Zucchini Ponganalu
Next year I have to remember how many zucchinis will appear in May, when I plant in March. For now, zucchini will have a culinary journey of its lifetime in my kitchen.
The following is a zucchini experiment, inspired by traditional ponganala recipe of South India.
Zucchini Ponganam ~ for Meal YesterdayZucchini Ponganalu
(for 3 to 4 batches)Ingredients:
3 cups, dosa batter
1 cup, grated yellow zucchini
1/2 cup, finely chopped onions
2 tablespoons, roasted cashew pieces
1 tablespoon, finely chopped green chilli
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon each – cumin and turmeric
2 tablespoons, finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
To prepare ponganalu: a well-seasoned ponganalu panMethod:
In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of peanut oil. Add and toast cumin to fragrance. Add and saute onion, yellow zucchini and green chilli for about five minutes. When they start to get crisp, add cashew pieces, turmeric, salt and cilantro leaves. Stir-fry few seconds and turn off the heat.Add the skillet contents to dosa batter. Mix well. This is now zucchini ponganala batter.
Heat a ponganala(paniyaram) pan on medium heat. Add spoonful of ponganala batter in each impression. Cook few minutes on each side to golden brown like shown here in photos.
Serve zucchini ponganalu warm with chutney, honey or sambar. They make a tasty snack or filling mini meal.
Look at the picture 🙂 Beautiful Indira. Looks extremely good.
Hi Indira,
Looks like its going to be iron chef zucchini episode on Mahanandi 🙂 As long as you dont make zucchini icecream :)Jokes apart, this ponganalu looks really delicious.
Kya baat hai Indira!
Gr8 pic n gr8 recipe with dosa batter…
Great Pic Indira! I add a pinch of Sodapodi to make ponganalu pluffy and crispy!
Ponganalu are my husbands favorite. I got to give this one a try definitely.
These looks so delicious,never imagined zucchini’s can be so versatile.Thanks to you for sharing these recipes.
hugs and smiles
Wow, Indira. I will try it soon
I wish you had planted Zucchini’s last year !! Why? Because we did 🙂 And needless to say we had zucchini to feed the entire neighborhood and yes we planted just ONE plant…. After a bumper crop that lasted around 3-4 months, I now run away from zucchini… 🙂
WOW!! you are very creative, Indira!!
We used to joke when I was growing up that when zucchini season hit everyone would start sneaking around leaving tons of it on other people’s doorsteps, as there was so much we couldn’t take it any more! They are very prolific plants.
I made the zucchini pesarattu tonight and it was tasty, if a bit watery. Next time I will need to add more besan I think, or squeeze zucchini dry first. I squeezed it directly into the mung dal when I ground it (instead of water) but it was still too wet.
Love zuchhini panirayams .I make methi and spring onion and also tomato ones.I will try zuccini one s next time .Do drop by simply.food some time.