Welcoming the New Year 2022 with great hopes and positivity to overcome the inclement situation that prevailed last 2 years. Though there’s a spike in cases across the globe, only festive vibes keep us moving and pursuing our dreams and journey. Nothing stops us from celebrating our own Harvest Festival, marking the end of winter and commencement of the harvest season in different regions of India. It’s adorned with various names like Pongal/Sankranti/Maghi/Bihu across India. Being a Tamilian, I grew up with the celebration of Pongal back in my place, Chennai. The reminiscence of my childhood Pongal memories along with my mom’s dishes still lingering in my tongue and mind.
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Pongal is the harvest festival of Tamilnadu, the word ‘Pongal’ means to seethe or to boil. It’s a kind of Thanksgiving Day to our farmers, farmer’s friend: the sun and cow which are inseparable in a farmer’s life. Pongal celebration is kick-started with deep cleaning, whitewashing, and decorating the house with vibrant colour-filled kolam in the entrance, wearing our traditional, ethnic attires and welcoming the Sun god at his rise. Across various districts of Tamilnadu, world-renowned Jallikattu (bull-taming sport), Cock-fighting, Kazhumaram, Vazhukkumaram (slippery pole), Uri adithal (like Dahi Handi) are conducted during this harvest festival. All these sports game is unique and reflects the age-old culture and tradition of our State.
When it comes to food, different regions of Tamilnadu have different native foods which they prepare during this special occasion. Generally, Sweet Pongal which is made from jaggery or sugar is considered to be the vital food during the Pongal festival. Apart from it, Savoury Pongal/Ven Pongal is also prepared. My last year Pongal combo recipe consists of Thinai/foxtail millet VenPongal, Restaurant Tiffin Sambar/Araicchuvitta Sambar, Coconut coriander chutney, Onion/vengaya chutney, Medhu vadas.
This year, I wanted to post a simple still exceptional dish for this Pongal. It’s disguised in various names across the districts of Tamilnadu and other Southern states of India. It’s consumed as tiffin in the morning, or as dessert in the lunch or as an evening snack too, it’s highly versatile. It is prepared superabundantly in every household and exchanged among friends, relatives, and neighbours along with Sweet/Sakkarai Pongal. It’s rich in proteins and carbs loaded with other nutrients thus making it a scrumptious and energetic snack, to have apt on a festive day. After describing a lot about it, it’s not fair to keep it still unrevealed. It’s termed as Suviyam, Susiyam, Suyyam, Suzhiyan, Seeyam, Sukiyan, Sugunta, Sugeelu, Sukkinunde, Boorelu, and Poornalu in varied parts of Southern India. As in names, there is a disparity in the ingredients as well. This dish is basically deep-fried sweet prepared from dal and jaggery stuffing, which is rolled into balls and dipped in batter, and fried in oil. There is a difference in the stuffing and batter ingredients from region to region. Dal used in the inner stuffing varies from Channa dal, Toor dal to the green gram. While the outer covering ranges from All-purpose flour, wheat flour, urad dal flour, or a combination of rice and urad dal. A common sweetening agent is Jaggery, which is widely used in all regions. Preparation remains the same. If you are calorie conscious, you can skip deep frying and do it in Panaiyaaram kal/Unniappam pan/ ‘Aebleskiver’ pan or any mini pancake maker. I have shared the pic of this pan in Danish delicacy ‘Aebleskiver’ or ‘Ebelskiver, recipe.
Here, I prepared 3 types of Susiyam/Suyyam.
- One is the regular Maida Suyyam which is prepared with channa dal stuffing and dipped in an all-purpose flour batter mixture.
- Second one is Madurai style Seeyam, similar to Andhra Poornalu in which the channa dal stuffing is dipped into idli batter.
- Third one is my kitchen secret kinda recipe, where I try fusion or new recipes and play in the kitchen with my creativity. This Thinai Aval Suviyam is prepared with Rice flakes/Aval/Poha stuffing, dipped in Thinai flour batter.
