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Panangai Paniyaaram

Small fried sweet cakes made from fresh or roasted panampazham/palmyra/toddy palm fruit pulp, and a batter of fresh ground rice, wheat flour and thinai or foxtail millet flour. A Sri Lankan Tamil delicacy.
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Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup aromatic rice such as jeeraga samba, gobindo bhog or ambe mohar
  • 1 cup of panampazham pulp, either fresh or roasted, extracted as indicated in the post above
  • ¼ cup whole wheat flour
  • ¼ cup foxtail millet flour or thinnai maavu
  • ¼ cup fresh grated coconut or small coconut pieces
  • 1 cup of grated or powdered panavellam/jaggery, or can substitute with sugar
  • 2-3 pods of cardamom, powdered
  • A pinch of baking soda (optional; see instructions below)
  • Water to mix the batter
  • Oil for deep frying

Method
 

  1. Soak the rice for 2-3 hours. Drain partially and grind to a semi-smooth paste. A little grit is ok, but not too much. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
  2. Add the panampazham pulp, the flours, sweetener, coconut and cardamom.
  3. Adjust the consistency by sprinkling a little water if needed or adding a little extra wheat/thinai flour if needed. You want a thick batter you can shape with your fingers into small donuts, not something so runny that it spreads and splutters in hot oil.
  4. If the panampazham pulp you are using is fresh and foamy/fermenting, you might want to adjust sweetness to balance the natural souring, and leave the batter to rest for a ½ hour-1 hour before frying.
  5. If you’ve used a roasted panampazham pulp, a pinch of baking soda is recommended. If not, and the batter feels light enough, you can omit this.
  6. Heat the oil in a deep pan. When it is very hot, reduce the flame to medium-high, and start dropping in small spoonfuls of the dough. You can use your fingers if you like, roughly shaping the batter and dropping it in tear-drops into the oil.
  7. Fry until a deep golden brown. Lift from the oil, and drain on paper towels.
  8. Allow these to cool before eating—it’s not advised to have them too fresh. But these keep well for some days in the fridge, and are a very pleasant accompaniment to afternoon teas.