Paniyaram is addictive breakfast dish from Southern India. Its has got various names and cooked in wide varieties, such as - Kuzhi Paniyaram, which is prepared in both salt and sweet version and the sweet Paniyarams are cooked by adding jaggery, coconut and flavored with cardamom in Tamilnadu, India, and in Gods own country Kerala it is Unniyapam, belended with mashed bananas and grated coconut for the people with sweet-tooth. This dainty delicacy is known as Gunta Pongadaalu / Gunta Ponganalu / Gunta Punugulu in Andhra Pradesh and Appe / Guliappa / Gulittu / Paddu in Karnataka, India. The spicy Paniyaram can also have sautéed onions and green chilies mixed with the batter for that extra yummy taste.
This dish has got its own niche cooking style and no wonder that this is made in unusual looking pan with thick base and number of deep-depressions (holes) on the top. The traditional Paniyaram pan comes with 7 holes and made of cast iron. Nowadays, you can also find Non-stick Paniyaram pan in various smaller to larger sizes.
Primarily this is a rice dish; first the rice along with lentils are soaked together overnight and then grinded to form a fine batter and left it for sometime to ferment. After that, the batter can be kept in refrigerator and used occasionally. As we know, Paniyaram comes in three different variety - Spicy , Sweet and Salted-Plain. For spicy version, tempering is done with mustard seeds, green chilies, curry leaves and onions. For sweeter version, jaggery, coconut (optional) and powdered cardamom is added to the taste. Some people also love to cook these Paniyarams with Dosa batter as an alternate. The authentic platter of Spicy and Salted-Plain Paniyaram is served with Coconut chutney for that perfect taste. And now the Traditional secret - as they say more (batter) fermentation gets the richness in taste.
So this weekend; add Paniyaram in your breakfast or evening snacks and relish a good bite of this exceptional traditional dish at its best!
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| Gunta Ponganalu Cooking in the Pan |
Ingredients:
1. Parboiled Rice / Idly rice - 1 cup
2. Raw rice - 1 cup
3. Black gram / Urad Dal - 1/4th cup
4. Bengal gram / Channa Dal - 1 tbsp.
5. Fenugreek seeds / Methidana - 1 tsp.
6. Baking soda - 1/4th tsp.
7. Salt as per taste
For tempering:
1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
2. Green chilies - 7 no.
3. Onions - 2 no.
4. Curry leaves - 1 spring
5. Oil - 1 tsp.
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| Appe |
Method:
1. Clean and soak rice, fenugreek seeds, bengal gram, black gram in one container for about 7 to 8 hours.
2. Grind the above contents to a fine thick paste and again keep them for fermentation overnight.
3. When the batter is ready to make the Paniyaram, add salt and baking soda and mix them thoroughly until the batter gets smooth and airy. Keep the batter medium thick and not too thin.
4. Chop green chilies and onions finely for tempering. Heat oil in the pan for tempering and add mustard seeds. Once this splutters, add green chilies, onions and curry leaves and saute this for 2 minutes. Add these tempering to the batter and mix well. Now the batter is ready to make the Paniyarams.
5. Heat the Paniyaram pan, and sprinkle oil into each depression (hole). Now pour the batter 3/4th size into each depression and allow it to cook in medium flame. Now with a stick carefully turn the Paniyarams to the other side and cook them on both sides evenly.
6. Hot Paniyarams ready to be served with accompaniment of your choice.
Note:
1. Let the batter cook in the Pan in slow to medium flame as in higher flame the batters gets the color but inside it may be uncooked.
2. Make sure the batter is medium thick as too think the batter, the Paniyarams will turn hollow.
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