Kuzhi Paniyaram
Kuzhi Paniyaram is a shallow fried dumpling made from rice and urad dal batter and tempered with some onions and fresh coconut. It is a popular south Indian breakfast dish.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Idli Rice
- ½ cup Raw Rice
- 1 cup Whole Urad Dal
- 1 tsp Methi or Fenugreek Seeds
- 2 medium Onions finely chopped
- 3 tbsp Finely chopped Coconut
- 4 Green Chillies
- 2 sprigs Curry Leaves
- 2 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves
- 2 tbsp Oil and for cooking
- 1 tbsp Split Urad Dal
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash and soak idli rice, raw rice and whole urad dal in water along with methi seeds for 4 to 5 hours.
- Drain the water and grind the soak rice and dal along with 2 green chillies in mixer grinder to a smooth batter (consistency similar to that of Idli batter). Add water as required while grinding the batter. Add salt to the batter and mix well and ferment the batter overnight.
- In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add mustard seeds and split urad dal. Once the mustard seeds sputter and urad dal turns golden, add 2 finely chopped green chillies and chopped curry leaves. Add a generous pinch of asafoetida.
- Now add finely chopped onion and sauté for a minute or two till the onions just turn slightly pink.
- Now add this mix to the batter and also add finely chopped fresh coconut pieces and coriander leaves.
- Mix the batter well and add little water and salt if required. The batter however must be slightly thick as shown in the image below.
- Heat the paniyaram or appe pan and grease some oil. Pour the batter in each of the cavity and add some more oil from the sides. Cover and cook on medium flame for couple of minutes or till the sides start becoming golden brown.
- Use a metal skewer to loosen the sides of each of the paniyaram and flip them. Add some more oil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on the other side as well till they turn golden brown. Serve hot with chutney of your choice.
Notes
- Raw rice gives the crispness to the paniyaram and urad dal gives the fluffiness. This proportion works fine for the best balance of the two, however you could adjust these two ingredients to suit your taste.
- Methi seeds give the beautiful golden colour to the paniyarams, so do not skip this ingredient.
- In this recipe, I have ground half of the green chillies and used the remaining as finely chopped. If you are making this recipe for kids, you could avoid the finely chopped green chillies.
- Cook the paniyarams on medium flame, else they could be under-cooked from inside.
- If you do not eat onions, you could skip them in the recipe.
- You could also add some grated carrots to the batter to make it a veggie paniyaram.
- The finely chopped coconut pieces gives the paniyaram a nice crunch and taste.