Kuzhi Paniyaram

 I am posting this recipe for APS Rice event hosted by Anitha. This is a Chettinad dish which is made in a special pan called Kuzhi paniyara chatti (pancake puff pan in U.S). It can either be made salt or sweet. It  goes through a process of fermentation, which gives the paniyaram it's spongy texture. This can be had as a breakfast or as a snack. The recipe I am going to post is salt paniyaram with a side dish of hot & tangy tomato chutney.

Ingredients for batter
Parboiled rice - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Urad dhal - 1/4 cup
Aval(Poha) - 1 cup
Methi seeds - 1 tspn
Salt - 1 1/2- 2 tspn

Method
Soak the ingredients together for 3-4 hours. Grind them together into a fine batter by adding water from time to time. The consistency of the batter should not be too thick or too thin but should resemble that of pancake batter.Transfer the batter to a container & add salt. Mix them together with hand. Close the container with a lid and leave it in a warm place for fermentation. During cold weather its hard to ferment the batter. The batter needs 70-80 degrees to initiate the fermentation. Heat the oven to 100 degrees for 4 minutes & then turn it off. Wrap the container with a throw & keep the container in the oven. Leave it overnight.

Making the seasonings
Chopped small or medium onion - 1/4 cup
Finely chopped green chillies - 2
Mustard, urad dhal & curry leaves for seasoning.

Method

Heat some oil in a pan & season it with mustard, urad & curry leaves. Add the green chillies & onions along with little salt. Saute till the onions turns transluscent. Mix the sauteed things to the batter. Now the batter is all set to make paniyarams.

Making paniyaram 

Heat the pancake puff pan & add very little oil in each cups. When the oil in the cups get heated pour the seasoned batter into each cups.

Cover it with a lid. Check it from time to time to see if the top of the paniyaram is cooked. When the top is cooked, flip the paniyarms upside down to let it brown. Since its a non stick pan try to flip it using wooden skewer.

Serve this paniyaram with hot and tangy tomato chutney. This dish can be enjoyed as a finger food.

Sugar cookie

Ingredients
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Powdered sugar - 1 1/4 cups
Baking powder -1/4 tspn
Crisco shortening - 1 stick or cup
Salt - a pinch
Desired essence - little bit

Method
Mix together all the ingredients except the shortening. Microwave the shortening to warmth and make a dough with the mixed ingredients by adding the shortening little by little. The dough should hold everything together. It doesn't have to be soggy. Discard the excess shortening. Roll the dough to 1 inch thickness and make shapes with cookie cutter. Arrange the cookies 1 inch apart in a cookie sheet. Preheat the oven at 325 degrees and bake for 6-7 minutes.  Insert a toothpick and see if it comes out clean. If the dough  doesn't stick to the toothpick,  its the right time to take the cookies from the oven.Cookies might be soft when taken out of the oven. When it cools off it will get hard. Store it in an airtight container.

Murukku / Chakli

Ingredients

Rice flour - 4 cups
Urad flour- 1/2 cup
Roasted split gram powder- 3/4 cup
(pottu kadalai)
Hing - 1/4 tspn
Ajwain - 1 tspn
Cumin -1 tspn
Chilli powder - 2 tspn
White sesame seeds - 1 tspn
Salt - 1 1/2 tspn or to taste
Butter - 2.tspn or 1/4 cup hot oil

Method
Mix all the ingredients together except butter. Warm the butter or oil & add it to the mix. Make a dough with warm water. The dough should have the consistency of chappathi dough. Make the dough into equal sized kozhukattai (rounds) & cover them with wet  towel.

Put a piece of dough into the murukku press & & press them directly over the hot oil. Dough should remain covered in wet towel all the time to not let them dry. I make murukku with 1/4 cup of hot oil instead of butter while mixing the dough & there is not much difference in taste between the two. Therefore, diet conscious people can use oil instead of butter.