• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Recipe Index
  • Food Photography
  • Subscribe

MySpicyKitchen

menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipe Index
  • Food Photography
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • Γ—
    Home Β» By Ingredient Β» Flour Β» Rice Flour

    Published: Mar 15, 2012 Β· Modified: Dec 28, 2019 by Usha Rao

    Indian Cooking Challenge: Sarvapindi ~ Ginnappa

    Sarvapindi or Ginne appa is a rice flour pancake popular in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. I never heard or saw my cousins or aunts from Andhra region talk or prepare this pancake. So I am assuming this is from Telangana region of the state. It gets the name Sarvapindi or ginne appa based on the method of preparation. Sarva is a kind of a pot and pindi is flour. Sarvapindi is a snack prepared with flour dough made in a sarva. Ginne is a vessel or a bowl and appa is a snack. Plenty of herbs, sesame seeds and peanuts are added to rice flour to make the dough and then the dough is pressed into a wide pan to make the pan cake. It is then cooked on low flame to cook the rice cake. Sarvapindi is similar to thalipeeth, a snack from Maharashtra but it is prepared with a fixture of flours. When saw Nupur’s post I thought, oh this is how it is made in my neighboring state! Sarvapindi is also similar to akki roti, a specialty from Karnataka but the difference here is the preparation. From the recipes I have seen for akki roti, the rice flour is added to hot water to make the dough unlike for sarvapindi, where room temperature water is used.

    Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge

    Do you see the shape of a bowl/vessel/pot in the appa~pancake?

    Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge

    When Srivalli asked me to suggest a recipe for ICC, sarvapindi & sakinalu came to my mind. I never made these two items at home. We have already covered most of the traditional recipes in ICC and of these two recipes; sarvapindi is the easier one to prepare. I called up my cousin to get the recipe for sarvapindi as that is the easier of the two items that I had on mind. She gave me approximate measures so I called my mom and then my aunt. All three of them did not have exact measures and they said they just go by hand. Moreover, this recipe is so flexible that you can add anything you like as long as you season it well and cook it on low flame. Since I did not have any measurements to give to give Valli, I made the recipe at home 3 weeks ago before sharing it with her. I thought of making it again to take good pictures but never got to make it until today. I probably would have skipped this ICC too but since I suggested the recipe, I thought I should at least post the recipe. When I made it today, I pretty much followed the same recipe I gave Valli but I made two pancakes or appas instead of three. Also, I did not have curry leaves and instead substituted it with more scallions & cilantro.

    Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge

    Total Time: 40 - 60 minutes
    Preparation: 20 minutes
    Cooking Time: 20 - 40 minutes (about 20 minutes per appa or pancake)
    Yields: 2-3 depending on the size

    Ingredients:

    • ΒΌ cup Sesame Seeds washed
    • 2 tbsp. or little less than ΒΌ cup Roasted Peanuts soaked (5-10 minutes, until you finish the prep work)
    • 1 cup or 165 – 170 grams Rice Flour
    • 5 – 6 Green Chilies or ΒΎ tbsp. Green Chili Paste coarsely ground
    • 1 tsp. Jeera
    • 1 Garlic Clove (medium size.)
    • Β½ cup Onion finely chopped
    • 1 large or 2 small Green Onion chopped (approx. 2 tbsp. (heaps) or ΒΌ cup loosely packed)
    • Β½ cup (approx...) tightly packed chopped cilantro
    • 5-6 Curry Leaves chopped or 1 tbsp. chopped curry leaves (I did not have any curry leaves today so added 1 more green onion & more cilantro)
    • 1 - 1 ΒΌ tsp. Salt
    • β…“ Water (You may need little less than that)
    • 2 – 3 tbsp. / 6 – 9 tsp. Oil (2-3 tsp. per cake if you make 3 pancakes or 3- 4 Β½ tsp. if making 2 pancakes)

    Preparation:

