Therali appam/ Kumbilappam

Delicious Therali appam /Kumbilappam , cinnamon flavored steamed rice dessert sweetened with jaggery as well as coconut with touch of cardamon is made with banana leaves

This is one of the traditional sweet snacks from my home state of Kerala, India. This sweet is usually served as tea time snacks.  This is also specially made during Attukal Pongala.  You can read more about from here. Uniqueness of this recipe is it is made in cone shaped leaf warp made of Malabar leaf: Cinnamomum tamala, Vayana ila, Indian bay leaf.  After cooking, the dish gets unique smell and flavor of the bay leaf.

Here in USA, I am not able to find the fresh bay leaf or vayana, ila.  I used banana leaves for steaming the dish and used cinnamon barks in the cooking water to imparts the flavor. If you can find the fresh ones Vayana ila/ Malabar leaf, then it does wonders.

How to make Theraliappam/ Kumbilappam

You need following ingredients

Rice flour: Usually it is made with fresh ground rice flour you can use store bought one too, in that case look for puttu podi which is coarse than normal one.

Jaggery: When you are using, always try to strain for impurities before mixing it in with other ingredients.

Coconut: You need a fresh coconut. If you are using desiccated coconut, then you need more water in the recipe.

Cardamom: I used fresh ground cardamom

Banana:  is optional you can use if you want creamier Therali appam. If you are not making it for attukal pongala you can use jackfruit instead of banana.

Points to remember

1) Use slightly coarse rice flour if you need to slightly roast them. If you are making your own rice flour check here for how to make it.

2) Rice flour to Jaggery ratio is 1:1. If you do not want too much sweetness go with 1: 0.75.

3) Adding banana or jackfruit or plantains are optional you can add it if you want, it adds more flavor.

4) In the case of spices, cardamom is a must. If you want, you can add dry ginger powder also.

5) Indian bay leaf is the one that gives characteristic smell and flavor or Therali appam. If you do not have it in hand, use banana leaves like I did here. Make sure to add cinnamon bark in steaming water as well as while steaming in between. The smell of cinnamon in the dish which is its uniqueness comes from the use of cinnamon bark, and there is no addition of any cinnamon itself in the dough.

6) Always make sure to make a thick dough as you need to shape them into small rolls, if you add more water then adjust with rice flour.

This is a traditional fat free snack recipe, if you want you can add little ghee, I like without it.

Roasted rice flour

Melted jaggery

Add fresh coconut roasted rice flour

Then cardamom

Add strained jaggery

Then add mashed banana

Make dough

shape the dough into banana leaf/ vayana lia/ Indian bay leaves

Before steaming

After steaming

Other Attukal Pongala Recipes

1) Pongala payasam a delicious,traditional sweet rice pudding made with jaggery, coconut, rice and cardamom offered during Attukal temple festival .

2) Mandaputtu: Delicious Manda puttu a traditional steamed balls made as offering for Attukal pongala made with rice flour, mung beans, jaggery and cardamom.

3) Vella pongala: Delicious Vella pongala payasam a white sweet rice pudding made with raw rice, milk, rock candy, ghee and cardamom.

Print Recipe

5 from 15 votes

Therali appam/ Kumbilappam

DeliciousTherali appam /Kumbilappam , cinnamon flavored steamed rice dessert sweetenedwith jaggery as well as coconut with touch of cardamon is made without vayanaila.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: kumbil appam, Therali appam

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 392kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

• 2 cup Rice flour
• 1 ½ cup Jaggery
• 2 ¼ cup Water
• 1 cup Grated coconut half a coconut grated
• 2 teaspoon Cardamom powder
• 1 small banana
• Banana leaves ( if you have Therali leaves or fresh cinnamon /bay leaves – 20-25)
• 4-5 Cinnamon sticks for steaming

Instructions

• Wash rice and soak in water for 1 hour. Drain and dry for about 15- 30 minutes and ground it into coarse flour
• Roast the pounded rice over medium heat. Allow to cool
• Melt the jaggery with 1 cup water and heat in a heavy bottom pan and bring to a boil.
• To rice flour, add grated coconut and mix well then add cardamom,
• To this add strained jaggery water and mix well.
• Transfer to a plate and let it cool.
• Wash the banana leaves/cinnamon leaves and pat dry.
• Once the mixture cools down, mold rightly between your palm the dough.
• Place on one end of the leaf and roll into a cylinder
• Insert the stem into side of leaf or use half a toothpick.
• Do the same with the remaining dough.
• Use a steamer add cinnamon sticks in the steamer as well as in water for steaming then steam them for about 20 minutes until fully cooked.
• Serve hot and make sure not to remove the leaf while serving.

Video

Notes

If you are using vayana ila you don't need to add any cinnamon sticks, since it is not available here I added cinnamon sticks to mimics  the flavor and smell for this recipe. 

Nutrition

Calories: 392kcal | Carbohydrates: 77g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 155mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 9IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Swathi

This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread.  All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.