This is a popular Konkani dish and is very easy to make and can be prepared quickly. I have already posted a variation of the Sanna Pollo. This is the traditional version which my mother prepares at home. It basically means ‘small dosa’. Its a savory pancake made with coconut, spice, lentils and rice with a couple of finely chopped vegetables added to it. This is liked by everybody in my house. It is normally served as a side dish with white rice and Daalithoi in our house. It can be served as a snack or a starter/appetizer too. It can be made ahead of time and warmed up in the oven just before serving. My grandmom loved eating this with freshly churned butter. Rajesh and our daughter like to eat it with butter too.
Ingredients
- Rice - 1/2 cup
- Chana daal (Bengal gram/split yellow chickpeas) - 1/2 cup
- Grated coconut - 1 cup, packed
- Roasted red chillies - 12 (more or less depending on your spice level)
- Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
- Hing (asafoetida) - a pinch
- Water - 1/4 cup
- Cabbage - 1 cup, finely chopped
- Onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
- Coconut Oil - 1/4 tsp
- Oil (your choice, I used Canola) - as required (for greasing the skillet while cooking the pancakes)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Wash and soak rice and chana daal in water together for an hour or so.
Finely chop the onions and cabbage and set aside.
In a pan, heat coconut oil and roast the red chillies till fragrant.
Blend the grated coconut, roasted red chillies, tamarind paste and asafoetida to a smooth paste. A little water can be added to help the whole thing to come together. This mixture has to be blended very smoothly.
Drain the water from the soaked daal and rice and add the two to the coconut mixture and pulse a few times. Make sure that the rice and daal remain coarse and grainy.
To this blended mixture, add the chopped onions and cabbage,salt to taste and mix well.
Heat a griddle or a skillet and spray some oil just to grease the pan. Keeping the heat on medium flame, drop a small ladleful of the mixture on the heated griddle. Using the back of a spoon or fork, spread the mixture in circular motions to form a small and thin pancake. Drizzle with oil on all sides or spray oil on and around the pancakes. Depending on the size of your pan, you can make three to four of these pancakes at a time.
Each side may take 2-3 minutes to cook, when the base of the pancake has turned brown, flip it over and cook the other side as well.
Serve hot with butter.
Chopped Cabbage and Onions
Batter/Mixture prior to adding the cabbage and onions
Note:
- I have used more cabbage than onions, you can use them in equal parts. If you are not a fan of cabbage, you can skip it altogether and make this dish using just onions. I like cabbage and I like the crunchiness it gives to the dish.
- I normally use Byadgi chillies for this dish which gives it a rich red color, but I was out of those chillies. I had to use the regular ones, as a result of which the batter/mixture looks a little pale.
- The daal and rice have to be ground coarsely. That’s what gives it the crispy texture to the pollo.
- Do not add too much water. Add little water at a time so as to help move the blender blade smoothly. This mixture should be of slightly thicker consistency than the dosa batter.
- You can also make cabbage vadas with this, provided the mixture is pretty thick and you have blended with very little or no water at all. For vadas, you need a very thick mixture. You need to be able to form balls and drop them in oil and if its too liquidy, it can absorb oil when you deep fry them.
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