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.

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.

Ulundhu Vadai - Shaped Blackgram Fritters

To all my Tamil speaking friends, Happy Tamil New Year!
Ulundhu Vadai / Medhu Vadai is a very common breakfast accompaniment in restaurants in Chennai. Who can forget the famous Pongal - Medhu Vadai or Idli - Medhu Vadai combination? For some reason, our daily breakfast never included medhu vadai . It was reserved for festivals, as part of Padaiyal.

Uzhundhu Vadai / Medhu Vadai with Spinach Sambar

In spite of being a straight-forward recipe with just a few ingredients, this could easily become a very difficult-to-master dish, particularly in shaping the fritters. One tip I learnt from a friend of mine, is to let the batter sit for at least 30 minutes before you shape the fritters.
Whole, skinless Urad Dal is soaked anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours and then ground into a very thick batter with spices. After letting this batter proof on the countertop for some time, small round discs with a hole in the middle are made and deep fried to golden perfection.

To shape the fritters, you need a flat surface. What you use is up to you. The traditional way is to use a piece of plantain leaf. This made perfect sense when most homes had a banana/plantain tree in the backyard. The second common way is to use a piece of plastic sheeting like a ziploc bag.  Apart from these I have seen people use the back of a small plate, aluminum foil folded into a firm square etc. I just use the palm of my left hand as the flat surface and shape the fritters with my right hand's fingers.

Golden Fried Medhu Vadai

Ingredients (Serves 4 as an appetizer):

• Whole, skinless Urad Dal / Ulundhu - 1 cup
• Green Chilies - 4
• Ginger - 1 inch square piece
• asefotida - 1 tsp
•  whole black pepper, optional - 1 tsp
• curry leaves - 10
• cilantro - 2 sprigs
• onion - 1
• salt, to taste
• oil, suitable for deep frying

 Mise en Place / Prep:

1. Wash the urad dal sparingly with very little water. Soak the washed urad dal in just enough water to cover the top of the dal. Leave undisturbed for a minimum of 30 minutes, maximum of 4 hours. 

Method:

1.  Grind urad dal, green chilies, ginger and curry leaves to a very thick batter. When fully done, the batter will look white, fluffy and very smooth.  Sprinkle water as needed. Do not pour water; it will always be more that what's needed!
2. Add asafetida and whole black pepper (optional) to this batter. Do not add salt yet.
3. Let this sit on the countertop until you are ready to deep fry the fritters. This helps in proofing the batter so you get plump vadais that are easy to shape.
4. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and cilantro.
5. When you are ready to start deep frying,  start a dutch oven or kadai , filled halfway with oil, on medium high heat.
6. Line a plate with paper towel and keep it handy.
7. Mix the chopped onions, cilantro and salt to the batter.
8. Wet a flat surface with cold water. The water acts as a lubricant and helps in removing the shaped vadai easily.
9.  Take a Meyer lemon sized ball of dough and place it on the wet flat surface. Using your fingeres , flatten the dough to form a 1/2 inch thick disc. With your index finger, form a hole in the middle of the disc. This helps in even cooking.
10. Wet your fingers again with a little water. In one swift motion, flip the disc from the flat surface to your wet fingeres and into the pot of hot oil. Needless to say, be CAREFUL!
11. The vadai will float back to the surface, almost immediately. Fry the vadais till they are golden brown. Flip the vadais over and fry for another minute.
12. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on the paper towel-lined plate. 
13. Repeat steps 8-12 until the batter is done.
14. Serve with chutney/sambar as an appetizer or with rice as a savory side dish.

Medhu Vadai and Spinach Sambar

Notes:

1. I use the term "batter" very loosely here. It should look like a very wet dough.
2. While frying the vadais, be sure to not crowd the pot.
3. Ensure that the oil is adequately hot. A drop of batter dropped in the oil should float back to the surface immediately.
4. You could optionally add about a tbsp of rice flour to get crispy vadais.
5. If you are feeling adventurous, do not grind the green chilies and ginger. Instead chop them fine and add it to the batter when you add whole peppercorns. 

Easy Mini Chicken and Broccoli Pies

I had this recipe pinned for a while now. When I saw Bisquick Heart Healthy boxes on sale at Publix, I knew I'll have to try this.
The prep work turned out to be perfect mother-daughter QT. And surprise of surprises, she ate the broccoli, even though it wasn't hidden in the pie!
Small, spongy pies studded with bite sized chicken and broccoli, oozing with cheese... it sounded very tempting. So, I brought out the box yesterday as an early release treat for my daughter.

Chicken and Broccoli Pie

We followed the recipe verbatim and when the pies were out of the oven, it tasted fine. But, I felt that the pie lacked a crust and it felt more like a stuffed omelette than a mini pie. May be the dough to egg ratio needs a little tweaking? So, for the next batch, I upped the bisquick to 1 cup and reduced the egg count to 1.

