How to make Wandu Appa, Traditional Recipe
Wandu Appa is a traditional sweetmeat made from Rice Flour that is similar to Pusnambu. It is a great afternoon teatime snack with a Ginger tea.
While the traditional way of making Wandu Appa is to let the batter ferment overnight, if you are pressed for time, you can add 1 tsp of Yeast instead of Baking Soda and then leaving it to ferment for only 2 hours.
Although we used a Caramelized Sugar syrup for this recipe, you can alternatively use melted Jaggery, Pol Pani, or Kithul Treacle.
We are going to be steaming these Wandu Appa the traditional way in Coconut Shells. The Coconut Shells have a hole in the middle which will improve the steaming of the Wandu Appa. We will cover the inside of the Coconut Shell with a Kanda Leaf so is important to make sure that the Kanda Leaf does not have any holes. You can use small baking cups or bowls instead of Coconut Shells.
If you like these type of unique traditional Sri Lankan Foods, you might be interested in trying a traditional breakfast recipe in olden times called Pusnambu and my bakery style Ada recipe.
Ingredients
- 500g of Rice Flour
- 1 tsp of Baking Soda
- Coconut Water
- 150g of Sugar
- Coconut Water
- 1/2 cup of thickened Coconut Milk
- Salt
Instructions
- Add 500g of Rice Flour into a bowl.
- Add 1 tsp of Baking Soda.
- Add Coconut Water, a little at a time, while mixing and forming a thick batter that easily separates from the bowl.
- Cover the bowl and let it ferment overnight.
- After letting the batter ferment, stir the mixture.
- Heat 2 tbsp of the 150g of Sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Once the Sugar starts turning dark, add the remaining Sugar.
- Add 1/2 cup of Water and stir.
- Once all of the Sugar has melted and you have a thick Caramelized Sugar syrup, take it off the stove.
- Let the Caramelized Sugar syrup cool down.
- Add the Sugar syrup, just enough to form a batter.
- Add 1/2 a cup of thickened Coconut Milk.
- Add Salt to taste.
- Mix thoroughly and form the batter.
- Taste the batter and stir in more Sugar if more sweetness is needed.
- Now cover the bowl and set it aside for 30 minutes.
- We will take 3 Coconut Shells with a hole in the middle and cover the inside with a Kanda Leaf.
- Pour the Wandu Appa batter into the Coconut Shell but do not overfill it.
- Steam the Wandu Appa for about 15 minutes over medium heat.
Photos
