Onion Tomato paniyaram / Appe

Onion Tomato paniyaram / Appe

Paniyaram / Appe is another traditional element of south indian cooking, it is a very popular breakfast dish or a dish for kids lunch box made by steaming batter. Paniyarams can be made both sweet or spicy. I will showcase many variations in making the paniyaram in coming post. I made the onion tomato paniyaram for breakfast yesterday and I can’t wait for long to post this on my blog.

This is a very quick recipe if you already have your idli dosa batter ready and lying in your refrigerator. I have learnt how to make paniyarams from a friend of mine Meena and also how to make use of the idli dosa batter into preparing various other recipes apart from just the dosa’s and idli’s. Since I am not a south Indian, my south Indian cuisine was till late limited only to eating dosa and idli but never cooking them. After coming to Bangalore, I learnt there is a lot more that can be made. I and my kids being a total south Indian cuisine freak , I ensured I learn a lot of new stuff from my friend Meena. She made me eat South Indian food almost daily and hence took off my interest in learning and cooking many south indian recipes(all thanks to her), though I feel there is still a lot more to be learnt about this wonderful cuisine.I really miss her daily South Indian cuisine dose now coz I have shifted to another location away from her home!

Below is the picture I have shown of the paniyaram/ appe maker utensil, I picked this up after coming to Bangalore from one of the prestige stores. You can buy this online also from any of the portals. This utensil has to be placed directly on the burner to cook these lovely yummy appe….

For the Paniyaram batter (Idli Dosa Batter) –

• 3 cups Idli rice
• 1 cup Urad dal
• 2 teaspoon salt.
• 1 teaspoon Methi seeds
• Pinch of Hing

Method -

To prepare the paniyaram batter -

Soak rice in enough water, add fenugreek (meethi) seeds to urad dal and soak separately in enough water overnight. Next day change water and grind the rice separately using a grinder for about 12 - 15 mins keep adding water to it little by little till it makes a thick paste. Please put water slowly and in small quantity. You can use your own approximation to this but just ensure not to put too much of water, you can use a big serving spoon to add water to the grinder. This batter should not be too soft, you should feel the texture with your hands.

Now grind Urad dal along with fenugreek seeds to a very soft consistency. Add about water in small quantity to it and again slowly. Texture of the batter should be soft, let it grind for more than 20 minutes.

Combine both the ground rice, urad dal batter along with salt and pinch of hing in a big vessel. Mix well with your hands. Cover with a lid. I place this mixture in my microwave to rest for 10 -12 hrs/ overnight..

When you will check the batter next morning, it will rise to about 2 inches high with tiny bubbles. Take out the portion you wish to prepare the paniyarams with and keep the rest undisturbed till next use in another vessel.

For the mixture -

• 1 chopped Onions
• 1 chopped tomato
• 1 green chilli
• Curry leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon Jeera ( cumin seeds )

Add onions, tomato, green chilli chopped, curry leaves and cumin seeds to the batter. Mix well , now pour the batter in the paniyaram dish and its ready for cooking..

Enjoy this with coconut chutney/ allam Pachhadi and even you can have these with mint chutney and tomato ketchup!

Happy Cooking!!