Kuzhi Paniyaram - Savory Rice Turnovers

Kuzhi Paniyaram is a small, round ball of rice flour deep fried in oil. This results in a crispy snack with a soft, chewy center. You could liken this to Medhu Vadai, except that medhu vadai uses only urad flour, while kuzhi paniyaram uses rice and urad flour.

Kuzhi Paniyaram

Unlike medhu vadai, you need a specialty pan to cook these. The traditional ones are made with cast iron or brass. The more modern ones are nonstick coated. Due to the benefits of cooking in cast iron cookware, and the possible side effects of cooking with nonstick cookware, I use a cast iron pan for this. A properly seasoned cast iron pan could develop nonstick characteristics and will require little or no oil.

Kuzhi Paniyram in aebleskiver pan

I bought mine at cooking.com . Go ahead, click on that link. Cooking.com does not even know I exist on this planet! It is an Aebleskiver pan that is used in Danish cooking. But, it looks and cooks just like the South Indian Kuzhi Paniyaram pan.
The kuzhi paniyaram batter is prepared much the same way as idli batter. Aromatic spices are added to the fermented batter. Rounded spoonfuls of batter are ladled into the seasoned aebleskiver pan and cooked similar to turnovers. Growing up, I remember one of my neighbors cook these frequently. She would pour oil on top of the filled molds and effectively deep fry the paniyaram in the confined environment. Of course, using that much oil is considered a sin now :) So, I try to use just a tablespoon.

Ingredients:

• Idli rice - 2 cups
• Urad dal - 1/2 cup
• Green chilies - 3
• Ginger -  1 inch piece
• Coconut - 5 square inches
• mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• curry leaves - 5
• oil - 2 tbsps, divided 
• salt, to taste

Mise en Place / Prep:

1. Wash and soak idli rice and urad dal together in fresh water for 4 hours. Grind it coarsely (to the consistency of idli batter).
2. When you are ready to make the paniyaram, finely chop green chilies, curry leaves and ginger. Chop the coconut into 1/2 inch square pieces.

Method:

1. In a small kadai or saute pan on medium fire, add 1 tbsp of oil . When it is heated, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds splatter, add in the chopped green chilies, curry leaves and ginger. Once the ginger has fried, remove from fire.
2. Stir in  this seasoning into the prepared batter. Also add the chopped coconut.
3. Season a kuzhi paniyaram or aebleskiver pan with 1 tsp of oil. Use your fingers/paper towel or cheesecloth to swipe the surface of the concave rounded molds with this oil.
4. Start this pan on medium high fire. When the pan has heated up, lower the heat to medium low.
5. With a rounded spoon, spoon in the seasoned batter in to the rounded molds. The batter should be level with the rim of each round mold.
6. Cook uncovered for about 5 minutes. If you insert a bamboo skewer in the middle of the paniyaram, it should come out clean (very similar to cake doneness test).
7. Using the skewer, flip the paniyaram and let the other side cook for a couple more minutes.
8. When completely cooked, remove to a plate.
9. Scrape out dried batter (if any) and season the pan again (only if needed).
10. Repeat steps 5 through 9 until all batter is used up.
11. Serve hot with any chutney.

Kuzhi Paniyaram and Peanut Chutney

Notes:

1. To up the nutrition value and eye candy, you could add a few tablespoons of grated carrots or cabbage to the batter.
2. Skip the part on preparing batter and instead use leftover idli/dosa batter.
3. Oiling the cast iron pan before the first batch is essential. This ensures that the cooked paniyaram is released easily from the pan. 
4. Once the pan has heated up, lower the heat and maintain it. Cast iron takes a while to heat up and retains heat for a long time.

Shrimp Fry

Shrimp fry - Shrimp pan fried with curry masala

 Ingredients:

• Shrimp, peeled, tail off, deveined - 1 lb (50-60)
• onions - 1
• tomato - 2
• turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tbsp
• chili powder - 2 tsp
• coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
• fennel powder - 1 tsp
• cilantro, chopped - 1/4 cup
• lemon, for garnish
• fennel seeds - 1 tbsp
• oil, for sauteing
• salt, to taste

Mise en place / Prep:

1. If you are starting with raw shrimp, start shelling the shrimp. 
2. With a sharp pairing knife, devein all the shrimp.
3. Fill a bowl with water and a quarter cup of vinegar. Rinse the shrimp in this water. Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with paper towel.
4. While the shrimp is drying, chop the onion finely to get about 3/4th cup of chopped onions.
5. Chop the tomatoes to yield about 2 cups.

Shrimp Fry / Shrimp Masala

Method:

1. Heat a kadai or other wide saute pan on medium high heat. When ready, add oil and wait for it to heat up.
2. Temper the oil with fennel seeds. When it splatters, add the ginger garlic paste.
3. Stir continuously so the paste doesn't get stuck to the pan or otherwise burn.
4. Now fry the chopped onions in this oil. Wait for the onions to soften up a bit before adding the tomatoes.
5. Follow this up with a little salt, chili powder and coriander powder.
6. Let this mixture cook for at least 15 minutes.  An occasional stir and a tablespoon of water, if it looks like the mixture might burn, is all that's needed.
7. If you wish, you could taste and adjust seasoning now.
8. Add the shrimp and stir gently to mix the masala and shrimp.
9. Cook covered until the shrimp is cooked.
10. Shrimp gets cooked very fast and goes from firm to rubbery in 5 seconds flat. So, watch the pan and check often.
11. If the masala is a little too watery, remove the lid and cook on a medium fire until the masala reaches your desired consistency.
12. Stir the fennel powder and cilantro and remove from fire.

