First things first: I am not a fan of oatmeal. I will try my hardest to camouflage the oats by any means possible. Yep, a bit crazy, I know. But that’s how I feel about eating oats. I still eat it because it is good for me but I don’t have to eat it in porridge form always, do I? In fact, I rarely do, and when I do, it is also disguised by a generous portion of fruits and nuts. That’s how I like it. When I came across this recipe in Cook, Click & Devour, I knew I had to try it. It was savory! Done!
These are oatmeal ableskievers, otherwise known as paniyarams, in India. Funnily enough, I cannot remember eating a paniyaram while growing up in India. Always one to learn more Indian recipes, I took up the challenge. What is the challenge you ask? The ableskievers themselves! Those of you who have made them before, you know what I am talking about. You know, how your first few batches come out looking like PacMan and not round and perfect like they should be. So, I was a bit nervous to try this but I did, anyway.
They turned out close to perfect! And they were delicious! I made a whole batch of these and was eating them as fast as I was making them. I realized this too late and managed to save maybe four of them for Aaron 😀 Try them – you might be surprised how much you like them!
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick cooking instant oats
- 4 tablespoons rice flour
- ¾ cup curd,whisked smooth (you can use plain yogurt or find Dahi in the Indian stores)
- A pinch of fruit salt ( I did not have this and did not use it)
- salt
- For masala
- 1 small onion,sliced
- 1 carrot,peeled and grated
- ½ green bell pepper,chopped fine
- 2 green chillies,slit
- 1 teaspoon urad dal
- 1 teaspoon channa dal
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt
- Oil
- Heat 1 tablespoon in a kadai (skillet) and temper with mustard seeds,urad dal,channa dal,curry leaves and green chillies.
- Add sliced onions and saute till translucent. Add the chopped green bell peppers,carrot,turmeric powder and salt and saute for 3-5 minutes. Cover and cook till the veggies are done. Remove from flame and set aside to cool
- Take oats and rice flour in a bowl and mix well. Add salt. Add curd and mix well to make alump free batter. The batter should be of idly batter consistency.
- Now add the cooked veggies to the batter and mix. You can few tablespoons of curd now if you feel the batter is too tight.
- Heat a paniyaram kal (ableskiever pan) and add few drops of oil in each mould. Spoon in the batter in each mould and cook for 2 minutes. Flip to the other side gently using a wooden stick (comes along with paniyaram kal) and cook for 2 minutes,until the crust turns golden brown.
- Finish off the remaining batter same way and serve instant oats paniyaram hot along with chutney or plain along with tea.
2. Fruit salt acts as leavening agent
3. You can add just onions leaving out veggies,else you can do a tempering of mustard,cumin,crushed pepper and curry leaves instead of the masala mentioned in the recipe
