned into a heavy, dimpled cast-iron pan to fry into small, dome-shaped fritters. It's sold from sweet stalls across Kerala and made at home for Onam and other festival spreads.
Why it's made this way: The banana-and-jaggery batter and dedicated mold have kept the fritter a fixed part of Kerala's festival cooking, particularly Onam, when it's made in large batches as part of the traditional feast.
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