Whole Wheat Sweet Appam / Puffs - Navratri Special

I made this for neivedhyam during one of the nine  Navratri days. I was quite busy during Navratri and hence a little delay in posting here. This is a deep-fried sweet similar to pancake puffs. We prepare this delectable delicacy during many festivals like Rama Navami, Avaniavattam, Ganesh Chathurthi, Sri Jayanthi, Navratri, and Karthigai Deepam. It is very simple to make yet very delicious. Since this appam is made with whole wheat and also jaggery - it is a healthier snack once in a while (or often).....once you taste it, it's so addictive that I create many occasions to make this. This is exactly how my mom makes and hence it is very special.

 Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups

Jaggery - 11/2 cups, grated or powdered

Cardamom - 2, crushed

Water - about 1 and 1/2 cups

Oil - to deep fry

Method:

In a big bowl, add the jaggery and water, mix till all the jaggery dissolves (can microwave for 1 or 2 min. to dissolve). Filter and discard the impurities. To the jaggery water, add spoon by spoon whole wheat flour and mix thoroughly without any lumps. Add the crushed or powdered cardamom and mix. The consistency of the batter should be like that of idli batter - not too thick nor too thin. The batter should be like that shown in this picture.

In a pan, heat enough oil and keep in a medium flame. Once the oil is hot enough, add approximately a tablespoon of the batter and fry. Flip and fry till both the sides are nicely golden brown in color. Scoop it out of the oil, drain the excess oil, and serve. It keeps well for 2 days (even before that it gets empty in my home). The given measurement makes about 24 appams.

Tips:

Keep the oil in medium heat only. If the oil is too hot, the appam color will become black and the insides may not be cooked.

Also, you will have to fry one by one. After you flip one appam, add another tbsp of batter for frying. If you add many spoonfuls at the same time, they cluster together.