Sweet Appam | Banana Appam

This time, I’ve got an easy-peasy South Indian style snack recipe for you, which is not just sumptuous but also quite nutritious – the Sweet Appam. Also known as the Banana Appam or Banana Paniyaram these are sweetish appams made with ripe bananas, rice flour and jaggery. Somewhat similar to the instant wheat appam, with the difference being in the type of flour used in both. One obviously is whole wheat flour and the other one is rice flour. Apart from this, the composition is more or less same. Try this one too!

About Sweet Appam

These Sweet Appam make for an amazingly delicious and healthy sweet snack. I have used overripe bananas to make it, but you can opt to choose just ripe bananas as well.

Also, I have added more number of bananas, than what is usually added in appams. You can easily make these and refrigerate them in airtight boxes, till further consumption.

One distinct feature about Banana Appam is that you need a special type of cookware called then paniyaram chatti or appe pan or Æbleskiver pan to prepare these appams.

But don’t stress, in case you don’t have it or are not being able to get it from the market or online as well. You can even shallow or deep fry these appams. The fried appams are just as good and stay well for a number of days.

To make these Banana Appam, it is best to use slightly coarse rice flour as it gives a better texture and moth feel.

But again, you can even prepare the appam with fine rice flour with a smooth texture in those. Puttu flour can also be used to make these wholesome appams.

Sweet Appam has a soft texture and are crisp, when hot. On storing, the crispiness will go away but the softness is still intact.

You must serve these hot, warm or at room temperature, or pack in your tiffin boxes as a lovely snack. You can refrigerate the remaining appams and consume within a week.

How to make Sweet Appam

Preparation

1. First, chop 100 to 105 grams jaggery. You should be able to get ½ cup chopped jaggery. You can also use jaggery powder, instead of chopped jaggery.

2. Then, add the jaggery in a bowl or pan containing 1.5 cups water.

3. Keep the bowl or pan on low to medium heat and let the solution heat through. Stir, so that the jaggery melts.

4. You only need to melt the jaggery. When the jaggery melts, then filter the syrup and keep aside.

5. Now, chop a small piece of coconut into tiny bits. You will need about ¼ cup chopped coconut. You can even use grated coconut or skip coconut altogether.

Sauté Coconut

6. Heat 2 teaspoons ghee in a pan.

7. Then, add the chopped coconut.

8. Stir often and sauté till the coconut is light golden. Set aside.

Prep Bananas

9. In a pan, peel and chop 3 small to medium bananas. About 250 grams bananas.

10. Mash the bananas very well, with a fork or masher.

11. There should be no chunks in the bananas. You can even puree the bananas in a mixie or blender.

12. Now, add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder, ½ teaspoon ginger powder and ¼ teaspoon cumin powder.

Ginger powder and cumin powder are optional and can be skipped.

13. Mix very well.

Make Batter

14. To the bowl containing the jaggery solution, add 1.5 cups rice flour.

15. Add 2 teaspoons black sesame seeds. You can also use white sesame seeds.

16. Begin to mix very well.

17. Make to a smooth batter without any lumps.

18. Add the spiced mashed bananas to the batter.

19. Add the fried coconut and mix well.

20. Add ½ teaspoon baking soda. Baking soda makes the texture more porous and soft. If you want, you can skip too.

21. Mix very well.

Make Sweet Appam

22. Heat an appe pan and add ½ to 1 teaspoon ghee in each mould. Instead of ghee, you can use coconut oil too.

23. With a spoon, pour the batter till ¾ᵗʰ or more than ¾ᵗʰ in each mould.

24. Keep the heat to low or medium and cook the Banana Appams.

25. With a wooden/bamboo stick or skewer, turn over the appams which have become golden.

26. When the rest of the appams are golden, turn them over too and cook all of them till crisp and golden.

27. Once done, remove and place them in a casserole. In the casserole, they stay warm for some time. Same way prepare the remaining appams.

The recipe makes for 42 appams. You can store them in an air-tight box or container in the refrigerator.

28. Serve Sweet Appam hot, warm or at room temperature.

Expert Tips

1. You can substitute the ghee with coconut oil or sunflower oil.
2. If you don’t have the ginger powder and cumin powder, skip them. These are optional.
3. For the coconut as well, you can use grated coconut too or even skip it. White sesame seeds can be used in place of black sesame seeds.
4. Instead of chopped jaggery, you can use jaggery powder. You can also use sugar instead of jaggery.
5. I have added baking soda in this recipe as it results in softer and more porous sweet appam. If you want, you can skip it too.
6. Once the appams are cooked, you can put them in a casserole. This way, they will stay warm for some time. This recipe yields about 42 appams. To store, you can refrigerate them in airtight boxes.

More Similar Recipes To Try!

Breakfast Recipes

Appe Recipe | Paddu (Fermented Batter Dumplings)

Snacks Recipes

Unniyappam Recipe | Unni Appam

South Indian Food Recipes

Paniyaram Recipe | Kuzhi Paniyaram (With Idli Batter)

Snacks Recipes

Sweet Paniyaram (With Jaggery)

If you’ve tried this recipe, please rate it in the recipe card or leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your feedback. For more vegetarian inspiration, sign up for my email updates or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or X.

This Sweet Appam recipe post from the archives, first published on July 2016 has been republished and updated on November 2022.