Sweet Guli appa/ Sihi Suttavu/ Sweet paddu

This is a traditional recipe of making basic Sweet Guli appa or sihi suttavu. This was the one main dessert, which people used to make at home. There are variations possible with the addition of fruit/ vegetables like banana/ jackfruit/ cucumber. I am sharing a very basic suttavu recipe with minimum easily available ingredients at home like Rice, coconut & jaggery.

This appa is the main prasadam of Madhur temple, which is a famous temple of Ganesha & Lord Shiva in Kasaragod District. Guli Appa is offered to lord Ganesha as neivedyam. It is favourite snack of many in Dakshina Kannada, Kasaragod  & coastal region of Karnataka. Compared to other sweets, it is a healthier option as the ingredients are healthy. Majorly it is a ‘no maida, no refined sugar’ sweet. Let us see how to do this!

Preparation time: 4 hours

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 25-30 medium guli appa

Ingredients:

Dosa rice – 1.5 cup

Jaggery – 1 cup

Grated fresh Coconut – ¾ - 1 cup

Salt – ½ tsp

Ghee/ coconut oil – ¼ cup (for frying), I suggest ghee over oil

Method:

• Wash and soak rice in water for 3-4 hours.
• Grind rice, grated coconut, jaggery & salt to make smooth batter using a mixer. Do not add much water. Consistency should be of regular dosa batter or little thinner.
• *Now, transfer the batter to a thick bottomed vessel. Heat it stirring continuously.  Care should be taken to avoid sticking of the batter to the bottom of vessel & burning. Switch off the heat when it starts boiling. This step is optional, refer Note.

Making of appa/ suttavu:

• Heat the appa making pan in medium flame.
• Drop ¼- ½  tsp ghee into each appa form/ mould/ guli. Let it heat.
• When the ghee is hot & starts boiling, drop the batter into each appa mould (about ¾^th or little more). Cook covered with a lid. It will take 1-2 minutes to cook.
• Carefully lift the appa by clearing the sides with a spoon and flip (turn upside down) to cook other side. Take out all of the guli appa from the pan when both sides are cooked & turns golden brown in color. Transfer to a hotbox or a vessel.
• Finish all the batter same way.
• Serve the suttavu/ guli appa when warm. It stays good for 2 days outside the refrigerator.
• It is suggested to re-heat while serving if refrigerated.

Note: Heating of the batter before preparing appa has two benefits. This is my mother's suggestion which she follows.

1. It makes it easy to come out from the appa mould without sticking.
2. Appa/ Suttavu turns very soft, otherwise there is a chance of sides becoming hard.

Variations:

• Any one of Banana/ Jackfruit/ Cucumber can be added while preparing batter for the enhanced flavour.
• Jaggery level can be adjusted as per taste.
• If there is no appa pan, then it can be deep fried by dropping the batter (1 tbsp) directly into hot oil.  In this case, batter consistency should be thicker.