Are you intrigued to know the recipe? Let’s not waste any time…👇😍.
For Maida Suyyam-
Wash and soak ½ cup channa dal with 1 cup water for a minimum of 2 hours.
After soaking for 2 hours, pressure cook the dal with another half cup water (refer notes) for 4-5 whistles.
Meanwhile, take a pan and add the required quantity of grated or softened jaggery (refer notes), along with 1½ tbsp water. Melt it and smash any lumps with the back of the ladle. Once melted, switch off the flame, filter, and keep it aside.
Once the pressure is released, open and check if dal is cooked well.It should be easily squashable when squished between your fingers. If not, cook for a few more whistles to attain that texture.
Then drain the water (refer notes), and transfer the dal to a mixer jar. Pulse it coarsely, without adding any water. Alternatively, you can mash it with a masher.
Clean the same pan (used to melt jaggery), heat it with 2 tsp ghee. Then add ¼ cup grated coconut, roast till it turns golden colour.
Now add the mashed channa dal, combine well.
Then add the melted, filtered jaggery along with cardamom powder and dry ginger powder. Mix well.
Sauté it for roughly 10 minutes or till it combines as a single mass. Switch off the flame and let it cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the outer covering batter by soaking ½ tbsp roasted rava/semolina in 1 tbsp water for 2 minutes.
Then add All-purpose flour, rice flour, salt, and turmeric powder (optional), mix well. Gradually add water, whisk well to remove any lumps.
It requires roughly 7 tbsp water to prepare this mixture in an idli batter consistency.
Once the filling is cooled down, grease your hand with ghee and roll it into medium-sized balls and keep it aside.
Heat a deep, thick-bottomed pan with frying oil in med-high heat. Once it reached the required temperature, dip the balls into the batter and ensure its coated evenly and wipe any excess batter from the sides of the dish. Drop them into the oil and fry in medium flame.
Slightly disturb the balls in a minute with the ladle to avoid any burning on the bottom. It’ll take roughly 2-3 minutes in medium flame to turn golden brown. Remove it and drain excess oil by spreading it on tissue paper for a while.
Serve it hot, as it’ll be crispy and tasty when consumed immediately. Nevertheless, it can be reheated in an air fryer and still it retains the texture. These fritters, Suviyam/Seeyam is a bundle of happiness when you take a bite of it. The outer crispy covering and the soft and sweet inner filling with a crunch of roasted coconut and a hint of flavours from cardamom and dry ginger is a sublime experience. Though it’s simple in its ingredients and preparation, it’ll definitely surpass your expectations.
For Madurai style Seeyam/Poornalu
Wash and soak ½ cup channa dal with 1 cup water for a minimum of 2 hours. After soaking for 2 hours, pressure cook the dal with another half cup water (refer notes) for 4-5 whistles.
Meanwhile, take a pan and add the required quantity of grated or softened jaggery (refer notes), along with 1½ tbsp water. Melt it and smash any lumps with the back of the ladle. Once melted, switch off the flame, filter, and keep it aside.
Once the pressure is released, open and check if dal is cooked well.It should be easily squashable when squished between your fingers. If not, cook for a few more whistles to attain that texture. Then drain the water (refer notes), and transfer the dal to a mixer jar. Pulse it coarsely, without adding any water. Alternatively, you can mash it with a masher.
Clean the same pan (used to melt jaggery), heat it with 2 tsp ghee. Then add ¼ cup grated coconut, roast till it turns golden colour. Now add the mashed channa dal, combine well. Then add the melted, filtered jaggery along with cardamom powder and dry ginger powder. Mix well.
Sauté it for roughly 10 minutes or till it combines as a single mass. Switch off the flame and let it cool. Once the filling is cooled down, grease your hand with ghee and roll it into medium-sized balls and keep it aside.
For the outer covering, it’s as simple as just using your homemade Idli batter or store-bought idli batter. The only criteria is that the batter should be thick, not runny like dosa batter. The batter has to be thick enough to coat the filling generously.
