Kuzhi paniyaram

My fight with idly batter go a long way back, the weather here is so horrible for the batter to ferment and after trying all the tricks ( keeping it a preheated oven, keeping it a whole day etc ) still my batter didn't ferment and I knew that it had got nothing to do with batter or ratio as I used  to get soft idly's with the same ratio in India, but surprisingly that ratio didn't work for me here, but one of my  blogger friend Shibi who blogs at Flavz corner  suggested trying her ratio which works well for her. With much hope and expectation  I tried it first time and as usual my batter didn't ferment, I was very disappointed as I wanted to  eat  idly  badly, but when I got back to her  she encouraged me again so I decided to give it a go one more time. Finally for a change instead of fermenting the batter in night I did it the morning and kept in a preheated oven thorough out the day on and off  for almost 12 hours and voila I got a beautifully fermented batter by evening .I was jumping with joy that day, so next day it was weekend and usually we sleep a bit longer on weekends  but the thought of having idly's woke me up on time and got to my business  and guess what ??  I got the softest fluffiest idly ever ! So now I know what was wrong with my batter, I should blame my oven which cools down so quickly after preheating and turning it off, so my batter was  not getting the warmth for fermentation. Thanks a lot to Shibi and  I am going to stick to her  recipe for my idly's from now on. 

After my unniappam attempt during  Vishu I almost packed my paniyaram pan  but when Nisha posted her Kuzhi paniyaram I was so tempted to try it and  the  succesful idly's gave  the all confidence so I decided to go ahead and make this with the remaining batter. We all loved it and it disappeared form my kitchen soon. So if you like a change from usual idly- dosa why not try this ? This is a perfect snack to much on with a cup of tea but you can also have it for breakfast like we did ,but we had to eat a whole lot of it for filling our tummy :)

Recipe source for idly batter - Shibi (Flavz corner )

Recipe source for kuzhipaniyaram - Look who is cooking too

Ingredients 

For idly batter

Rice - 2 cups

Urad dal - 1 1/4 cup

Fenugreek - 1 tbs

Salt

For kuzhi paniyarams

Idly batter - 3 cups

Shallot - 1/2 cup ( sliced )

Carrot - 1 (grated )

Minced ginger - 1 tbs

Green chillies - 1-2(chopped )

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs( finely chopped)

Grated coconut - 3 tbs

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1tbs

Asafoetida - pinch

Finely Chopped coriander leaves  -2 tbs

Oil

Method 

• Soak all the ingredients for idly batter for 6-8 hours and grind them into a smooth batter of medium consistany. Usually salt is added  after the batter is fermented but if you are living in a cold country add salt in the beginning as  it helps in fermentation. Keep the batter in a warm place or preheated oven  till it ferments which takes about 8- 12 hours.
• Take 3 cups of fermented batter and keep aside.
• In a pan add oil and sputter mustard seeds, followed by urad dal till its golden.
• Add sliced shallots, minced ginger and saute till soft.
• Add grated carrot, green chillies, curry leaves and cook for few minutes.
• Finally add grated coconut, asafoetida, stir for 1 minute and turn off the flame.
• Add chopped corainder leaves and  cooked mix to the batter and add salt as required.
• Meanwhile place the paniyaram pan onto to stove and add a little bit of oil to each hole.
• Pour a tsp or 1 tbs of batter (depending on how big ur holes are ) to the pan and cook it and when it starts to slighlt brown on the edges flip them over and cook for sometime.
• Serve it with some coconut chutney or tomoto chutney or  sambar !