Masala Kuzhi Paniyaram - Masala Fried Idlis

I relate food with memories of my life( I am sure everyone does). The first time I had kuzhi Paniyaram was from my hubby's frineds place who hails from Kerala but was brought up in Tamil Nadu and had a major influence of Tamilian food habits. These cute little fried masala idli reminds me of the new year dawn of 2007 which we spent at their place. That was the first time I got to see as well as eat paniyarams with the tomato chutney she made. I had had left over idli's tempered in oil and seasoning (which is again a common snack for Tamilians) many time before but this was truly delicious.

I kept reminding myself of this unique dish for the past 2 years but was always hesitant of making it because it was a bit unhealthy version of our good old steamed idli because it required oil. But last week I kept away all my inhibitions and re-winded the conversation with her on how she made it and voila here it was on my breakfast table. My hubby is a person who likes variety in food and I knew he would any day appreciate new recipes no matter how much oil it requires. He jumped with joy when he saw me making Paniyarams. I made coconut chutney instead of her Tomato Chutney (soon to posted) on his request.

Ingredients:

To make idli batter:

• 1/2 cup - Urad dal
• 1 cup - Raw Rice
• 1/2 tsp - Fenugreek Seeds
• 1/4 heeped cup - Cooked boiled rice
  
• Salt to taste
• Water for grinding
  

For Tempering:

• 1 medium sized Onion, chopped
• 1-2 nos - Green Chillies, chopped
• 1/2" piece Ginger, chopped
  
• 1 sprig - Curry leaf, chopped
• 2-3 stem of Coriander leaves, chopped
• 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 1 pinch - Asafoetida
  
• 2 tsp - Oil

Oil to fry

Method:

• Wash and soak all the ingredients for batter(obviously except for salt) in water for 5-6 hours. Strain and grind to a fine paste with required water. Add salt and let it ferment. Idli batters need not be sour but Paniyarams batter needs to be more sour than idli batter. I generally soak by 3:00 in the afternoon and grind by 9:00 in the night and let it stay throughout the night for fermenting. Next morning I make idlis and refrigerate the left out batter for next day to prepare Paniyarams.
• Heat a pan with oil for tempering. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Sprinkle the asafoetida and stir. Add the chopped onions, ginger, chillies and saute for a minute. Add the curry leaves and pour this into the batter. Add the coriander leaves and stir well. Add salt if required.
• Heat the kuzhi paniyaram skillet and pour 1/2 tsp of oil into the holes. When oil is hot, pour half a ladle of the batter or till the brim of the holes and cook on low flame. You may cover for a minute or so. Else be patient and wait for it to cook. When its done, it will automatically come out of the hole. Gently flip it using a fork to cook the other side. When done serve hot with chutneys. The fun is dipping the hot-hot paniyaram into the chutney and gulping it then and there.
  
• Kuzhi paniyaram in the making in a kuzhi paniyaram chatti (skillet)!!