Heat a deep, thick-bottomed pan with frying oil in med-high heat. Once it reached the required temperature, dip the balls into the batter and ensure its coated evenly and wipe any excess batter from the sides of the dish. Drop them into the oil and fry in medium flame.
Slightly disturb the balls in a minute with the ladle to avoid any burning on the bottom. It’ll take roughly 2-3 minutes in medium flame to turn golden brown. Remove it and drain excess oil by spreading it on tissue paper for a while.
Serve it hot, as it is super crispy and tasty when consumed immediately. Nevertheless, it can be reheated in an air fryer and still it retains the texture.
Madurai style Seeyam/ Andhra Poornalu is ready to serve. I referred it to Andhra Poornalu, as in some regions it is also prepared similarly with idli batter. In other regions of Andhra, they freshly soak and grind rice and urad dal, ferment it and use this batter. At the end of the day, the result will be the same. Super crunchy, crispy covering filled with soft, smooth, sweet channa dal stuffing is an absolutely sumptuous feeling. In short, it is a modest beauty.
For Thinai Aval Suviyam
Wash and soak ½ cup of Rice flakes/Aval/Poha with ¼ cup water for 10 minutes. Here, I used Red Rice flakes, to make them healthier. Feel free to use normal poha also. After 10 minutes of soaking, rice flakes would have puffed up and water would have completely absorbed as well.
To remove extra moisture if any, spread the puffed rice flakes onto a tissue paper and keep it for some time.
Then transfer it to a small bowl and try to mash it roughly with your hands or a masher. Do not use a blender. It’s enough if you can mash it partially with your hands.
Deseed the dates and finely chop them and keep them aside. Meanwhile, take a pan and add the required quantity of grated or softened jaggery (refer notes), along with 1 tbsp water. Melt it and smash any lumps with the back of the ladle. Once melted, switch off the flame, filter, and keep it aside.
Clean the same pan (used to melt jaggery), heat it with 2 tsp ghee. Then add ¼ cup grated coconut, roast it for a couple of minutes.
Now add the partially mashed rice flakes/aval/poha, combine well.
Then add the cardamom powder along with the melted and filtered jaggery. Mix it roughly for 5 minutes or till it combines well.
Finally add the chopped deseeded dates
And stir it well till it combines as a single mass. Switch off the flame and let it cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the outer covering batter by soaking ½ tbsp roasted rava/semolina in 1 tbsp water for 2 minutes. Then add Foxtail millet/Thinai flour, rice flour, salt, turmeric powder (optional), mix well.
Gradually add water, whisk well to remove any lumps. It requires roughly 6 tbsp water to prepare this mixture in an idli batter consistency.
Once the filling is cooled down, grease your hand with ghee and roll it into medium-sized balls and keep it aside.
Heat a deep, thick-bottomed pan with frying oil in med-high heat. Once it reached the required temperature, dip the balls into the batter and ensure its coated evenly and wipe any excess batter from the sides of the dish. Drop them into the oil and fry in medium flame.
Slightly disturb the balls in a minute with the ladle to avoid any burning on the bottom.
It’ll take roughly 2-3 minutes in medium flame to turn golden brown. Remove it and drain excess oil by spreading it on tissue paper for a while.
Serve it hot, as it’ll be crispy and tasty when consumed immediately. Nevertheless, it can be reheated in an air fryer and still it retains the crispy texture.
Healthy, tasty, nutrients packed Thinai Aval Suviyam is ready to serve. It was a notch tastier than Maida Suyyam made with All-purpose flour and channa dal filling. Foxtail millet flour adds to the crispiness and tasty of the dish, while rice flakes, dates, and jaggery took care of the sweet part of the dish. It was a heavenly match between the flour and the filling. Truly an appetizing finger food. Don’t miss to relish this modest beauty for this Pongal.
