Broccoli Kuzhi Paniyaram ~ Guilt Free One's

 Kuzhi Paniyaram, another tongue tickling snack devoured by kids and grown ups equally. These are delicious Rice and Urad dal dumplings shallow fried and served with Tomato Chutney, Sambhar, Ketchup or Coconut chutney. Its Originally from Tamil Nadu I believe, when I made this Chellamani Snack first time, recipe found in eVanitha I think, I didn't knew it is just a simple Paniyaram. I tried different variation with the same recipe as I always have some Idly batter in the fridge and I make snack almost everyday for the little one's. Later I noticed many of my fellow bloggers posting the same kind of snack named Paniyarams and then I realized its original name is not Chellamani but kuzhi paniyaram as its made in Paniyaram pan or Unniyappan pan. I made this Paniyaram with broccoli florets this time and I used a drop of oil in each holes, that too only for the first batch. Make this absolute guilt free snack if you have some leftover Idli/dosa batter with any veggies of your choice or just with simple onion seasoning and serve dunk in Tomato Chutney or Sambhar.

** You will need a Kuzhi Paniyaram skillet or Unniyappan Skillet to make this.

Ingredients: -

• Leftover Dosa/Idli Batter ~ 2 Cups
• Shallots or onion chopped fine -  ½ cup( 1 onion or 3 shallots)
• Ginger chopped fine - a small piece
• Green chilies chopped fine - 3(or use  ½ tsp chili powder) 
• Curry leaves few
• Mustard Seeds - 1tsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp(optional)
• Broccoli florets chopped ~ 1 Cup
• Salt ~  ¾ tsp(to taste)
• Oil - 2 tbsp for tempering + few drops or cooking spray to shallow fry the paniyaram. 

Preparation Method: -

1. Chop the broccoli florets taking only the flower parts and discarding the hard stalk. Wash them well, pat dry and reserve
2. Heat up a pan, pour oil add mustard seeds. When they splutter add urad dal, curry leaves and saute for  a min till urad dal turn to light brown color. 
3. Add in the chopped onion, ginger, green chilies, salt and saute well till the onion turns soft and pink. 
4. Add in the broccoli florets, stir fry for couple minutes say five-seven minutes till they become soft. Check for salt and take off the stove, set aside to cool down for about five minutes.
5. Add this broccoli mix to the Idly batter and stir well to mix. Add water to loose up if its too dry and thick.
6. Heat up the Unniyappan/Paniyaram Skillet, maintain the heat in between low-med as its gonna be a slow cooking process. 
7. Pour one or two drops of oil in each hole of the skillet(or use cooking spray), pour a tbsp of batter in each hole. Cover and cook for three-four minutes till the top of the dumpling dries up and bottom of the dumpling turn golden brown. 

8. Turn upside down and let it again cook for couple of minutes without the lid till the other side turns also turn golden brown. Take paniayarams out of the pan and repeat the process with the remaining batter. You don't need to add oil when you make next batch of paniyarams.

 9.  Serve immediately with Tomato Chutney, Sambhar or Ketchup. 

Notes:- 

1. If you are using very loose dosa batter, add some rice flour or soak and grind 1 cup of rice with a little buttermilkto thicken up.

2. If you don't have dosa/Idly batter and want to make paniyarams, soak 1 cup of rice with  ¼ cup urad dal for 4 to 6hrs and grind and use it.

Linking this to Lets Cook # 16 ~Kids Special