    • Wash sesame seeds in warm water.
    • Soak the roasted & split peanuts in water.
    • Coarsely grind green chilies.
    • Grind ΒΎ of the chopped onion, garlic, jeera and salt to fine paste.
    • Chop the herbs.
    • In a bowl take rice flour, add chili & onion pastes. Mix until the pastes are nicely blended into the flour.
      Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge
    • Add remaining chopped onions, herbs, sesame seeds, peanuts and mix well. Taste the flour and adjust the seasoning. You can add little chili powder if it is a not spicy enough.
      Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge

      Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge
    • Gradually add water to make soft dough. The dough should be like chapati dough.
    • Divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal parts and make round balls. Today I made 2 balls.
      Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge
    • Rub a 10” frying pan with 1 Β½ - 2 tsp. oil. (I meant to add 2 Β½ - 3 tsp. but I forgot and added only 1 Β½ tsp. oil). Today I was not in a mood to spend too much time in the kitchen and used two pans to make the appa. I used one non-stick & one hard anodized pan.
    • Take one of the dough balls and press it into a flat cake in the pan. Use your fingers to press the cake. Wet your hands if needed. Thinner the cake, crunchier it will be. Using your index finger, make holes to the cake.
    • Sprinkle or lightly brush 1 tsp. oil on the pancake. Or you can pour little oil in the holes.
      Sarvapindi, ginnappa, indian cooking challenge
    • Put the pan on a medium heat, cover and cook it for 5 minutes.
    • Remove the cover, reduce the flame to medium low- low heat and cook for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cake is light golden brown in color. Move the pan around every 2-3 minutes for even cooking (What I mean by this is, we normally place the pan on the stove such that the center of the pan is directly on the fire. Every 2-3 minutes, move the pan towards the center of the fire. Move the pan around 3-4 times so that all corners of the pan are directly under the pan at some point during the cooking process. This is done to make sure the pancake is evenly cooked.)
      Sarvapindi, ginnappa, indian cooking challenge
      Moving the pan aside to evenly cook the appa
    • Flip the cake over and cook for another 2 Β½ minutes. My hard anodized pan is not very wide and the shape of my cake was like a bottom of a pot. Even if I flipped it, it would not have cooked properly, so I continued to cook it for another 2 Β½ minutes without flipping it. Remove from the pan.
      Sarvapindi, ginnappa, indian cooking challenge
    • If you are using one pan, let the pan cool and repeat the same steps for the rest of the dough balls.
    • It is usually faster to use 2 pans to speed up the process. Sarvapindi is usually cooked in a very wide pan with very liberal amount of oil on very low heat.

    These are collage of pictures of preparation of sarvapindi. I took these when I made it the first time before sharing the recipe with Valli. You can click the image to see the large image.

    Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge

    Notes:

    • The cooking time is based on my stove. My aunt said she cooks the pindi on low heat only. She does not cook it on medium heat even for 3-5 minutes. But my mom & cousin cook it on medium heat until the pan is hot and then reduce heat to low. All three of them said they never checked the time and it usually takes 15 – 25 minutes.
    • This preparation requires lot of oil. The amount of oil mentioned is the minimum. For crunchier taste and, if one wants to indulge oneself, they can use up to 4 tsp. per pancake (if making 3 cakes) or 6 tsp. per cake is making 2 pancakes with the given measurements.
    • Some people cannot take the heat of green chilies, they can substitute it will chili powder or with Β½ green chilies and Β½ chili powder.
    • Peanuts can be substituted with chana dal and it has to be soaked for at least Β½ - 1 hour.
    • My mom & aunt do not grind the onion and instead use chopped or sliced onion. My cousin grinds the onion. I ground most of the onion and used very little chopped onion.

    Sarvapindi, Ginne appa, Indian Cooking Challenge

    Variation:

    • Peeled and grated bottle gourd can also be added to the dough. If using bottle gourd, you can use only chili powder instead of green chilies. Also, you may not require any water to make dough, as grated bottle gourd releases water.

