RM#2 : Day : 1 - Kuzhi Paniyaram

Kuzhi Paniyaram is a very popular Chettinad tiffin item made in special pans. It got its name from these pans which have half ball sized holes, kuzhi in Tamil. It is a favourite dish from young to old. No age bar. And because of its taste and size, it keeps on going non-stop. There two versions of this paniyarams, sweet & salted.  My husband is a fan of the salted ones & so I usually make the salted version. But then both the versions are yummy. With the children it is always "Innum Konjam Amma". Many of our friends also like it very much including our neighbours here. Once I made it for the BBQ here and all of it vanished in a jiffy. This has long been waiting in the "Coming Soon" section, shouting at me "Post me, Post me, Post me, Post me, Post me will you". So here I have put down the recipe for the savoury paniyaram.

Ingredients
Raw Rice - 1 cup (Also you can use Basmati Rice, though it is not used traditionally but my trial with worked out fine.)

Boiled Rice - 1 cup
Urad Dal - 1/2 cup
Fenugreek Seeds  -  1/4  tsp
Onion - 1 big
Green Chillies - 2
Grated Coconut - 2 to 3 tb.sp

Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste (about 2 t.sp)

Method

Wash the rices and soak them with the urad dal & fenugreek seeds in water for at least 6 to 7 hours. Grind it to get a thick batter without adding much water (little thicker than the consistency of idli batter). Add salt, mix well and allow it to ferment for at least 6 hours or better overnight.
Heat 1 tb.sp oil in a flat pan & season with mustard and finely chopped curry leaves. Add the finely chopped onion and saute till translucent. Toss in the green chillies and grated coconut. Saute for few minutes. Add this to the batter and mix well.

Heat the paniyaram pan (better non-stick) and add a few drops of oil in each hole. The heat should be medium. Pour the batter in each kuzhi, just 3/4 of the kuzhi not more. Wait for a minute. And then Cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. When it is cooked underneath, flip to the other side using a spoon or a sharp needle or paniyaram stick. And cook again. To check the readiness insert a needle in the center it should come out clean. Serve hot with tomato chutney. We normally make a side dish called Thakkali Urulaikizhangu Therekkal. I will try to post the recipe for this also in the near future.

And these Kuzhi Paniyarams are being served to the following events :
1) Saapadu Ready event hosted by Aartee of From the Kitchen
2) WYF : Kitchen Gadget event hosted by Easy Crafts of Simple Indian Food - An Easy Cooking Blog
3) Rice Mela event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons

Let us see what my fellow marathoners are cooking
1) DK

2) Siri

3) Srivalli

4) Ranji

5)PJ

6)Curry Leaf

7)Medha

8)Priya

9)Bhawna

10)Raaji

11)Ruchii

12)Anu

13)Kamala

14)Roopa

15)Divya Kudua

16)Rekha

17)Divya M

18)Lakshmi

19)Raaga

Vendakkai Mandi - Ladysfinger Subji

Mandi is a authentic chettinadu dish. There are many different types of mandi like Milagai Mandi, Keerai Mandi, Mixed vegetable mandi, Kaaikari (Vegetable) Vathal Mandi and so on. But among all of them Keerai Mandi, Milagai Mandi and Vendakkai mandi are very famous. Vendakkai Mandi is found in the lunch menu of all functions and special occasions of chettinadu. The special ingredient in this gravy which adds to the taste of the dish is, Arisi Mandi i.e. water from the rice. It is an excellent combination for curd rice. And is a great combi for outdoor one day trips. During my childhood when I used to visit my Athai in Chennai she used to pack it for our outdoor lunch. I used to relish the curd rice with her spicy Milagai Mandi.

Here I am giving a recipe of Vendakkai Mandi with Vallai Karamani (White Kidney Beans) (you can also use mochai (white beans I suppose)).

Vendakkai Mandi
Ingredients
Ladysfinger - 1/4 Kg
Small Onions - 1/4 cup
(if not available then use substitute with big onions also)
White Kidney Beans - 1/2 cup
(pressure cook it with some salt)
Green Chillies - 5-6 (slit in to half)
Garlic - 5-6
Tamarind - small lemon size
Oil (preferably gingelly(sesame) oil)
Salt
Mustard - 1/4 t.sp
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 t.sp
Urad Dal - 1/4 t.sp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - a little

Method
1) Wash and dry the ladysfinger in a towel. Cut it into 1 inch long pieces. Peel off the garlic pieces and cut into half.

2) Take the water from the rice you are going to use for cooking i.e. If you are going to cook two cups of rice then wash the rice once a little and let the water down so that the dust from the rice is washed. Then add about two cups of water to the rice and wash (kelai radhu) and strain the water to use it for the mandi. To this water soak the tamarind. And take out the tamarind extract.

3) Heat oil in a pan season it with mustard, fenugreek, urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds finish popping garlic and slit green chillies. Sauté for a minute and add onions.


4) When the onion becomes translucent add the ladysfinger and sauté for about 3 to 4 min. Add salt, tamarind extract and pressure cooked kidney beans and let the whole gravy boil for some time. And let the gravy thicken. It should not be too watery or too thick, sort of saucy consistency.

Serve with rice or chappathis.

And this post is going to FIC - Green event hosted by Sunshinemom of TongueTicklers.