Paddu | Appe | Gundpangla

It's been super hot today. I wish the someone could just turn down the Sun a bit. I feeling all icky and sweaty. Definitely not in a mood to slog in the kitchen. All I want to do is slump on my bean bag and sit under the fan and not move a muscle. I would love to have some Cold Coffee or Lassi to complete my mid summer's day dream.

No matter what I eat for dinner or what time I go to sleep, I have this quirk that at around 7 ish in the morning I get very hungry, even in my sleep. And while I can have a liquid diet, an absolute essential in this heat, for all other meals of the day, I need carbs for breakfast. 

These Paddu or Appe or Gundpangla as they are called in many languages are perfect for days like today, when I want something filling but not something that leaves me feeling full and bogged down the whole morning. Paddu is light yet it fills you up. It gives you energy to power through the morning.

Paddu is a South Indian dumpling made from leftover Dosa Batter. You can either buy Dosa batter from the supermarket or make your own. 

Making your own Dosa Batter:

To make your own dosa batter, you need planning. It takes at least 24 hours before dosa batter is ready from start to finish. A lot of it is just resting time, but it needs that time for the flavor to develop. 

• Dosa batter measurements vary from state to state in South India, I use the 3:1 ratio i.e. 3 cups of rice for every 1 cup of urad dal. 
• Wash the rice and urad dal and soak them along with 1/2 tsp of methi or fenugreek seeds for at least 8 hours. 
• Then drain out the water and grind into a smooth batter using very little water.
• Cover and let it ferment overnight or for 10-12 hours. 
• The batter is ready when it rises and taste sour. 
• Add salt and water as required and you can now use this batter to make fluffy dosas or to make Paddu. 
• If you are only planning to make paddu, I suggest halving the above recipe for dosa batter. 
• The batter stays well in the fridge for almost a week if you don't add salt to it. So my tip is to remove how much batter you need into a different vessel and adding salt only to that. 

To make Paddu, you need a special Tava - Paddu Tava. A paddu tava has little depressions where you pour in the batter. You get them easily in any steel shop. There are nonstick ones as well as the old fashioned cast iron ones. 

You can make plain paddus that have nothing added to them or you can make them like I do with finely chopped onions, green chillis, coriander and curry leaves. Paddu tastes best with spicy coconut chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Idli - Another popular South Indian breakfast of steamed rice and lentil cakes.
• Mysore Masala Dosa - Rice and lentil pancake smeared with spicy red chutney and stuffed with potato sabzi
• Battalu Kadabu - Steamed bowls made using rice semolina or rava.
• Rava Idli - Steamed cake made with an instant batter of semoline or rava and yogurt. No fermenting required.

Paddu | Appe | Gundpangla

Paddu / Appe / Gundpangla is a dumpling made from fermented rice and urad dal batter or leftover dosa batter. Popular South Indian breakfast or snacks

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Yield:                15-18

Ingredients:

2 cups Dosa Batter (See recipe for dosa batter above)
1 Onion, finely chopped (optional)
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped (optional)
1 Tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped (optional)
1 sprig Curry Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:

Add the onion, chilli, coriander and curry leaves to the dosa batter. Make sure the dosa batter is salted, else add salt as per taste. Remember the chutney will have salt, so do not add too much salt the batter.
In case you wish to have it plain, do not add anything to the dosa batter except salt.
Grease the paddu tava the first time. After that you can spoon in about 1/4-1/2 tsp oil before pouring in the paddu batter.
Spoon in the batter in all the cups.
Cover with a domed lid so that the lid does not touch the paddus.
Once the paddus are cooked on the bottom, flip them using a small spoon or a fork.
Poke a knife or a fork through them, if it comes out clean then it is cooked.
Remove from tava and serve hot with chutney.