The mystery behind Paniyarams..

Paniyaram is a Chettinad delicacy. Being born in a pakka brahmin family, I have never had a chance to taste it, and my mom had no idea how to make it (she would disagree on that point :D)...Let me tell you how I came about trying out Paniyarams. The first thing that struck me after seeing the movie Roja, was not about how great Arvind swami looked or how cool Madhubala's acting was...it was not even about the violence in Kashmir...As I left the movie theatre I was left with a craving for paniyarams :) yup...Sorry Mani Ratnam...it was the paniyaram dialogue that impressed me and not Arvind swami rolling on a burning flag :D

Much much later when I went to a restaurant with my college friends, I had the grand opportunity to try out various paniyarams...well the first time I ever tasted a masala paniyaram, it was such an anti-climax. The expectations were sky high...as it turned out,a masala paniyaram tastes exactly like an uthappam...even if you take the ingredients into account they are just miniature uthappams in attractive shape...and the Paal paniyaarams taste a lot like sweet aapams... But over the time, after infinite number of trips to restaurants around chennai, I can say paniyarams have grown onto me, I seem to have a soft corner for this simple yet attractive golden delicacy :).

Unniappam chatti

Small kadai

I will write up a recipe for masala kuzhi paniyaram, since I recently tried it out. Despite my momz various misgivings about my culinery expertise, I managed to sneak in a unni appam maker after my last visit to India...Still havent figured out how to make unni appams..but kuzhi paniyarams came out well..or atleast they photograph well :D If you dont have this vessel, no issues, you can simply use a small kadai and make it one by one..but then don't ask me what is the difference b/w that and an uthappam...I didn't invent it guys.


 MASALA KUZHI PANIYARAM

Ingredients:

1) Dosa/Idli Batter   - 2 cups (Store bought works perfectly fine)
2) Red onion            - 1 medium size finely chopped
3) Ginger                 - 1 inch piece finely chopped
4) Green chillies      - 3 to 4 finely chopped
5) Red chili powder - 1 tsp (depending on your spice level)
6) Coconut pieces    - 3 tbsp roughly chopped
7) Mustard seeds     - 1 tsp
8) Oil                        - 3 to 4 tbsp (to fry)
9) Curry leaves        - a handful roughly chopped
10) Salt to taste

Method:

1) In a bowl mix all the ingredients from 1 thru 6 and salt to taste. In case you do not have coconut pieces, you can replace with grated coconut, But this is not as effective as the coconut pieces that add crunchiness to the dish.

2) Fry mustard seeds and curry leaves in half tsp oil and add it to the above mixture. strill well. The mixute should still have the consistency of idli batter.

3) Take the unni appam maker and coat each hole (kuzhi) with a drop of oil. Or you can just use a cooking spray to get an even layer of oil in the pan. In case you do not have a non stick pan, be generous with the oil.

4) Once the oil is hot enough, add spoonful of mixture in each kuzhi to fill it up. Cover and cook in medium to low flame for few mins.

5) Using a wooden prick flip the paniyarams one by one to cook the other side. let it cook for few mins and remove them from heat.

6) In case you are using a small kadai, then heat 2 tbsp oil in the kadai and pour 1 ladle of paniyaram batter and cook it covered for couple of mins. Flip and cook it uncovered for a min before removing from heat.

Serve it hot with any spicy chutney. I love it with spicy tomato chutney.YUMMM!!!