Recipe card
Preparation time: 10-20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Cuisine: South Indian
Category: Tiffin, Festive Sweets and Snacks.
Serves: 4
Author: Manimala
For Maida Suyyam-
Ingredients:
Inner filling-
Channa dal/Split Chickpeas lentil – ½ cup (100 g)
Jaggery – 1/3 – ½ cup (75-100 g)
Grated Coconut – ¼ cup
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Dry Ginger/Sukku powder – ¼ tsp
Ghee – 2 tsp
Outer Covering-
All-purpose/Maida flour – ¼ cup
Rice flour – 1 tbsp
Semolina – ½ tbsp
Salt – a pinch
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Water – 8 tbsp
Instructions:
- Wash and soak ½ cup channa dal with 1 cup water for a minimum of 2 hours.
- After soaking for 2 hours, pressure cook the dal with another half cup water (refer notes) for 4-5 whistles.
- Meanwhile, take a pan and add the required quantity of grated or softened jaggery (refer notes), along with 1½ tbsp water. Melt it and smash any lumps with the back of the ladle. Once melted, switch off the flame, filter, and keep it aside.
- Once the pressure is released, open and check if dal is cooked well.It should be easily squashable when squished between your fingers. If not, cook for a few more whistles to attain that texture.
- Then drain the water (refer notes), and transfer the dal to a mixer jar.
- Pulse it coarsely, without adding any water. Alternatively, you can mash it with a masher.
- Clean the same pan (used to melt jaggery), heat it with 2 tsp ghee. Then add ¼ cup grated coconut, roast till it turns golden colour.
- Now add the mashed channa dal, combine well.
- Then add the melted, filtered jaggery along with cardamom powder and dry ginger powder. Mix well.
- Sauté it for roughly 10 minutes or till it combines as a single mass. Switch off the flame and let it cool.
- Meanwhile, prepare the outer covering batter by soaking ½ tbsp roasted rava/semolina in 1 tbsp water for 2 minutes.
- Then add All-purpose flour, rice flour, salt, and turmeric powder (optional), mix well. Gradually add water, whisk well to remove any lumps. It requires roughly 7 tbsp water to prepare this mixture in an idli batter consistency.
- Once the filling is cooled down, grease your hand with ghee and roll it into medium-sized balls and keep it aside.
- Heat a deep, thick-bottomed pan with frying oil in med-high heat. Once it reached the required temperature, dip the balls into the batter and ensure its coated evenly and wipe any excess batter from the sides of the dish. Drop them into the oil and fry in medium flame.
- Slightly disturb the balls in a minute with the ladle to avoid any burning on the bottom.
- It’ll take roughly 2-3 minutes in medium flame to turn golden brown.
- Remove it and drain excess oil by spreading it on tissue paper for a while.
- Serve it hot, as it’ll be crispy and tasty when consumed immediately. Nevertheless, it can be reheated in an air fryer and still it retains the texture.
- These fritters, Suviyam/Seeyam is a bundle of happiness when you take a bite of it. The outer crispy covering and the soft and sweet inner filling with a crunch of roasted coconut and a hint of flavours from cardamom and dry ginger is a sublime experience. Though it’s simple in its ingredients and preparation, it’ll definitely surpass your expectations.
For Madurai style Seeyam/Poornalu
Ingredients:
Inner filling-
Channa dal/Split Chickpeas lentil – ½ cup (100 g)
Jaggery – 1/3 – ½ cup (75-100 g)
Grated Coconut – ¼ cup
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Dry Ginger/Sukku powder – ¼ tsp
Ghee – 2 tsp
Outer Covering-
Idli batter – as required
Instructions:
- Wash and soak ½ cup channa dal with 1 cup water for a minimum of 2 hours.
- After soaking for 2 hours, pressure cook the dal with another half cup water (refer notes) for 4-5 whistles.
- Meanwhile, take a pan and add the required quantity of grated or softened jaggery (refer notes), along with 1½ tbsp water. Melt it and smash any lumps with the back of the ladle. Once melted, switch off the flame, filter, and keep it aside.