This pairs well with rice, roti or as a spicy appetizer on its own. Serve with a squeeze of lemon .

Shrimp fry, served with Egg masala and Chicken Biryani

Avaraikkai Poriyal - Hyacinth Beans Steamfried with coconut

Just like the Chinese stir frying, South Indian cooking follows a healthy technique ( with no formal name) for cooking vegetables. In this method, the vegetable is first sauteed in a pan of spice-infused oil. The pan is then covered with a tight fitting lid and the vegetable is cooked in the resultant steam. This is kind of like the best of both worlds as the vegetable is fully cooked, calls for less oil and there is very little nutrition loss. For lack of a better term, I call this method as "Steam Frying" in this blog.

This is one of those multi-morphing recipes that you could easily adapt to include any vegetable. Hyacinth Bean, called avaraikkai in Tamil and Papdi in Hindi, are available here in GA, in all four seasons. Hyacinth Bean is an excellent source of iron and a good source of zinc . This translates to healthy hair and skin. For this reason, I try to include it in our menu as often as possible.

This recipe comes straight from my Little White Book with only one modification. I slice the beans very thin so it cooks fast and it feels soft ( for my daughter).

Hyacinth Beans with Rotis

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• Hyacinth beans / avaraikkai / papdi beans, sliced thin - 2 lb
• onion, chopped fine - 1/2 cup
• garlic, chopped fine - 2 cloves, optional
• coconut, shredded or grated or powdered (fresh/frozen/dried) - 2 tbsp
• dry red chili - 2
• mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• oil, for high heat cooking - 1 tbsp
• salt, per taste

Method:

1. Have everything ready before you turn the heat on. This recipe goes from 0 to 60 in the first 5 minutes!
2. If you haven't already done so, slice the Hyacinth beans very thinly and keep aside in a bowl. Chop the onion and garlic quite fine. 
3. In a saute pan on medium high heat, add 1 tbsp oil. When it is sufficiently heated, add mustard seeds. 
4. When the mustard seeds splatter, add cumin seeds and the dry red chilies. You could crumble the chilies for more heat.
5. Also add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is soft (about 5 minutes).
6. Now empty the bowl of chopped Hyacinth beans to this. Add enough salt and sprinkle very little water on top.
7. Cook covered for 15 minutes or until the beans are fully cooked.
8. Watch the pan and give it a stir every 5 minutes or so. If the beans are starting to burn, you could add a little more water (about 2 tbsp).
9. When the beans are ready, add the shredded coconut and remove from fire.
10. Mix to incorporate the coconut into the dish.



Avaraikkai poriyal

11. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Note:
If you do not have shredded coconut, you could add a tbsp of very thick coconut milk.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Potato Fries and Ketchup, along with Pizza, seem to have taken over the tastebuds of all kids in America! Everything tastes good with a side of French Fries and Ketchup and any vegetable is ok if used as a pizza topping. Sometimes, if you can't fight the system, it is smart to go with the flow. That's what I decided to do here.
In the past, I have futilely tried to fight my daughter's craze for french fries. And she fought back with double the intensity. But, once I started making these "Sweet French Fries" she hasn't missed the greasy Fast Food French Fries ( alliteration alert).

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• Sweet Potato -1 
• paprika - 1 tbsp
• salt, to taste
• italian seasoning - 2 tsp
• olive oil - 1/2 tbsp
• olive oil spray 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Scrub the Sweet Potato and remove the skin.
3. Cut it into "fingers".
4. In a gallon ziploc bag, add paprika, salt, Italian seasoning and the olive oil.
5. Add sweet potato fingers to this and close the bag shut. 
6. Squish, shake, manipulate with your hands - just ensure that potato fingers are completely coated with the spice rub.
7. Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil spray. Spread the potato fingers in a single layer and bake at 450F for 20 minutes. 
8. Around the 10 minute mark, flip to cook the other side. I can never do this safely, so here's what I do. Instead of the cookie sheet, I use a roaster pan's tray (the one with slots in it). The slots ensure that bottom of the fries/fingers are also cooked, so you can totally skip the "flip to cook the other side" part.
9. Remove and serve with cilantro-cumin dip.

Cilantro-Cumin Dip:
This is based on the mayo I use with my Tuna burgers.

• low fat sour cream - 1/2 cup
  
• cilantro - 5 sprigs
• cumin powder - 1 tsp
• salt, optional

1. To a small mixing bowl, add sour cream and cumin powder.
2. Finely chop the cilantro and add this as well, to the bowl.
3. Using a fork, mix everything together. 
4. Taste and add salt, if needed.

Sweet Potato Fries with Sour Cream Dip

This recipe helps you avoid deep frying, potatoes, highly processed ketchup and all the empty calories linked with these.