South Indian Semolina and Vegetable Dumplings

Name: South Indian Semolina and Vegetable Dumplings
Ingredients: For the batter; 1 cup semolina or sooji or rawa; 1/4 cup yoghurt; Salt to taste; 1 level tsp. Andrews or ENO fruit salt/baking powder, not baking soda.; A pinch of food grade Citric acid powder (available from Indian food stores) or 1 tsp lemon juice; Water to make batter; Vegetables to add; A mix of any of these vegetables can also be added: capsicum, cabbage, carrots, green chillies, onions, ginger, tomatoes etc.; For Tarka; 2 tsp. oil; 1 tbsp. white sesame seeds (til); 1 tbsp. black mustard seeds (rai); For cooking; 1 tbsp. white sesame seeds (til); 1 tbsp. black mustard seeds (rai); Appe or Paddu pan; Oil to grease the pan

Appe

Sushma Agarwal

Free From Garlic Free From Tomato Indian Snack Starter Vegetarian

South Indian Semolina and Vegetable Dumplings

Note from Mamta: Also known as paddu, ponganal, paniyaram, unniyappam, appu and appam, it is a popular snack dish of southern India. Appe are made from different types of batter, like Idli batter, Dosa batter, Dhokla batter and even a sweet batter. They look like small idlies, but are not steamed. Instead, they are cooked in special pan which has small, idli like casts. They are often served as breakfast, but can be served as a tea snack or a buffet dish. They look a lot like the Danish aebleskiver.

Makes about 20.

Last 5 pictures by Savita Kumar

Ingredients

For the batter
1 cup semolina or sooji or rawa
1/4 cup yoghurt
Salt to taste
1 level tsp. Andrews or ENO fruit salt/baking powder, not baking soda.
A pinch of food grade Citric acid powder (available from Indian food stores) or 1 tsp lemon juice
Water to make batter
Vegetables to add
A mix of any of these vegetables can also be added: capsicum, cabbage, carrots, green chillies, onions, ginger, tomatoes etc.
For Tarka
2 tsp. oil
1 tbsp. white sesame seeds (til)
1 tbsp. black mustard seeds (rai)
For cooking
1 tbsp. white sesame seeds (til)
1 tbsp. black mustard seeds (rai)
Appe or Paddu pan
Oil to grease the pan

Instructions

Make a thick batter with all the batter ingredients. Leave to stand for 5 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 cup of very finely chopped vegetable and mix.
Heat the tarka oil in a laddle and add mustard and sesame seeds to it. As soon as the mustard seeds crackle, transfer this oil to a small bowl/katori. You will be pouring a tiny amount of this on each appe batter mould, before you start cooking. See picture number
Place a few drops of oil in each mould/depression of the appe pan and heat it.
Pour 1 level tablespoon of the batter into each mould, just enough to fill it neatly.
Put a tiny amount of the oil with mustard and sesame seeds til) on top of the batter in each mould, see picture 9.
Cook for 3 minutes on a medium heat. Turn each appe over gently with a knife or back of a spoon and cook the other side too.
Serve hot with Coconut Chutney 1 or Coconut Chutney 2 or any other sauce of choice.
Last 4 pictures show Appe with onion, tomato, pepper, cabbage and chopped coriander leaves.

Notes

Variation
Use a Dhokla Batter instead (you can use packet mix)