The lovely smell of cardamon immediately reminds me of Indian food. Cardamon is one of my favorite spices, it has strong smell and flavor while somehow it is also delicate and a little sweet.

Paalaada is a thin and soft pancake that is usually served unsweetened accompanying curry dishes. It originates in the Islamic community of Tamil Nadu (country in south India) and is based on white rice, coconut and egg. Traditionally the rice is being soaked and grinded with fresh coconut and then mixed with the other ingredients. However there is a lazier option in which you use rice flour and store bought coconut milk. This option is just as good so no need to trouble yourselves with soaking rice. In this post I present the sweet version for this pancake (Mutta Paalaada) with sugar and cardamon. In the unsweetened and more common version the sugar and cardamon are removed and replaced with a pinch of salt.

Mutta Paalaada is usually served rolled (like jewish “Blintzes”) and filled with Jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) cooked with fresh grated coconut, cardamon, cashew, dates and raisins. This filling is a little too heavy to my taste and kind of reminds me of baklava. I prefer to eat it the Ashkenazi Jew way with sugar and cinnamon and sometimes filled with sweet white cheese.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40-60 seconds per Paalaada

Ingredients (for 15-20 Paalaada)

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2-3 tbs sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/8 ground cardamon
• 1 cup rice flour

Directions

Mix all the ingredients excluding the rice flour. Gradually add rice flour and mix well until the batter is completely uniform without any lumps. While adding the flour you’ll probably notice that the batter becomes thick – gradually add water and mix until the batter becomes thinner, like a pancake batter. I usually add about 1 cup of water for this amount.

The batter is ready! You can store it in the fridge for a day or two.

Pour a small amount of the batter on a hot and lightly greased pan, spread it to a thin layer by lifting the pan and spinning it gently. This should be done quickly since the batter stabilizes pretty fast. Wait for 30-40 seconds or until the edges start to rise and the bottom browns. You can flip and fry for few more seconds on the other side (not a must).

Comments and suggestions

• Rice. You can replace the rice flour with 1 cup of white rice, soak it for two hours, drain (keep the water) and blend together with all the other ingredients. Add the soaking water until you get the right consistency.
• Can I omit the egg? generally no, the Paalaada will fall apart. I did read somewhere that if you want to omit the egg in a Paalaada you can make the batter even thinner until it doesn’t even cover the back of a ladle, and then pour into a pan and spin the pan very quickly until the Paalaada is super thin. I didn’t try it though. There is a similar dish called Appam which is thicker and without eggs, I’ll post a recipe for this in the future.

In short

Mix 1 cup coconut milk, 1 egg, 2-3 tbs sugar and 1/8 tsp ground cardamon. Gradually add 1 cup rice flour and water (about 1 cup) until the batter is in the right consistency (like pancake batter). Mix well until the batter is completely smooth without any lumps. Pour a small amount of batter to a hot pan (lightly greased) and spread into a thin pancake by lifting and spinning the pan. Server with sugar and cinnamon and/or sweet white cheese.