Instant Palaada or paper-thin rice crepes…
Palaada is a popular dish in my mom’s hometown Thiruvithamcode, a small beautiful town in Tamil Nadu. My mom introduced this amazing dish to my dad’s family in Kerala & now this is also popular in Trivandrum & Malabar.
The traditional recipe calls for soaking the rice in water & then grinding it into a smooth batter, I’ve the detailed blog post, click here.
At times, we want to make things faster & without spending much time, right? When I posted the Palaada reel on my Instagram, many asked me if this can be made with rice flour. Though my grandmom & mom will never attempt on making palaada with rice flour as they don’t want to tweak the traditional method.
I on the other hand, like to tweak a traditional recipe & come up with an easier version. So, I tried making palaada with rice flour & without soaking the rice. The end result was amazing, palaada turned out exactly like the ones made with soaked rice.
While making this I was skeptical about the texture, I thought the texture might be off. I was absolutely wrong & the instant palaada turned out awesome, paper thin with laced edges.
However, for making instant palaada, roasted rice flour has to be used, I used the rice flour used for making Idiyappam or string hoppers. It was store-bought, I used Eastern brand Idiyappam rice flour, available in all Indian stores.
Enjoy this paper-thin palaada or South Indian-style crepes.
Palaada folded into triangular shape
Palaada folded lengthwise
- Roasted rice flour- 1 cup (rice flour for making idiyappam)
- Egg, large- 1
- Coconut milk, thin- 2 cups
- Water- ½ cup
- Salt- ½ tsp
- For making Instant palaada, roasted rice flour has to be used. I used the rice flour for making Idiyappam or string hoppers, Eastern brand, available in Indian stores.
- The texture of the palaada will depend on the rice flour used. Non-roasted rice flour, the palaada texture won't be right.
- To a blender jar, add rice flour, egg & 2 cups coconut milk.
- If using thick canned coconut milk, thin down with water & make it to 2 cups.
- For 1 cup rice flour, 1 egg has to be added; that's the precise ratio.
- Grind to a smooth batter without any lumps.
- Pour the batter to a large bowl.
- Rinse the blender jar with ½ cup water & pour that to the bowl.
- Add salt & combine well.
- The batter consistency has to be perfect, palaada batter should be watery.
- Total 2½ cups liquid for 1 cup rice flour resulted in the perfect batter consistency.
- Batter doesn't have to be fermented, we can make palaada right away.
- Place a non-stick pan over medium heat, let turn hot.
- The pan has to be hot, that's when the palaada will have crispy edges.
- Before making the first palaada, grease the pan with oil.
- Pour 1 spoonful of batter onto the pan & immediately swirl the pan so the batter will spread evenly onto the pan & the sides.
- Let cook for a couple of minutes till the edges turn like a lace & crispy.
- The palaada will be paper thin.
- Gently fold the palaada into a triangular shape or fold it lengthwise.
- After making the first palaada we will know if the batter consistency is right, if the palaada is too thick & heavy you can add ¼ cup more water to thin down the batter.
- For making the next palaada, using a kitchen paper towel wipe off any particles stuck to the pan, don't have to grease the pan with oil if using non-stick pan.
- The pan has to be hot & pour the batter & swirl the pan.
- I enjoy making palaada.
- Palaada is usually served with chicken or mutton curries, we don't serve it with fish curries. Vegetarians can enjoy with vegetable korma.
- For kids, pour some coconut milk & sprinkle some sugar over the palaada, they will love it.
- Enjoy!
