Kara Paniyaram

Kara paniyaram - Spicy puff pancake.

This is a popular tiffin / snack / breakfast in chettinadu region of Tamilnadu. The batter is similar to idly batter with slight variation in proportion. The urad dhal should be much lesser for the paniyaram, so that the paniyaram comes off the hole easily.

Ingredients:

Idly rice (parboiled rice / puzhungal arisi) - 1 cup
black gram lentil (ulunthu paruppu) - 2 tbsp
channa dhal (kadala paruppu) - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste ( 1tsp)
baking soda - 1/8 tsp
ghee /butter/  sesame oil - as per need

To temper:

mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
urad dhal - 1 tsp
sesame oil - 1 tsp
onion - 1/4 (small)
green chilly - 2
cilantro - few leaves.
asafoetida (hing) - a pinch

Method:

Rinse and soak the rice, urad dhal and channa dhal together for 6 hours.
Grind it to a fine to medium coarse batter with very little water.
The batter should be thick like a pancake batter / idly batter.
Mix salt and keep it to ferment overnight (cold weather) or 6 hours (in hotter weather).
The batter will ferment well only if the room temperature is above 85 deg F. Otherwise maintain the temperature using an oven.

10 minutes before starting to prepare the paniyaram, add the baking soda and mix well.
In the mean time prepare the tempering.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a small wok and add mustard seeds. Once they start splutter, add the urad dhal, asafoetida and finely chopped onion, cilantro, curry leaf, chilly and let it get slightly tender. Add it to the batter and mix well.

Now heat a paniyaram pan and brush some oil in all the holes. Then add 1 tsp sesame oil / butter in each hole. Reduce the flame to minimum and pour the batter to halfway in each hole. Click to see the picture. Cook covered or in open. (I prefer putting a lid to ensure uniform cooking). We can see the paniyaram getting cooked. Flip using a skewer or fork. Take out once done.

Serving suggestion:
Makes almost 21 paniyaram .
Serve with coconut chutney.

Note:

Do everything in low heat. It may take a little while but that is the only way to get whole fluffy paniyaram.
Non stick pans work the best. But I have used a pan similar to traditional thick paniyaram pan.
For the first round it may require more oil to fry, but it will take very lesser in the following.

Mixed vegetable pakoda

Pakoda / pakora / fritters. A pakoda is a deep fried spicy snack.

In Tamilnadu it is common to see the vendors making these crispy pakoras in front of their stalls to attract the crowd in the evening / night. They prepare the pakora's base batter in a big lot and would make various pakoras by dipping and frying the relevant items as per order. There are many variations in making pakora and the dominant ingredient gets the title (mint pakora, tea stall pakora, cashew pakora, onion pakoda etc.,).
Here is a different pakora with mixed vegetables. We can use almost any vegetable here and I am sure deep frying makes it delicious:) If preparing the pakora as tea time snack, I suggest making a little extra, as it makes a wonderful meal with rasam rice for dinner:)

Mixed vegetables I had.

Crispy mixed vegetable pakoda.

Important Ingredients:

Besan flour - 3/4 cup
(Bengal gram flour / kadalai mavu)
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Red onion - 1 (big)
green chilli - 5
ginger - 2 inch
hing - 1/8 tsp
salt - to taste
curry leaves- 1 brig
cilantro - 1/4 bunch
mint leaf - a handful
cilantro - a handful
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
oil - to deep fry (250 ml)

Vegetables :

cabbage - 100 gm
carrot - 1
broccoli / cauliflower - 1 cup
potato - 1
French beans - 10
(Vegetables with more water content are not suitable for this recipe).

Method:

Cut the vegetables into thin slices of 2 inch length.
Chop the onion into thin slices.
Finely chop the green chilli, ginger, cilantro and mint leaves.
Mix the chopped veggies with the besan flour and rice flour.Add chilli powder, salt and garam masala powder.
Try to knead the flour without adding water.
Heat 2 tbsp oil and add it to the mixture. This makes the pakoda more crispy. Instead of oil we can add a few drops of water also.
The dough consistency should not be like chapathi dough. It should be like a mixture of moistened flour with veggies.
Heat oil in a kadai. Drop small pieces of mixture in to the hot oil. Reduce heat to medium so that the vegetable gets cooked evenly. Flip and fry to get crispy fritters.
Take them out and place over paper towels to remove excess oil.
Crispy mixed vegetable pakoda is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot as an evening snack or as side dish with any variety-rice.
Goes fine with curd rice , rasam or sambar rice

Poom paruppu Sundal

Sundal (Tamil) is a kind of spicy snack made of lentils. It is often considered a very healthy snack to have with evening tea or munch throughout the day. Also it is served during important Hindu functions as offering to God (Prasadam).

Poom paruppu is a regional name given for the most renowned kadalai paruppu sundal. The meaning is poo - flower ; paruppu - lentil. More specifically, 'A sundal made with the lentils cooked till they bloom like a tender flower'. Isn't it attractive?

So, enjoy the summer evenings with this beautiful sundal along with a cup of tea:)

Ingredients:

Bengal gram (channa dhal / kadalai paruppu) - 1 cup
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tsp
dry red chillies - 2
curry leaf - few
salt - to taste (little only)
shredded coconut - 1/4 cup

Method:

Wash and clean the dhal twice.
Soak the dhal for 30 minutes and cook it over stove till it becomes tender (not mushy).
If we don't have time to soak, then we can pressure cook it to 2 whistles with water just to immerse the dhal (not more than that).

Remove the excess water. Mix some salt to taste. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter.
Then add the dry red chillies (broken), curry leaves and stir for a few seconds till the chilly swells.

Immediately add the cooked dhal, shredded coconut and stir well.

Put off fire.
Poom paruppu sundal is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serves three.
Serve as snack with tea or coffee in the evening.
Sometimes I make it as side dish for puli saatham / lemon rice etc.

Thukkada

I am sure this is the simplest of all the snacks ,no need to to spend a lot of time or looking for rare ingredients. Still the flavor and crispy Thukkada will attract every one in the house.
It just took 20 minutes to make the entire dish .

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
rice flour - 1 tbsp
baking soda - 1/4 tsp
garam masala - 1 tsp
curry leaves - 1 brig (torn into pieces)
salt - 3/4 tsp (check)
chilli powder - 1 tsp
water - a little
corn oil - to deep fry (250 ml )

Method:
Mix all the above except oil and water.
Then add water little by little to make a firm chapathi dough.
Divide the dough into equal lemon size balls.
Make thin chapathis one by one and cut diamond shapes out of them.
Heat oil in a pan .
Immediately deep fry them in oil to golden color and strain them out.
Then roll out another chapathi, cut diamonds and repeat the process .
Let them cool and store in air tight box for longevity.
Serve as snacks with tea in the evenings.