Dishes · Malabar food glossary
Unnakaya
Also known as: Unnakai, Kaayada, Kayada
A Malabar sweet: ripe plantain mashed and shaped into a spindle, stuffed with a sweet coconut-and-nut filling, and deep-fried in coconut oil.
Unnakaya is a sweet snack of the Mappila kitchen. Ripe Nendran plantains are steamed and mashed into a smooth dough, which is flattened, filled with a sweet mixture of grated coconut, sugar or jaggery, cashews, raisins and cardamom — and in some households sweetened egg — then sealed and shaped into a spindle and deep-fried in coconut oil.
The result is a crisp, golden exterior with a warm, sweet, coconut-rich centre. It is most associated with Ramadan iftar and with weddings, where it appears alongside other Malabar sweets.
The name is sometimes transliterated as Unnakai or Kaayada depending on the region.