My new found love for the Ripe Palmyra Fruit and its golden pulp, has led to my imagination running riot (like that is a new thing 😎 ) and with that has come the creation of several recipes which the palm pulp has been begging to be used in!!!
Its ability to fit into any cuisine right from Sourdough breads to Indian snacks and desserts, makes it easy for the aforementioned imagination to have the time of its life and come up with various possibilities.
One such dessert cum snack that I could immediately think of, was the Paddu which is also known as Kuzhiappam, where the ‘zh’ is pronounced like a deep, rolling L. Yeah you have to earn your paddu you know.
To explain better, a paddu is made in a special pan, somewhat like an abeleskiver pan and is a snack that can be made in both sweet and savory variants. It is a sphere of sorts which is formed by dropping the batter into the depressions of the pan.
So let us get out of our Corona depression for a bit and entertain ourselves by trying to pronounce Kuzhiappam and also learning to make it.
And sssh do not tell anyone but I have also added Sourdough to it.
The ripe Palmyra Palm fruit –
Though I have this great urge to wax eloquent on the palm pulp, I will restrain myself to avoid being repetitive and will request you to read my earlier blog. I will however, repost the video here because I took a lot of trouble producing it and I would really like you to see it 😀
You can choose the YouTube or Instagram version.
Paddu –
The paddu is a South Indian snack which is basically a sphere of around an inch in diameter. This is made in a special mould called a paddu pan and is similar to an abeleskiver pan (just to give you a rough idea).
It is also known as Kuzhiappam, Paniyaram etc.
Kuzhi stands for cavity, which is the semi circular dip in the pan. A pan can be circular or sometimes rectangular and on an average has around 7 depressions and far more in case of restaurant sized equipment.
Cast iron is the best material for these pans, though some of them also are available with a non stick coating which is quite convenient. You also have Aluminum ones.
Ancient ones used to be available in brass.
While buying, try to opt for the ones that come with a glass lid (or any lid) and also a turner, which is a tool for flipping the paddus while cooking. I use a chop stick and a sharp spoon to turn but you can find whatever suits you.
The process –
Paddus are made in several variants. The basic ones use a dosa batter of sorts which is ground rice and urad dal (black lentil) but one can use almost any kind of batter and experiment.
I have made up a recipe that uses the palm pulp and also some sourdough discard (because I am nuts like that), along with some flours to bind and sweetener for taste.
The palm pulp has a light bitter, palmy aftertaste which I quite like. You may try to mask it by using spices like cardamom powder or nutmeg etc.
I have also used coconut residue which I collect and freeze after grinding the scraped coconut to extract milk.
If you do not have palm pulp (because it is such a rare ingredient), then feel free to use any other suitable substitute like jackfruit or mango pulp or even boiled and pureed beet, yellow pumkin etc etc. Do let me know how that goes 😀
Also, you may eliminate the Sourdough discard if you do not have it. Please add more flour as per the recipe, until you achieve the desired consistency of batter.
Likewise with the coconut residue.
I have not used baking soda but you may use a pinch if you want a lighter product. The paddus I made were dense and fudgy and I liked them that way.
So basically just do your thing and do not worry if you do not have the exact same ingredients 😀 All you are looking to do is to get a batter that will give you paddus.
Recipe of Palm Pulp Paddu with Sourdough discard –
Time –
Approximately 3 hours from start to finish.
Makes – Around 10 -12 paddus
INGREDIENTS –
1 – Sourdough discard – 50 gm – See the blog link above
2 – Chiroti Rava (fine semolina) 100 gm
3 – Ripe Palm Pulp at room temperature – 100 gm
4 – Sugar (I use organic unrefined) – 100 gm
5 – Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
6 – Oil/ghee/butter – 10 gm (I used oil)
7 – Coconut residue – 30 gm – See Notes
8 – Oil for drizzling while frying – as required
Equipment that I used –
7 cavity cast iron, non stick coated Paddu pan.
A chop stick and a sharp spoon for turning
Method –
The method is super easy. All you have to do is mix in all the ingredients to a batter of thick dropping consistency, a bit thicker than dosa and thinner than idli.
Set this aside for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.
If you are adding baking soda, do so just before cooking.
You can dilute the batter with any liquid, in case it has thickened.
Season the paddu pan by smearing oil in the cavities. Heat it well for a minute and then switch off the flame.
Once it cools back to room temperature, heat it again on medium heat and pour the batter with a small spoon into each of the cavities. Drizzle a little oil around each one and cover the pan.
In 1 – 2 minutes, open the cover and check if the tops look set. Once that happens, flip them over carefully with the help of the sharp spoon and chopstick and drizzle some more oil.
Cover and cook for another minute or until a knife pierced through the paddu comes out relatively clean.
Remove them from the pan and store in a heat proof casserole. You can have these hot or cold.
They can be refrigerated for a couple of days.
Continue similarly with the rest of the batter.
Notes –
I grind fresh grated coconut and squeeze the pulp to obtain milk for various recipes. I freeze the left over residue and use it randomly in my inventions 😀
This residue can also be sundried and stored and is known as coconut flour.
I hope you will successfully try this recipe and I would really appreciate if you leave your feedback in the Blog comments.
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