Kuzhi Paniyaram takes a special place in Chettinad recipies. The traditional chettinad recipes are delicious as well as nutritious. thought of making a Stuffed Kuzhi paniyaram. Instead of regualr veggie stuffing, tried stuffing cheese, worked well.
Health Benefits of Cheese : Teeth in Particular (Ask All Moms, how tough it is to get their todd to brush their teeth!!!!!!!!!)
All dairy products are provider of calcium and phosphorous which are essential to the development and maintenance of healthy teeth.
However cheese and milk are known to contain specific factors believed to protect against dental caries and are known as anticariogenic, in fact cheese is considered to be one of the most anticariogenic of all foods.
The anticariogenic properties of cheese have been well studied and several mechanisms have been suggested to explain how cheese helps to protect our teeth:
Cheese delivers large amounts of calcium and phosphorous to the mouth which helps to replace the minerals lost through acidic damage (demineralisation). and to increase the strength of tooth enamel.
Consuming cheese either alone or as part of a cooked, mixed meal, increases the concentration of calcium in the plaque around our teeth. This helps to reduce and replace the calcium lost when teeth come under attack from acids produced in the mouth. It has been shown that eating cheese after repeated consumption of acidic drinks can return the levels of calcium in the plaque to pre-drink levels.
Cheese causes us to produce more saliva in the mouth which helps to clear food and reduce the amount of sugar present for fermentation and acid production by mouth bacteria.
Info Source : http://www.milk.co.uk/
So, Letz Cheessssssssse
Ingredients
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Parboiled rice - 1 cup
Poha/aval - 1/4 cup
Urad dal - 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 2-3 nos
Medium sized onion - 2 nos
Grated coconut 2 tbsp
curry leaves, fresh coriander leaves, salt - as needed
Shredded Mozarella cheese - 1 cup
Method
Soak raw rice, parboiled rice, poha and urad dal ,fenugreek seeds overnight. Grind it to a fine batter along with green chillies,onion,curry leaves, coconut and coriander. Add Salt. Let it sit for an hour.
Heat the Kuzhi paniyara pan, fill each kuzhi till half ,with the batter, now add 1/2 - 1 tsp of cheese to it and cover with some more batter. add oil/ghee and cook both sides.
Since Cheese, already has salt so adjust the salt added to batter accordingly.
I made some Tomato-peanut Gravy for this. Tastes wonderful with Ketchup too.
Tompea Gravy
Ingredients
Peanut - 2 cups,
Medum sized onion, - 2-3 nos, finely chopped
Tomatoes - 4 nos, finely chopped
Green chillies - 2 nos
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1-1/2 tbsp
Dhaniya powder - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds, cumin - 1/2 tsp for seasoning
Salt to taste
Salt to taste
Method
Soak peanuts for an hour or two and pressure cook until soft. Heat oil in a kadai splutter mustard seeds, cumin, add green chilli, ginger-garlic paste, add onions. cook until translucent, add tomatoes. add lil water for the tomatoes to cook. Add Peanuts, add red chilli powder, dhaniya powder and salt.
Add water as needed for the gravy.Instead u can even add 1/2 cup milk for the gravy to be more rich.Let it cook for 10-15 minutes in a simmer flame.Garnish with fresh coriander.
I left it on the stove for a couple of minutes extra, so the gravy got dried up a bit. So u guys take care of that!!! :)
I m packing this to Food for 7 Stages of Life co-hosted by Radhika and Sudheshna featuring food for ages 4 to 14 until December the 5th.