- Once the pressure is released, open and check if dal is cooked well.It should be easily squashable when squished between your fingers. If not, cook for a few more whistles to attain that texture.
- Then drain the water (refer notes), and transfer the dal to a mixer jar.
- Pulse it coarsely, without adding any water. Alternatively, you can mash it with a masher.
- Clean the same pan (used to melt jaggery), heat it with 2 tsp ghee. Then add ¼ cup grated coconut, roast till it turns golden colour.
- Now add the mashed channa dal, combine well.
- Then add the melted, filtered jaggery along with cardamom powder and dry ginger powder. Mix well.
- Sauté it for roughly 10 minutes or till it combines as a single mass. Switch off the flame and let it cool.
- Once the filling is cooled down, grease your hand with ghee and roll it into medium-sized balls and keep it aside.
- For the outer covering, it’s as simple as just using your homemade Idli batter or store-bought idli batter. The only criteria is that the batter should be thick, not runny like dosa batter. The batter has to be thick enough to coat the filling generously.
- Heat a deep, thick-bottomed pan with frying oil in med-high heat. Once it reached the required temperature, dip the balls into the batter and ensure its coated evenly and wipe any excess batter from the sides of the dish. Drop them into the oil and fry in medium flame.
- Slightly disturb the balls in a minute with the ladle to avoid any burning on the bottom.
- It’ll take roughly 2-3 minutes in medium flame to turn golden brown.
- Remove it and drain excess oil by spreading it on tissue paper for a while.
- Serve it hot, as it is super crispy and tasty when consumed immediately. Nevertheless, it can be reheated in an air fryer and still it retains the texture.
- Madurai style Seeyam/ Andhra Poornalu is ready to serve. I referred it to Andhra Poornalu, as in some regions it is also prepared similarly with idli batter. In other regions of Andhra, they freshly soak and grind rice and urad dal, ferment it and use this batter. At the end of the day, the result will be the same. Super crunchy, crispy covering filled with soft, smooth, sweet channa dal stuffing is an absolutely sumptuous feeling. In short, it is a modest beauty.
For Thinai Aval Suviyam
Ingredients:
Inner filling-
Rice flakes/Aval/Poha – ½ cup (50 g)
Jaggery – ¼ cup (50 g)
Grated Coconut – ¼ cup
Dates, big – 3 (50 g)
Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp
Ghee – 2 tsp
Outer Covering-
Foxtail millet/Thinai flour – ¼ cup
Rice flour – 1 tbsp
Semolina – ½ tbsp
Salt – a pinch
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Water – 7 tbsp
Instructions:
- Wash and soak ½ cup of Rice flakes/Aval/Poha with ¼ cup water for 10 minutes. Here, I used Red Rice flakes, to make them healthier. Feel free to use normal poha also.
- After 10 minutes of soaking, rice flakes would have puffed up and water would have completely absorbed as well.
- To remove extra moisture if any, spread the puffed rice flakes onto a tissue paper and keep it for some time.
- Then transfer it to a small bowl and try to mash it roughly with your hands or a masher. Do not use a blender. It’s enough if you can mash it partially with your hands.
- Deseed the dates and finely chop them and keep them aside.
- Meanwhile, take a pan and add the required quantity of grated or softened jaggery (refer notes), along with 1 tbsp water. Melt it and smash any lumps with the back of the ladle. Once melted, switch off the flame, filter, and keep it aside.
- Clean the same pan (used to melt jaggery), heat it with 2 tsp ghee. Then add ¼ cup grated coconut, roast it for a couple of minutes.
- Now add the partially mashed rice flakes/aval/poha, combine well.
- Then add the cardamom powder along with the melted and filtered jaggery. Mix it roughly for 5 minutes or till it combines well.
- Finally add the chopped deseeded dates and stir it well till it combines as a single mass. Switch off the flame and let it cool.
