Chettinad Kuzhi paniyaram

The mold with the wooden pointy spoon

This dish is a Chettinad specialty from Tamilnadu; another variation using the dosa batter. It is typically made in a ‘paniyaram mold’ with depressiont o pour in the batter.

My mother used to frequently make this with the left over dosa batter. In fact, we made this dish together on my parents’ last visit to CA! It is indeed a memorable experience for me.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw rice or sona masoori rice

¾ cup urad dal (white gram lentil)

¼ cup chana dal (split chick pea lentil)- soaked for 30min separately from the rice and urad dal

Coarsely ground pepper and cumin seeds 1 tsp each

Asafetida, 1 tsp

1 tbs roughly chopped cilantro and curry leaves

1 medium onion, diced

1cup grated carrot

2 garlic cloves, minced fine

1 green chili chopped fine 1 tbs fresh grated coconut Salt to taste Water, as needed Oil

Soak the rice and the urad dal for about 2 hours (up to 6 hrs). Coarsely grind them together and let it sit in a large bowl. This is quintessentially the dosa batter.

Now add the chana dal, asafetida, onion, carrot, garlic, cilantro, chili, coconut, salt and a little water (if needed) to make it a nice, pancake-like batter.

Batter poured into the molds to 2/3rds full

Now, heat the ‘paniyaram mold’ over the stove on medium heat. Pour a drop of oil into each mold or spray PAM to prevent sticking. Pour the batter into the depression until it is ⅔ full. Let it cook over medium heat for about 3-5min. Once done, flip them over and let it cook for about 2 min. The cooked side must be brown in color. In order to flip, the mold comes with a wooden pointy stick/spoon, as shown int he picture. You may also use a metal spoon to carefully flip without puncturing the paniyaram.

After flipping

Variation:

You could omit all the veggies and simply use the dosa batter with salt and pepper. The addition of soaked chana dal is my mother’s recipe. It adds protein and is crunchy to bite into.