Gluten-free and vegan, a healthy and tasty snack, this instant paniyaaram only takes about half an hour. Loaded with vegetables, made with millets, and with protein from the peanuts, it makes for an easy and healthy after-school snack or is great for school lunchboxes.
I’d mock my mom when I saw her cook with millets, oats, and whole grains. She’d slyly put a handful of millets in our pongal, or add some oat flour in the roti batter. We never realized healthier ingredients went into our food, but it did. But, every moment dad and I saw her sneak it in, we’d roll our eyes. Yeah… well, here I am living in the very world I lovingly mocked.
Who am I? I can’t believe the day has come that I’ve become my mother. I’m making millets paratha, quinoa pongal, chocolate oatmeal… And, I’m loving it. The family loves it too. Well, maybe not the whole family. The little baby bear will come around, just like I did. Or at least I hope he will 🙄 . He’s got a tongue just like his mumma used to.
Packing lunch for boys has always been a fun activity for me. It can be quite challenging at times, but I love such challenges. I’ve been making these paniyaarams for years. Not just for school lunches, but also for parties, snack or light lunches.
So, here’s one of my favorite #lunchbox treats and something I enjoy as a healthy lunch. It’s a full meal in one.
Paniyaaram is a quite traditional South Indian dish. There are two common varieties: the sweet paniyaaram and spicy paniyaaram. While the sweet paniyaaram is made from rice flour and jaggery, the spicy one is generally made from leftover idli or dosa batter which has fermented a little more and has that bitter smell. To make a paniyaaram, the special pan is a must. Still, you could easily steam and make idlis or mini thick dosas. While I do make paniyaaram from idli batter, I’ve been making instant paniyaaram for years.
Why, you might ask? One, it’s easy and comes together in no time. Two, this has more whole grains, so it’s healthier, and I enjoy the texture.
Making Instant Paniyaaram
Millets are what I’ve used here. You can use any millet you prefer or quinoa flour too. Even ragi works great here. I prefer powdering the millets to keep it coarse. And when you are craving for this, millets paniyaaram is ready. Another important key step is to use sour yogurt. Millets paniyaaram is a must try. The best of all, it comes together quite quickly.
Millets I’ve used here is Kodo/varagarisi/Kodra/Arikelu…
TO BUY THE KODO Millet : Amazon .
- 1 cup millets powdered(you can use any millet, I used kodo, you could use milo, jowar, juar,, jwari, cholam, jonnalu, jola)
- ⅓ cup rice flour
- ½ cup thick yogurt
- 1 + ½ cups water(depends on how much your batter needs)
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt +1/3 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ⅓ tsp fennel seeds
- 3-4 green chilies, sliced
- 1 inch ginger grated
- 1 cup red cabbage very finely chopped(I use the cuisinart to finely chop)
- 2 carrot, peeled and grated
- ⅓ cup peanuts, roasted and powdered
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp urad daal
- 5-8 red chilies ( use little or more according to your spice level)
- 1 onion - roughly chopped
- 2 tomatoes - quartered
- small one inch tamarind
- 1 tbsp jaggery
- ½ tsp salt
- Powder the millets. It doesn't have to super fine, coarse is good too.
- In a large bowl, add the yoghurt, add 1 cup of millet flour, rice flour, water, baking soda, salt and mix well and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
- In a pan, add oil and let it get hot. Add fennel seeds, cumin seeds and green chilies. Saute for 30 seconds, add the ginger and let saute for another 30 seconds. Toss in the finely grated or chopped red cabbage, carrot and saute. Add salt and toss and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool for 5 minutes before adding it to the millet mixture.
- Toss in the peanuts, sesame seeds, baking powder, mix. The mixture should be thick, almost like a thick cake batter.
- Heat the paniyaaram pan, ableskir pan. Pour ⅓ tsp oil in each indentation. Keep it on medium heat. Pour a generous tablespoon of the batter. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Turn it around and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Take it out and serve with chutney.
- In a kadahi or a large pan, add oil and let it get hot. On medium heat, add the urad daal and the red chilies, let it toast for a minute. Do not burn it. Add the onion and tomato. Saute with some salt and keep cooking for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let cool for few minutes before grinding it.
- Grind the mixture with tamarind and jaggery.
- Serve it with paniyaaram.
Do you like paniyaaram? Have you made millets paniyaaram?
If you make this vegetable loaded instant paniyaaram, do tag me on social media at #foodfashionparty. I’d love to see it.
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They must be very delicious!