Mix Veg Ney Pathal/Pathiri

Now it’s time for my kitchen secret…😉😍.

As I promised last week, this week’s post is part of my Kitchen secret recipes. If you are new to my blog, I’ll give a gist on it. In my Kitchen secret recipes, I’ll play with the leftovers of a particular recipe, or I’ll bring a new shade or dimension to the original recipe. It will enthrall you with its fusion and surprise packages.

Last week’s post was Kerala Malabar special Aripathiri/Rice Pathiri. The most popular variation of pathiri is Ney pathal/Ney pathiri/Poricha pathiri. It’s the fried version of pathiri added with a few more ingredients. With this, I wanted to show my versatility by including a few healthy ingredients thus turning it into a nutrient-packed breakfast.  Yes, I created a new version of ney pathiri/ney pathal. Are you excited to know about the variation I tried? Can’t wait anymore…😉, Let me unveil the kitchen secret recipe- it’s Mix Veg Ney Pathal/Pathiri.…😍.

Click here to jump to recipe card!

Traditionally Ney pathiri/poricha pathiri is prepared with rice flour similar to pathiri preparation, a few discrepancies are

1. Addition of shallots, crushed fennel seeds, and a handful of grated coconut along with rice flour, salt, and coconut oil in the boiling water in contrast to only rice flour, salt, and coconut oil in pathiri.
2. Then made as thick small discs like poori in contrast to thin discs as made in pathiri. 
3. Deep-fried in contrast to pathiri which are tawa toasted.

What’s new in this Mix Veg Ney Pathal? As the name proclaims I added grated veggies like Beetroot, Carrot, and Cucumber along with onion, grated coconut, and spices. It transforms Ney Pathal into healthier and tastier. Kid’s friendly, vegan-friendly, gluten-free diet. 

Now let’s jump into the recipe…👇

Roll boil required quantity of water (my rice powder required 1 ¼ cup, varies from 1- 1 ¼ cup (refer to notes for the detailed tip) in a wide thick bottomed pan or kadai. 

Then lower the flame and add grated coconut, grated carrot, grated beetroot, grated cucumber, and grated onion.

Then add pounded cumin seeds, fennel seeds, salt, and coconut oil.

Mix well and finally add rice powder.

Parallelly, stir the flour while adding it as well. Mix till you don’t see any streak of rice flour unmixed. Switch off the flame, close, and let it rest for 5 minutes undisturbed.

Then transfer to a deep bowl. Grease your hands with oil, and start kneading vigorously by punching, folding, and swirling.

Continue this pattern for 5 minutes till you get a soft, smooth dough. 

Wrap the dough in a dampened towel. Roll small balls out of it.

Grease cling film or a plastic sheet with oil, and place the ball on one corner of the sheet.

And fold the other corner of the sheet on top of the rolled ball.

Take a flat bottomed bowl or plate, press it on the ball with your palm, and rotate the plate in a circular motion to press the ball with even thickness on all sides (refer to notes and pics for thickness).

Alternatively, you can grease your palm, and directly flatten the ball with your wrist instead of using a bowl or plate. But make sure the thickness is even on all sides.

Deep fry these discs in hot oil. Press and keep disturbing the surface to let it puff.

Then flip on to the other side and cook for a minute.

Essentially, fry it like you would a poori.

Crispy, healthy veg-infused Ney Pathal/ Ney Pathiri is ready to relish. It’s Kid’s friendly, vegan-friendly, gluten-free diet. It doesn’t require any accompaniments as it’s already loaded with veggies and flavour. Optionally you can serve it with Fish Moilee, a coconut milk-based curry. Though it’s a subtle, simple still an exceptional dish. It’s going to be next week’s recipe.

