Chola Paniyaram - Home Style (Kongu Special Recipes)

Category: Breakfast / Dinner
Soaking Time: 6 Hrs / Overnight  
Fermentation Time: 8-12 Hrs    
Cooking Time: 5 mins /batch

Chola Paniyaram is an authentic Kongu Nadu Special Recipe and this is the one from my Mom's home:) Until I entered college, I never know we can make paniyaram with normal Idly batter, every time when we make paniyaram, it is surely with the Corn. Since Corn is a staple food in Kongu region, in our home after corn harvest, they will clean and broke the dry corn into coarse bits and pieces using "Ural" and will store for months specially for making paniyaram and also "Chola Puttu".

Adding Raw rice and Moong dhal is purely optional, My aunt will be adding these for crispiness and more flavour:) After coming to US, I am using the broken corn / corn rava from Indian store for making this paniyaram. As far the Kongu nadu special recipes are considered, Small onions are the important ingredients for the authentic flavour and taste and we wont get the same taste while using shallots / big onions.

Chola Paniyaram

Ingredients:

• Boiled Rice / Idly Rice - 1 1/2 cups
• Raw Rice - 1/2 cup
• Broken Corn -  2 cups (Here I used Corn Rava)
• Whole Urad Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Yellow Split Moong dhal - 1/4 cup (Optional)
• Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam - 1 tsp
• Small Onions, peeled - 1-2 cups
• Curry leaves - handful
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Fresh coconut, chopped into tiny pieces - to taste

*Notes:

• Small Onions are the must for this recipe to get the authentic flavour. Adding big onion / shallots will not give that real flavour
• Adding Raw rice is optional, if we want to skip that, we can increase the quantity of Idly rice to 2 cups
• Moong dhal is also an optional ingredient

Method:

1. Soak Idly rice, broken corn and moong dhal (if using) together for 6-8 hrs / overnight; urad dhal and fenugreek seeds separately for 45 mins-2 hrs
2.  In a wet grinder, first add the fenugreek seeds followed by urad dal, grind till it becomes soft and silky. Once urad dhal is done, remove it in a big container and keep aside. While grinding dhal, make sure you just sprinkle required water at regular intervals rather than pouring it at once. This will make the batter very fluffy and airy
3. Now add the rice and corn to the grinder and grind to a smooth batter similar to Idly batter consistency. Once done, remove it into the container with urad dhal
4. Add required salt and mix well with hands
5. In a mixie / blender add the small onions, curry leaves, cumin seeds and grind it to a coarse paste without adding any water
   
   
   
   
6. Add the ground paste to the batter and mix well
   
7. Allow to ferment for about 8-12hrs and it depends on your room temperature; After fermentation, the volume of the batter would be almost doubled. (Make sure to place the batter in a big bowl to avoid spills after it gets fermented)
   
8. After fermentation, add the tiny pieces of fresh coconut into it and gently give it a mix
   
9. Heat Paniyaram pan, add few drops of oil in each hole
10. Once the pan becomes hot, add a spoon of batter into each hole
    
11. Reduce the flame to medium and cover the pan with lid; allow to cook for 1-2 mins
12. Then flip it over and allow to cook the other side without covering with lid
    
13. Once its done, remove from the pan and repeat the same for the remaining batter
14. Serve hot with Sambar and chutney! Peanut / Coconut Chutney with Paniyaram is always a great combination:)