Peru / Guava Appo.

Peru / Guava Appo for today's Ashadi Sankashta Chaturthi Naivedyam ...........

Wash one cup of thin pova / poha / beaten rice under running water in a colander and keep aside. The pova will get soaked and softened by itself. Do not soak as it will turn very soggy.

Micro wave 200 gms of jaggery for 4 minutes in micro wave. It turns out soft and easy to mix. 

 If not using micro wave just finely grate the jaggery and keep ready.

Wash and wipe one large sized or two medium guava / peru. Cut of the edges and cut the guava into medium sized cubes. Put the cut guava pieces in a blender add one cup of water and run the mixer for few minutes. Remove and strain the guava paste. Guava contains thick seeds which usually does not get ground. Discard it when strained.

Put back the strained guava into the mixer. Add the soaked pova / poha / beaten rice and grind to a fine paste. Add a bit of water if necessary only. Remove in a large steel bowl. Add ½ tsp of cooking soda (Optional, you can leave this out too), ¼ tsp of cardamom powder to the guava mixture. Add in the melted / grated jaggery and mix well till all is combined into a fine texture. 

Now add 2 large tablespoon of wheat flour (Atta) and 2-3 cups of bombay rava (not the very thin variety) and mix well. The mixture should be thicker than Idly batter consistency. Mix well everything and keep aside for 20-30 minutes. The rava will absorb the water and may turn out thicker. In which case, if too thick add some water and if too thin add in some rava.

Heat the appo pan with ½ tsp of ghee (you may use oil, I have used ghee) in each of the dents. When hot pour a large tablespoon of the batter into the moulds. Cover with domed lid and cook on medium heat till evenly browned on the bottom side. 

Gently run a blunt knife on each of the mould / dent edges to loosen the appo. Gently flip over and cook on the other side too. Remove and repeat the procedure with the remaining batter. Serve as it is or with a dollop of melted ghee if desired.