Paddu

Today I am going to share a very delicious snack food, mostly prepared in southern part of India.  Paddu (kannada ), appe (Konkani), ponganalu (telugu), paniyaram (tamil), unniyappam (Malayalam) like this different names exist in different part of India. For few kannadigas  it is “gundpangla”. We require a special mould to prepare the same. Sometimes one can even prepare these using Dosa batter. But the best taste and softness can get by preparing special batter. Nothing like hot paddus!

Ingredients:

1. Rice- 2cups
2. Urad dal-1cup
3. Puffed rice (churmuri)- 1 small cup
4. Fenugreek seeds-2 teasp
5. Onion -1 chopped very small
6. Coriander leaves-1/2 cup
7. Cumin seeds- 2 teasp
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil

Method:

1. Soak urad dal, rice, fenugreek seeds in water overnight. Also soak puffed rice in a separate bowl for around 6-8hrs
2. Grind all the ingredients together with little water, pour in a container and close it with a lid. Set it aside 8-10hrs for fermentation
3. Add salt, chopped onions, coriander leaves and cumin seeds. Mix well
4. Heat the mould by adding a drop of oil in every depression, once it is hot pour the batter into each depression and again put drop of oil above
5. Cover the mould and let it cook on medium flame. Then remove lid and let it roast
6. Now carefully unmould each paddu from the depressions of the mould and flip the side and roast for some time
7. Serve hot with coconut chutney or any other chutneys of your taste.

Things to remember:

1. The batter should be prepared little coarse and thicker than dosa batter for more crispy taste
2. For crispy texture and nice golden color fenugreek seeds are used
3. In case of nonstick mould you can skip the use of oil. But in case if you are using cast iron mould don’t forget to grease the depressions before.  
4. The puffed rice is used to make the paddu spongy and soft

Best combination:

It’s best served with coconut chutney and okra (bhendi) or capsicum or cucumber “rasa”( which I will be explaining very soon)