Unniyappam (Kerala Banana and Jaggery Fritters)

Name: Unniyappam (Kerala Banana and Jaggery Fritters)
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 200g rice flour; 150g jaggery, grated, or dark muscovado sugar; 2 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed; 120ml water, warm; 1 tsp ground cardamom; 0.25 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 0.25 tsp fine salt; 3 tbsp desiccated coconut; 1 tbsp sesame seeds; 5 tbsp coconut oil, for frying

Little golden rice flour fritters with ripe banana, jaggery and cardamom, crisp outside and soft within.

Time2 hr 30
LevelMedium
Costabout £0.47 a head

Cost is worked out from Aldi and Tesco shelf prices in October 2026. Your shop and brands will differ.

6 fritters

Ingredients

Tick what you need to buy. It goes on your shopping list.

200 grice flour
150 gjaggerygrated, or dark muscovado sugar
2very ripe bananaspeeled and mashed
120 mlwaterwarm
1 tspground cardamom
¼ tspbicarbonate of soda
¼ tspfine salt
3 tbspdesiccated coconut
1 tbspsesame seeds
5 tbspcoconut oilfor frying

Method

1
Warm the jaggery with the water in a small pan, stirring until it dissolves. Strain it through a sieve to remove any grit, then leave to cool a little.
2
Put the rice flour, cardamom, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl. Add the mashed banana and the jaggery syrup and whisk to a thick, dropping batter, like thick pancake batter.
3
Cover and leave to rest for 2 hours. It will thicken and become slightly bubbly.
120 min
4
Stir in the desiccated coconut and sesame seeds. Add a splash of water if the batter is too stiff to drop from a spoon.
5
Heat an aebleskiver or paniyaram pan over a medium heat and add about 1/2 tsp coconut oil to each hole. Fill each hole three quarters full.
6
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, turning with a skewer, until dark golden brown all over and cooked through in the centre. If you have no special pan, fry spoonfuls in a frying pan with 1 cm of hot oil instead.
3 min 30 s
7
Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm. They keep for 2 days and are lovely with chai.

Double check before you cook. Recipes can contain mistakes. Any diet labels come from the ingredients as written in this recipe and are a guide, not a guarantee. Always check every ingredient and the packet label for allergens and cross contamination, and ask your doctor or dietitian what is right for you, especially with coeliac disease, diabetes or a serious allergy. This is not medical advice.