Vegetable Paniyaram- A vegan breakfast from India

Vegetable Paniyaram is a very easy, quick, healthy and tasty vegan breakfast from South India. You can also enjoy it as a healthy and filling snack.

Last year when I went to India to visit my parents, my mother gifted me a very useful item for my kitchen – a Paniyaram maker.

My mother was also a working woman (she was a teacher in Army School) so she understands that it’s not easy to manage kitchen with office every day. However, she always encouraged us to eat home-cooked food for maintaining a healthy life. For us, she is a treasure of, delicious, easy to make recipes and tons of tips not only for cooking but everything in life. Just talking to her for a few minutes makes my day.

When I started working and she was in a different city, I had to take responsibility for the kitchen. So my extremely worried mother who had no faith in my cooking gifted me a wonderful cookery book – Quick & easy breakfast recipes by Neeta Mehta and it really helped me a lot. I still treasure that book. Thanks, mommy.

The reason for gifting me a Paniyaram maker was also the same. She wants to make my life in the kitchen easy. She herself has used it a lot in her kitchen so knows how useful it is

Those of you who don’t know what’s Paniyaram, it’s a very tasty South Indian dish which is generally eaten in breakfast but you can also enjoy it as a healthy snack.

There are different variations of Paniyaram and it’s generally prepared with lentils/rice/semolina. You can also make it using a leftover batter of idli or dosa.

You can add different vegetables or coconut even jaggery and dry fruits to make different types of Paniyram – savory, sweet, spicy…..

You just need a Paniyaram pan and then let your creative juices flow to create a range of dishes….not just Paniyaram but a healthy version of many other dishes like malpua, pakore, bati, vada for dahi vada etc.

Today, I am sharing the recipe of simple vegetable Paniyaram made with semolina. I have a couple of other interesting Paniyaram recipes which I will share later in my blog.

You will find a Paniyaram maker in most of the Indian stores which keep utensils or can also buy it online. Just make sure that it’s nonstick and has a lid too.

My mother bought it for me from India but I have checked online it’s also available on Amazon. Though not the same brand which I have. Mine is of Prestige which is really good but I could not find it on Amazon. Amazon has a lot of other options with good reviews. You can check them here.

Disclaimer:  Please note that some of the links shared in my blog are affiliate links and I will get benefited if you buy products from them at no extra cost to you. However, I have personally used most of these products hence recommending them to you. You are free to buy them from anywhere also.

How to make Vegetable Paniyaram?

Recipe:

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Makes around 24 Paniyarams

Ingredients:

• Semolina: 2 cups
• Vegan/ dairy yogurt: 1 cup (optional but if skipping add 1 tablespoon lime juice and warm water)
• Baking soda: ½ a teaspoon
• Finely chopped onion: 1 small
• Finely grated carrot: 2 tablespoons
• Finely grated cabbage: 2 tablespoons
• Finely grated ginger: ½ a tablespoon
• Chopped green chilies: 1 teaspoon / as per taste
• Chopped coriander leaves: ¼ a cup
• Chopped curry leaves: 1 tablespoon
• Pepper powder: 1 teaspoon/ as per taste
• Salt as per taste
• Vegetable oil: ½ a teaspoon (optional)
• Water: as required to make a thick batter

Method :

• Mix semolina, yogurt, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add 1 cup of water and mix well to get a thick batter.
• Now add in all the chopped vegetables, mix and keep aside for around 10-15 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, the semolina would have soaked some water so if required add some more water. It should be a slightly thick batter.
• Now add in a teaspoon of baking soda to the batter and mix well.
• Heat the Paniyaram pan and brush the cavities with very little oil.
• Fill in around 1.5 tablespoons of Paniyaram batter in each cavity and cover the pan.
• Let it cook for around 2 minutes on low flame or till you see the bottom edges of Paniyarams turning brown.
• Flip them over with the help of a knife and spoon, cover again and cook the other side also for another 3-4 minutes or till they turn golden brown from all the sides.
• Serve with coconut chutney/ peanut chutney or sambhar and enjoy your tasty, easy and healthy breakfast