- Meanwhile, prepare the outer covering batter by soaking ½ tbsp roasted rava/semolina in 1 tbsp water for 2 minutes.
- Then add Foxtail millet/Thinai flour, rice flour, salt, turmeric powder (optional), mix well. Gradually add water, whisk well to remove any lumps. It requires roughly 6 tbsp water to prepare this mixture in an idli batter consistency.
- Once the filling is cooled down, grease your hand with ghee and roll it into medium-sized balls and keep it aside.
- Heat a deep, thick-bottomed pan with frying oil in med-high heat. Once it reached the required temperature, dip the balls into the batter and ensure its coated evenly and wipe any excess batter from the sides of the dish. Drop them into the oil and fry in medium flame.
- Slightly disturb the balls in a minute with the ladle to avoid any burning on the bottom.
- It’ll take roughly 2-3 minutes in medium flame to turn golden brown.
- Remove it and drain excess oil by spreading it on tissue paper for a while.
- Serve it hot, as it’ll be crispy and tasty when consumed immediately. Nevertheless, it can be reheated in an air fryer and still it retains the crispy texture.
- Healthy, tasty, nutrients packed Thinai Aval Suviyam is ready to serve. It was a notch tastier than Maida Suyyam made with All-purpose flour and channa dal filling. Foxtail millet flour adds to the crispiness and tasty of the dish, while rice flakes, dates, and jaggery took care of the sweet part of the dish. It was a heavenly match between the flour and the filling. Truly an appetizing finger food. Don’t miss to relish this modest beauty for this Pongal.
Notes:
- The inner filling can be prepared with channa dal, green gram/moong dal, or with toor dal as well. The only requirement is to cook the dal well and should be squishy while pressing between your fingers.
- For ½ cup of dal, I soaked with 1 cup of water and to that, I added another half cup while pressure cooking. Do not discard that 1 cup of water used for soaking.
- After pressure cooking, drain the water and use it in your soup, sambar, dal, or rasam. Do not waste it.
- Here, in channa dal filling, I felt 1/3 cup Jaggery is enough for ½ cup dal if you’re a moderate sweet eating person. On the other hand, if you have a sweet tooth, then go ahead with an equal proportion of dal to jaggery (like 1:1). The other reason to go with less jaggery is, you can eat many suyyams, say 4 in the place of 2 if the sweet is moderate and will not be satiating.
- But in the rice flakes filling, I added dates as well. The ratio of rice flakes: jaggery: dates was 1:1:1 in terms of weight. Do not use this ratio in terms of a cup. You check and increase the sweetness if required.
- I added the dry ginger powder to the channa dal filling. Overeating jaggery will lead to heaviness and indigestion. Adding dry ginger helps in digestion.
- In Rice flakes, I avoid adding dry ginger powder as it may hit the flavour sharply.
- Turmeric powder is optional. I just added it to give a vibrant colour to the flour.
- Adding a pinch of salt to the batter will enhance the sweetness in the dish.
- It’ll take roughly 2-3 minutes only to cook in oil as the inner filling is already cooked.
- It has a storage life of 2 days even at room temperature. Because the coconut is well roasted and the dal is well cooked with jaggery.
- Alternatively, you can shallow fry the suyyams using Panaiyaaram kal. In that case, you can use ghee in the cavities of the Panaiyaaram kal and fry these suyyams. Ghee enhances the taste of these fritters.
- While cooking the jaggery, it just needs to be melted. It doesn’t need any one string or ball consistency.
- As I mentioned early, I used red rice flakes as a healthier option. You can opt for any flakes of your choice. But make sure it is thick flakes. If thin, it needs less water and time for soaking. There are chances, thin flakes may turn mushy if water is miscalculated.
- I added semolina to add more crispiness to the outer covering. If you are skipping it, then increase the rice flour for that mentioned quantity.
- Dates are another optional ingredient. But trust me, it will elevate the flavour and it’s the best way to introduce or encourage your kids to consume dates.