Chola paniyaram / Millet paniyaram/ Sorghum paniyaram/ Paddu is a soft, fluffy and delicious savory mini tiffin/ breakfast prepared with millet called – CHOLAM/ SORGHUM (small white grain) which surely benefits our health as millet is rich in protein, iron, fiber and is packed with vitamins and minerals. The good thing about jowar/ sorghum/ cholam is it aids in weight loss as well. Chola paniyaram/ millet paniyaram tastes great when served with simple chutney and sambar. With this cholam batter you can make Idli and dosa too which is a real plus. I have posted many paniyaram recipes both sweet and savory versions like these:
Cholam/ sorghum can be used to make many dishes and I have posted quite some recipes using millets like cake, poori, idli, dosa, brinji etc like these:
So let’s get to the making of chola paniyaram/ millet paniyaram/ sorghum paniyaram!
| PREP TIME | COOK TIME | TOTAL TIME | SERVES |
| 12 hr | 20 min | 12 hr 20 min | 4 |
Ingredients
- Sorghum/ Cholam /Jowar – 1 cup
- Idli rice – 1 cup
- Whole urad dal- ½ cup
- Poha/ Aval – 2 tbsp
- Oil/ Ghee – 3 tbsp ( for making paniyaram)
TO TEMPER
- Onion – 1
- Green chilli – 2
- Oil – 2 tsp
- Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
- Urad dal– 1 tsp
- Curry leaves – a sprig
How to make Chola paniyaram/ Sorghum paniyaram with step by step images
- In a bowl add urad dal and poha. Wash it thoroughly and soak it in enough water for 5 hours.
- In a bowl add sorghum/ cholam millet and idli rice together. Wash 3 to 4 times until you see clear water. Soak it in enough water for 5 to 6 hours.
- After 6 hours, in a wet grinder add little quantity of the soaked ingredients. Switch on the grinder, when it starts grinding gradually add little by little soaked urad dal and poha. Grind the mixture into a thick and fluffy batter with adding water in regular intervals when needed.
- When the urad dal is still grinding add soaked rice and cholam. My batter was not really smooth so if your batter has grains its completely fine it will yield soft, paniyaram, idly and crisp dosa. I used 1 to 1 ½ cups of water for grinding but it may vary according the soaking time. But the measurement is just a guideline to get a perfect batter. Also scrap the inner sides of the grinder often to get rid of coarse rice mixture using the scrapper provided along with grinder.
- When done grinding transfer the mixture to a bowl, add required amount of salt and mix well. Allow the batter to ferment for 8 to 10 hours. After 8 hours you will notice the batter has doubled in size due to fermentation. Mix the batter well. For the paniyaram I used 2 cups of batter accordingly I used onions and chilli and reserved the remaining batter for Idli/ dosa. You can use the whole batter too for making paniyaram. So keep 2 cups of batter aside.
- Chop onions and green chili finely. Keep it aside. Now heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds, after it splutters add urad dal, after it turns golden brown add curry leaves, onions and green chilli. Saute for a minute. When the onions look sauteed put off the flame and allow the mixture to cool down.
- Now to the batter add the sauteed onion mixture and mix well. Keep this batter aside. Make sure the batter is thick to yield fluffy paniyaram. You could also use a pinch of cooking/ baking soda to the batter.
- Heat kuzhi paniyaram/appe pan smear some oil and add batter in each mold. Now cover it with lid and cook for a minute. When the paniyaram is just half cooked and flip it gently snd this ensures round paniyaram. Cook till done. Now transfer it to a plate and serve it hot with spicy chutney and coffee. Repeat the process till all the batter is over.