    More Appetizers & Snacks

    • Masala muri in a cone shaped bag.
      Jhal Muri, Spicy Puffed Rice
    • Bowl of spicy sauce in the middle of the plate, surrounded by fried tofu slices.
      Korean Pan Fried Tofu with Spicy Sauce
    • Prawn pakoda on a brown paper.
      Shrimp Pakoda ~ Fried Shrimp
    • plate of akara.
      Accara Recipe ~ Black Eyed Peas Fritters

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Treat and Trick says

      April 05, 2012 at 9:06 pm

      I never tried making this but yours turned fabulous! Thanks for introducing this great pancake!

      Reply
    2. Kanchan says

      April 03, 2012 at 2:36 am

      Totally new to me, but looks totally like thalipeeth. Loved your end product,can give a try πŸ™‚

      Reply
    3. Rasya Srinath says

      April 02, 2012 at 12:41 pm

      Hi Usha..This is with regard to your question about doing something for marriage for WTML..Yes, you can send recipe of any dish down for any wedding..Though the heading says festival, i have included function as a part of the rules.. sorry for the confusion πŸ™‚ ..looking forward to ur entries!

      Ongoing Event : WTML

      Reply
    4. Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says

      March 31, 2012 at 4:10 pm

      Hi Usha, thanks for your interest in hosting my event. April/May 2012 are taken. Please chose a month of your interest from 2013. You can choose to pick a fruit or a veggie month. http://mharorajasthanrecipes.blogspot.com/p/veggiefruit-month-event.html

      Reply
    5. Srivalli says

      March 25, 2012 at 9:30 am

      Wow awesome usha, I somehow missed out that ginna and cooked in a somewhat flat pan..I didn't get that bowl shape..will make it this way next time..my folks liked this so much that nothing was left out..:)..thank you for suggesting such a wonderful dish..

      Reply
    6. Lubna Karim says

      March 22, 2012 at 1:51 pm

      That's an yum recipe.....very new to me....

      Reply
    7. Sumi says

      March 17, 2012 at 11:05 pm

      Looks perfect for the evening snack

      Reply
    8. Sirisha says

      March 16, 2012 at 6:18 am

      Usha: i think we call this tapalachekka...

      Reply
    9. sayantani says

      March 16, 2012 at 5:49 am

      that looks so pretty. beautiful post on some forgotten food like this. love the bowl shape and am sure it must have tasted awesome with hot chai.

      Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I am Usha! Welcome to my space. I am the content creator and photographer here. I love cooking and all the recipes on the site are tried and tested in my kitchen.

    More about me β†’


    Popular

    • Sq image of a platter of veg canapes.
      Bread Canapes Recipe
    • Shrimp noodle soup in a bowl
      Easy Shrimp Noodle Soup Chinese Style
    • Bowl of baked empanadas with mini bottle of tabasco sauce on the side
      Baked Chicken Empanadas
    • Omani Food, Omani Cuisine, Roasted Meat, Blogging Marathon, Around the world in 30 days with ABC cooking,
      Omani Shuwa ~ Slow Cooked Lamb

    Web Stories

    MySpicyKitchen web stories link

    Finger Food

    • Broiled shrimp.
      Party Shrimp Recipe
    • Tortilla cheese chips, Tortilla cheese crisps, Tucson Cheese Crisps, Blogging Marathon, Tortilla dish,
      Arizona Cheese Crisps
    • Plate of bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers
      3 Ingredient Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
    • A platter of Fiesta pinwheels and a bowl of salsa
      Fiesta Pinwheels, Yummy Party Food

    Curry Recipes

    • A bowl of lima beans curry.
      Lima Beans Curry, Video Recipe
    • Bowl of ulligadda ukkera.
      Onion Egg Curry ~ Ulligadda Ukkera
    • A bowl of chikkudukaya kura or Indian broad beans in a platter along with a bowl of rice.
      Chikkudukaya Kura - Indian Broad Beans Fry
    • Gutti vankaya masala is a flavorful eggplant curry stuffed with peanut sesame spice mix.
      Gutti Vankaya Masala - Stuffed Baby Eggplant Curry

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Subscribe

    Contact

    • Know Me

    Copyright Β© 2022 MySpicyKitchen