Chicken and Broccoli Pies

Head on over to Bisquick for the original recipe.


Source: Betty Croker's Bisquick recipe
Verdict: Liked it, with some changes
Will I make it again: Yes, in a heartbeat

Easy Mini Pies studded with Chicken and Broccoli Bites

Uppurundai - Steamed Rice Dumplings

Uppurundai aka "uppu urundai" is one of the healthiest tamil dishes. This can be served as either an appetizer or a breakfast dish. It also makes a great rainy day snack!
When consumed in right quantity, these steamed dumplings sit very light in your tummy.
My earliest memories of this dish include a plate full of steaming hot lemon-sized dumplings paired with one of mom's famous chutneys. I loved everything that was part of this memory - except for the size of the dumpling. The outer layer of these dumplings taste a little better than its innards, IMHO.
To my taste, I find that the lemon-sized balls offer very slim ratio of seasoned surface vs the rest of the surface. I have made 2 changes to my mom's recipe and I will give you both variations - the original and my change.

South Indian Steamed Rice Dumplings

Ingredients:
For dumplings

• Rice flour - 2 cups *
• salt to taste
• oil - 1 tbsp

For seasoning/saute:

• mustard seeds - 2 tbsp
• split bengal gram - 2 tbsp
• cumin seeds - 2 tbsp
• curry leaves - 3 sprigs
• asafotida - 1 tsp
• dried red chilies, broken in quarters - 4 
• oil, for sauteing

Method:

1. In a dry kadai/skillet on a medium heat, fry the rice flour until it turns pink. 
2. In a saucepan, heat 2 cups of water . Add enough salt and oil to this.
3. When the water reaches rolling boil, remove it from fire. Slowly add the prepared rice flour to this water, while constantly stirring the mixture, with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring conitinously until the dough forms into a soft ball.
4. Remove from heat, and cover with a wet paper towel until you are ready to prepare the dumplings.
5. In a sautepan, heat up oil. Add the bengal gram and when it turns very light brown, add the rest of the ingredients. 
6. Let the mustard seeds splatter, before removing from heat.
7. Pour this seasoning on the dough ball and mix well.
8. Apply oil on your palms, and start rolling the dough into lemon sized balls.
9. Smear a thin layer of oil to idli plates or a steamer dish.
10. Place the dumplings in a single layer on the prepared dish and steam for 10 minutes.
11. Test for doneness and remove from heat.

My variation:

Skip step 7 and on step 8, make dime sized dumplings. After step 11, toss the cooked dumplings and the seasoning from step 6 together in a bowl.

When prepared this way, these also make an excellent finger food for your little ones.

*The traditional method is to soak rice and grind it to a smooth batter. I have learnt that store-bought rice flour mixed in hot water works just the same, so I do not bother with the other preparation any more. Sometimes ,just for variety, I use "idli rava". The dumplings prepared this way have an interestingly gritty texture which is a nice variation.

Serve this with a vegetable chutney for a well rounded meal.

Linking to:
 South Indian Cooking via Anu's Healthy Cooking, Sumee's culinary Bites

I am also reposting this to Sumee's culinary Bites ,

Microwave Appalam

Appalams are thin wafers made from urad dal flour. There was this lady in my neighborhood who sold home-made podis (spice mixes) , appalams and vathals (sundried wafers) to support her family. Even though it is available in convenient packs at the grocery store, my mom would sometimes buy it from this lady, as a notion of nieghborly support.

Back home when I was little, deep fried appalams were my favorite. I remember requesting my mom to prepare appalams for every meal. But, now that I am the cook and cleaning maid at my home, I try to stay away from deep fried anything. To save my backsplash from grease splatters and my sanity from rancid smoke, I have taken to crisping appalams in the microwave. Lucky for me, I didn't need a written recipe for how to fry appalams . I was a good enough cook to figure this out myself LOL.

Let me post a couple of disclaimers here. Microwaved appalams do not taste as yummy as the ones prepared traditionally. It is a compromise between health, convenience and taste. Also, microwaves, in my opinion, are like babies - no two are alike. The wattage and cooking times vary from unit to unit. Adapt the following to suit your microwave.

Ingredients:

• appalam - store bought or homemade
• pam or any cooking oil 

Steps:

• Spray pam on both sides of applams. Or, spread a little oil,  with a pastry brush.
• Arrange applams in a plate, in a single layer. Nuke on high for a minute. Flip the appalams and nuke for another 20-30 seconds.
• At this stage, the appalams should have blistered on the surface. If not, nuke again for another 10 seconds.

While deep-fried fresh appalam would almost double in size and feels light to the bite, microwaved appalams stay relatively dense.

I like this with spicy food like vaththa kozhambu or kara kozhambu.