Paan pole (Neer Dosa)

One more Mangalorean special coming your way...Ever since I saw this RCI on Udupi and Mangalorean cuisine, (hosted by Sia this month, an event started by Lakshmi), I cannot stop myself from blogging about all the Mangalorean cooking, especially the regular home food that you may not get in a restaurant.
This particular one though, is quite popular in most Mangalorean cuisine restaurants, and served with Mangalorean style chicken curries

Like I've mentioned in my earlier posts, coconuts are used a whole lot in Mangalorean cooking, here the dosa and the accompaniment has coconut in it !



This neerdosa (neer = water in Kannada) / paanpole (In Konkani...paan means leaf and polo/pole means dosa), is really thin and soft, that why the name

I remember I once hosted this Dosa brunch at my place on a Sunday, where I made masala dosa with sambaar and chutney, pesarattu with tomato chutney and these paanpole with 'choon' (pronounce the 'ch' like the 'cz' as in 'czar', its more like a 'czoon')
My granduncle was also there and he said that it reminded him of the breakfast his mother made for him when he was a child. I was so touched, this was perhaps the best compliment I had recieved. This 'choon' is a no-cook accompaniment and goes great with paanpole(recipe below)

Paanpole can be served with any chutney, but this one is my favourite. A closer look at the choon...



Paan pole

What you need -

3 cups raw rice (use regular rice, its easier to grind than the boiled / idli rice)
2/3 cup grated coconut
salt
oil

What you do with it -

Soak the rice in water for 4-5 hours
Grind the rice with the grated coconut, adding water, to a very smooth and thin paste
Add salt and mix well
The batter should be really thin
On a hot tava, apply a little oil and take a ladle of batter and spread it, starting from the side and then towards the centre
Since its really thin, you will not be able to flatten and spread it like a regular dosa, you can instead lift the tava and swirl it around, so that the batter fills up the empty spaces (Reading this sounds more complicated that it actually is !!)
Cover the tava. This is meant to be a soft dosa, not crisp
This will not turn brown, so once it starts leaving the edges, flip it over and cook for a minute. Fold into a quarter and serve hot

Choon

What you need -

1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup grated jaggery
1/4 tsp powdered cardamom

What you do with it -

Mix all the ingredients
Serve as an accompaniment with the paanpole