Nei Appam or neyyappam as its called is made during Karthigai Deepam in all South Indian households as a neivedhyam. It is usually made by soaking rice for few hours and grinding it into a batter and then sweetened by adding jaggery to it. The batter is then deep fried in ghee itself and hence it got its name, as “Nei” means “Ghee” (clarified butter). But now-a-days, no one deep fries the appams let alone entirely in ghee. All have switched to using kuzhi paniyaram pans. I had wanted to try out the instant version of this appam by using
processed rice flour as we do soak the rice and grind them. It did turn out with soft and pillowy appams and it was not hard at all as I thought.