For the 3rd and last day of blogging under the theme of car snacks, I chose a traditional South Indian dish, Kuzhi Paniyaram that is often had as breakfast or evening tiffin. Our evening tiffins on most days are in the car. This is an apt dish to make for the evening run because of its simplicity to make and eat. All we need is some leftover dosai or idli batter. I have added onions and carrots to the recipe to make it a little more flavorful, colorful, and healthy. If in a hurry, all the recipe need is some tempering. Kuzhi Paniyaram is made in an appam pan. As soon as I take my pan out, the first question my oldest one asks is – Amma, are you making sweet appam. He just absolutely loves it and awaits certain festivals just to eat that. Those are times I remind myself, not to wait for the festivals to make them. Hence, time permitting; I also make a small batch of vellam appam (sweet appam) along with this. Kuzhi appam with leftover idli batter is perfect on days when I do not have enough idli / dosai batter to feed the entire family, I make the paniyaram and finish the meal off with some Thayir saadham (Curd rice). My kids love the crispy exterior and the soft interior and finish it off happily with some hot sauce or ketchup. If you don’t have idli or dosa batter in hand, you could also make instant rava kuzhi paniyaram or Wheat flour Kuzhi Paniyaram with freshly made batter.
Ingredients to make Kuzhi Paniyaram
Idli / Dosai batter – 2 cups Onion – ½ cup (finely chopped) Carrots – ¼ cup (finely grated) Oil – 2 teaspoon plus more to grease the appam pan Mustard seeds – 1 tsp Ullutham paruppu / Urad dal – 1 tsp Kadalai paruppu / Channa dal – 2 tsp Green chilies – 3 (finely chopped) Curry leaves – few Cilantro – a few (finely chopped) Asafetida – a pinch Salt – to taste
Procedure to make Kuzhi Paniyaram –
If the idli/dosai batter is in the refrigerator, take it out at least an hour before. Adjust the batter to bring it to a thick, pouring consistency.
In a small pan, heat 2 teaspoon of oil. Add the mustard seeds and once they splutter, add the urad dal, channa dal, and asafetida. Fry it for a few seconds, until the dals are golden brown.
Now add the onions, green chilies, and curry leaves and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Next, add the grated carrots and fry for 2 more minutes. You don’t want to cook them until very soft. The vegetables should still retain their crunchiness.
Add salt needed just for the seasonings. The batter already has salt in it, so be careful when adding salt.
Add this mixture to the batter and mix well. Also, add the cilantro and mix well.
Heat the appam pan on medium heat. Add 2 or 3 drops of oil in each of the holes.
Pour the batter into the appam holes until they are almost full. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Cook the appam on low to medium heat. If the heat is too high, the outside will become dark quickly and the inside would not be cooked.
Once the kuzhi paniyaram cooks on one side, use the wooden tool that came with the pan to rotate the appam and turn it over. Let it cook on the other side until golden brown.
Remove the kuzhipaniyaram from the pan and serve hot! Repeat the same with the rest of the batter.
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