Kinnathappam (Traditional Malabar Steamed Bread)

Kinnathappam is a traditional Malabar recipe that dates back centuries. Malabarians now in their 50's get nostalgic when talking about this dish - they go back to their fond childhood memories of kinnathappam being served as breakfast by their Moms with lots of flavor and love. This dish is rarely served as a breakfast now-a-days, but it's so important not to forget our roots.

Try it out... Enjoi...

Serves: 4
Spice level: --

Preparation time: 25 Min.
Cook time (incl. Prep. time): 1 Hr.

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 1 Cup (cleaned and soaked in water for about 4-5 Hrs.)
2. Egg - 1
3. Shredded Coconut - ½ cup
4. Jaggery - 5 Pieces (about 5oz.)
5. Cardamom - 3 (powdered)
6. Cumin Seeds - ¼ Tsp.
7. Salt - 1 Pinch
8. Ghee - 4 Tsp. + 2 Tsp. for frying
9. Cashew nut - 10 (slivered)
10. Raisins - 8

Preparation:

1. Add jaggery to a sauce pan with boiling water and let it dissolve completely. Get the jaggery syrup off the stove, strain it using a fine mesh strainer (to remove all residues) and set aside for about 10 min to cool.
2. To a grinder/mixer, add rice along with jaggery syrup and grind it to a fine paste. This might take a while, but make sure there are no solid rice particles once it’s ground.Batter should be not too thick and not too thin.If you feel batter is watery add a few spoons of all purpose flour in to it.
3. Add egg, coconut, cumin seeds and salt into the grinder/mixer and mix well. Set aside the batter.
4. Fry the cashew nuts until golden brown in a small pan with 1 tsp. of ghee. Add raisins to the pan and fry it as well.
5. Add the fried cashews and raisins along with the ghee used to fry it to the batter and mix well.
6. Boil water in a steamer. A pressure cooker could also be used for the same, but without the weights.
7. Grease the steamer plate/vessel with 4 tsp. of ghee and pour in the batter.
8. Cover the vessel with aluminum foil and place it in the steamer.
9. Steam it for 25-30 mins. or until the top is firm.
10. Get it off the steamer and flip it to a serving plate. Serve it warm after cutting it to square/diamond slices.