Recipe card

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes 

Cuisine: Kerala, India 

Category: Tiffin

Serves: 4 pax

Author: Manimala

Ingredients:

Roasted Rice flour/pathiri powder – 1¾ cup

Salt – to taste 

Coconut oil – 1 tsp

Water – 1¼ cup (refer to notes)

Grated coconut – 4 tbsp/ ¼ cup

Grated carrot – 1 tbsp

Grated beetroot – 1 tbsp

Grated cucumber – 1 tbsp

Grated onion – 1 tbsp heaped

Pounded cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds – ¼ tsp

Instructions:

1. Roll boil required quantity of water (my rice powder required 1 ¼ cup, varies from 1- 1 ¼ cup (refer to notes for the detailed tip) in a wide thick bottomed pan or kadai. 
2. Then lower the flame and add 4 tbsp of grated coconut, 1 tbsp each of grated onion, grated cucumber, grated carrot, grated beetroot, salt to taste, 1tsp coconut oil, 1tsp of pounded cumin seeds, ¼ tsp of fennel seed powder. Mix well with a wooden spatula.
3. Then gradually add 1¾ cup of roasted rice powder or Pathiri powder. Parallelly, stir the flour while adding it as well. Mix till you don’t see any streak of rice flour unmixed.
4. Switch off the flame, close, and let it rest for 5 minutes undisturbed.
5. Then transfer to a deep bowl. Grease your hands with oil, start kneading vigorously by punching, folding, and swirling, and continue this pattern for 5 minutes till you get a soft, smooth dough. 
6. Wrap the dough in a dampened towel. Roll small balls out of it.
7. Grease cling film or a plastic sheet with oil, place the ball on one corner of the sheet and fold the other corner of the sheet on top of the rolled ball. Take a flat bottomed bowl or plate, press it on the ball with your palm, and rotate the plate in a circular motion to press the ball with even thickness on all sides (refer to notes and pics for thickness).
8. Alternatively, you can grease your palm, and directly flatten the ball with your wrist instead of using a bowl or plate. But make sure the thickness is even on all sides.
9. Deep fry these discs in hot oil. Press and keep disturbing the surface to let it puff, then flip onto the other side and cook for a minute. Essentially, fry it like you would a poori.
10. Crispy, healthy veg-infused Ney Pathal/ Ney Pathiri is ready to relish. It’s Kid’s friendly, vegan-friendly, gluten-free diet. It doesn’t require any accompaniments as it’s already loaded with veggies and flavour. Optionally you can serve it with Fish Moilee, a coconut milk-based curry. Though it’s a subtle, simple still an exceptional dish. It’s going to be next week’s recipe.

Notes:

• Selecting the right rice flour/powder is essential. You can use plain rice powder but it should be a fine powder, and shouldn’t be as coarse as puttu powder. It needs to be roasted well before cooking. Dry roast it in a thick pan or kadai. Alternatively, you can buy pathiri powder or idiyappam/appam powder which is readily available in the market under different brands. These powders are pre-roasted. You can directly cook these powders. Another option is Easy or Instant Pathiri powders available in a few brands, it doesn’t even need cooking, directly add salt and cold water and knead it into a soft dough. The endnote is choosing the apt rice powder is crucial in getting the perfect results.
• The second important step for the best outcome is the quantity of water. For 1 3/4 cup of rice, I added 1 ¼ cup of water. A few rice powders may require 1 cup of water. It all depends on how much the rice powder is being roasted. So, start with 1 cup of boiling water in a pan, and parallelly boil another ¼ cup of water in a bowl. Add 1 ¾ cup of rice powder to 1 cup of boiling water, mix and check. If more water is required, use that ¼ cup gradually. You need not mix thoroughly the flour with water. Just make sure that all flour is incorporated and you don’t find any raw rice flour streaks untouched. 
• Also, the inclusion of grated veggies adds more water content to the dough. So, be mindful while adding the water. Add it gradually. If you feel flour is more wet and sticky, keep adding rice powder till it solidifies as a lump. Increase or decrease water accordingly.
• Close the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then knead the dough vigorously for 5 minutes. If you cannot tolerate the heat, initially mix with a wooden spatula for a couple of minutes, then knead with your hands to give that required pressure. You can intermediately grease your palms with coconut oil to avoid flour sticking.
• Once you finished kneading, you can start rolling the discs. No need to rest the dough. But make sure you cover the dough to avoid drying.