Paniyaram (Idli Batter Dumplings)

These are paniyaram, or pan-fried dumplings made from leftover idli batter. (Idli are steamed dumplings, of ground legumes and rice, or cream of wheat, from South India.) A few days ago, I made some instant idli batter with urad dal flour and cream of rice, and made a large idli in the microwave. Later, I decided to make paniyaram with the rest of the batter. I used my aebelskiver pan, which I only used once before (to make paniyaram for the first time). 

You don't need to use more than a couple drops of oil for each one (unless you want to!). In the research that helped me buy the aebelskiver pan just for this, I learned that: when the paniyaram are ready to turn, they will unstick themselves from the pan, and you can use wooden chopsticks to turn them (so as to not scratch the pan). I covered the pan while cooking. Although I used very little oil, they turned out crispy, especially on the first side.

Here is the recipe I used for the idlis. For idli rawa, I used Cream of Rice. Instead of ENO fruit salt, I used a little baking soda and a few drops of lemon juice. :

Preety's Kitchen Website, Instant Idli Recipe Made with Idli Rawa & Urad Dal Flour 

Or, you could just use the following recipe (though I haven't tried it myself recently), in which fermenting at room temperature for several hours takes the place of ENO fruit salts, and which uses rice flour. :

Veg Recipes of India Website, Easy Dosa Recipe Made with Rice Flour & Urad Flour