Chettinad Vellai paniyaram / Rice fritters.

Vellai Paniyaram is a signature chettinad dish. Anyone who has been to Nagarathar weddings or functions will be well aware of Vellai paniyaram.Vellai paniyaram literally translates to White paniyaram. No Chettinad feast is complete without vellai paniyaram. This dish is not very easy to make and its quite difficult to get the correct texture on the paniyaram. That said, I have included useful tips which would make life a little easier I guess. Usually Achi's use paniyaram rice to make this dish. But I cannot get that here so I used regular raw rice. The perfect accompaniment for this dish is Varamilagai chutney or Tomato chutney

My husband is very fond of this dish and my Mother-in Law makes it a point to make vellai paniyaram and vada whenever we visit. She also makes them during festivals. I made this and vada for Diwali breakfast to keep our family tradition going. My little one really loved this dish and I was very happy.

Preparation Time:15min

Cooking Time:30 min

Yields:15-20 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Raw Rice(Rim level)
• 1 scoop of Urad Dal
• 1/4 tsp salt (as required)

Method:

• Soak the Rice and Urad Dal for 6 hours.

• grind it in mixer/blender/Wet grinder to a fine batter.

• It should be similar to Dosa batter consistency (A little watery).
• Add little salt and mix well.

• Heat the oil in a flat heavy bottomed saute pan.
• Oil should be hot enough (not too hot).
• Pour the batter with a flat spoon/ karandi into the pan.
• Whiile the paniyaram cooks pour oil over the top to get it to bloat up.
• This gives the paniyaram a leafy texture.

• Flip it over and fry it for 8-10sec.

• Take it out and drain off excess oil with a paper towel
• Check to make sure that the paniyaram is cooked through.
• Paniyaram is ready to be served hot with chutney.

Note:

• If the oil is too hot you might get ball like paniyaram. If you do reduce the heat before pouring the next one.
• If the batter is too thick also the paniyaram will be ball like. If so add  little water or milk to make it thin.
• Pouring the oil over the paniyaram while it cooks gives it a leaf like texture.
• Use a flat bottomed pan .You will get large leafy paniyram's. I used normal small saute pan (so my  paniyarams were small)
• After you flip the paniyaram dont fry it for more than 7-8 sec otherwise it will be roasted.

Check out Chettinad Vada recipe here