1. Soak the rice and dals together for 3 hours.
2. First grind red chillies, salt and asafoetida; then add the soaked rice and dal.
3. And grind to a coarse paste (like rava/sooji). Let the batter be thick, not too watery.
4. Pour into the greased hollows as we said for the sweet one. cook covered in medium flame.
5. Cook on both sides to golden brown and serve hot with coconut chutney!!

Notes:
* Possible fact for paniyaram being hard is less water. Add more water and mix and try again.
* Paniyaram sticking to the pan? More soda or water or urad dal or methi seeds. To balance this, you can either add some maida or rice flour to the batter and try again.
* If you are making for dinner, try grinding in the afternoon or even morning for best results.
* For kara paniyaram, do not grind the dal smoothly as it will give you hard paniyarams. The rice can be ground smoothly.

Recipe courtesy: Rak`s Kitchen