Chola Paniyaram / Corn Paniyaram

Today's recipe is one of my favorite Paniyaram, Chola Paniyaram/Sola Paniyaram. For every summer vacation me n my sister go to our Grandmother's House. Those two months were so joyful with our grandparents and cousins. Daily my grand mom used to make some yummy snacks or light tiffin for our evening tea time munch. She often makes tasty Paniyarams for our evening snack with left over idly batter, moongdal and this chola paniyaram. This is traditionally made with sorghum but i couldn't find it here, so i simply tried with Dry Corn kernels(used to make popcorns). Yes, i made this with Dry corn kernels, the idea was supported by the Versatile blogger Priya and Nalini. But this dry corn kernels requires more soaking time at least 24 hours of soaking time. So if u want to make it quicker and easier you can simply try with adding corn meals to idly/dosa batter. Let me try that too and update here soon.
But i am so glad that my experiment doesn't fail and the paniyaram come out so well and tasted too yummy. The pictures are the proof of my experiment :) Like me my kids too love paniyarams and they loved this too. Served this chola Paniyaram with Spicy Tomato Chutney(recipe coming soon). Now to the recipe...

Ingredients

1. Dry Corn Kernels   1 cup
2. Idly Rice/ Sona Masoori   1 and 1/4 cup (i used sona masoori)
3. Urad dal    1/4 cup 
4. Methi seeds    1/8 tsp
5. Salt    to taste
6. Carrot    1no.(shredded)
7. Cilantro   2-3 tbsp(finely chopped)
8. Oil    as needed

To temper

1. Oil    1tsp
2. Mustard seeds    1/2 tsp
3. Urad dal    1/2 tsp
4. Chana dal    1/2 tsp
5. Ginger     2 tsp(finely chopped)
6. Green chili    2no.s(finely chopped)
7. Onion    1 medium(finely chopped)
8. Curry leaves     few(chopped)

Method

• Wash and Soak Dry corn kernels for 24 hours and soak urad dal n rice for 3 hours. ( say for eg, if u soak corn kernels by today morning 10am then soak the rice n dal next day 10am and grind the entire thing by 1pm and leave the batter until 5pm and u can make paniyaram by 5.30)
• First drain corn kernels n add it to the blender and grind coarsely and keep aside.

• Then in a grinder, grind urad dal to smooth batter and then add ground corn and drained rice and using water grind to a fine coarse batter.The batter consistency should be like little thin like dosa batter.
• After that transfer to a bowl and add salt, mix well and leave it for 4-5hours fermentation.

• After fermentation mix the batter well and add tempering and shredded carrot n finely chopped cilantro.
• For Tempering:Heat oil in a pan,add mustard seeds ,allow to pop add channa and urad dal fry golden brown.
• Add hing,chopped onions,green chillies,ginger,curry leaves, sprinkle some salt.
• Fry for 2minutes and add fried items to the batter and mix well then add carrot n cilantro. Mix well.

• Heat an paniyaram pan and add few drops of oil in each hole.
• Then pour a spoonful of batter to each hole.
• Cook covered for 2 minutes,then using a spoon or skewer turn the paniyaram gently.
• Cook on the other side for another 2-3 minutes.cook in medium heat so that both outer and inner side get cooked well and outer layer will turn crispy.
• When both sides are cooked remove the paniyaram and serve hot with any spicy chutney or sambar.

Notes:

As i said earlier, instead of corn kernels, soaking n waiting for long time simply mix corn meal to the idly/dosa batter and make paniyarams.

With the same batter u can also make dosa, i tried that too,came out well, crispy n tasty like adai.

If u want to make it healthier, can add some finely chopped spinach to the batter n make it a keerai paniyaram.
I mixed the chola paniyaram batter with my left over idly batter about 1/4 cup and kept aside for an hour and made this yummy paniyaram for our evening tiffin.

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