Nalini'sKitchen: Chola Paniyaram /Sorghum Paniyaram

For the letter C, under the journey through the cuisines I chose to share Cholapaniyaram from Kongunadu cuisine.
In Kongunadu cuisine whole grains and millets are used extensively in their cooking. The most commonly used is finger millet(ragi),finger millet(kambhu) and sorgham(cholam).
The chola paniyaram is quite popular in kongu cuisine and its made with the whole grain.Due to unavailability of the whole grain I used the flour and made it.Even this can be made with dried corn kernels too,but it needs to soak for at least 12 hours.The paniyarams came out so fluffy and we enjoyed it with a spicy chutney.Lets move on to the recipe.................

Chola Paniyaram

Basic Information

Preparation time ~ 20-25 minutes
Soaking time ~ 4 hours
Fermetation time~ 5-6 hours

Cooking time ~ 35-40 minutes

Makes ~ 30-35

Ingredients

For the batter

Ingredient	Quantity
Raw rice/pacharisi	1/2 cup
Idly rice/pulungala arisi	1 cup
Urad dhal	1/2 cup
Sorgham flour/jowar flour	1 cup
Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam	1.5 tsp
Salt	1.5 tsp

Other ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1 tsp
Urad dhal/ulutham paruppu	2 tsp
Asfoetida/perungayam	a generous pinch
Onion(finely chopped)	1 (medium size)
Green chilly/pachamilagai	3-4(finely chopped)
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Coriander leaves	1 tbs(finely chopped)
Oil	4-5 tbs(tempering+ to cook paniyaram)
Channa dhal/kadala paruppu	2 tbs(soaked)
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4 tsp(optional)

Method

Soak the rice and dhal+fenugreek seeds in water separately for 3-4 hours.Grind the rice to a bit coarse paste and keep it in a bowl.Now grind the urad dhal and fenugreek seeds to a fluffy batter and add it to the rice paste.To this add the jowar flour and salt,mix it well.If needed add little amount of water.Let it ferment for 6-8 hours or overnight.
Next day or after fermeting mix the batter well and keep it aside.Soak the channa dhal in water for 10-15 minutes.
Heat a pan with 2 tsp of oil and do the tempering with mustard seeds and urad dhal.Add in the sliced green chilly,chopped onion and curry leaves along with a pinch of slat and turmeric powder.

Saute it for couple of minutes and put off the flame.Add it to the fermented batter,also add the chopped coriander leaves and soaked channa dhal.Mix it well,if needed add some water to get the consistency.

Heat the paniyaram pan and add few drops of oil to each hole.Fill the batter in each hole up to 3/4th and cook it for 2-3 minutes in a medium flame.Flip it to the other side and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.Drizzle few drops of oil if needed.Once both sides turned golden remove it from the pan.Continue for the rest of the batter.

Serve it warm with a spicy chutney or coconut chutney.

If you are using the jowar flour then grind the rice to a bit coarser paste.
The fermentation time varies,mine took almost 12 hours.In tropical conditions it may ferment faster
Addition of turmeric powder to the tempering is optional,even channa dhal can also be added while doing the tempering.
Tastes better when it hot,even after cold it tastes good .