Simple and Delicious !

Did you all prepare a wonderful sadya for vishu? I don't have any plan to make sadya, since two weeks I have been making all sadya dishes every day and is so tired of it.We are running out of fish and my veggie lover H can't understand the sorrow of the carnivores.. :) Back home in Kerala, my sis and cousins are very much enthusiastic in such matters like preparing sadya, trying out new dishes etc. I miss all that lovely dishes served together on a vazhayila / banana leaf.. Here , the restaurants in Dubai are doing a great job for serving sadya, providing a homely atmosphere, which we definitely get while seeing the dishes on a banana leaf. I had already posted a Thakkali pachadi recipe for you, and this is my sweet gift to all my readers here.. :)



Ingredients
Banana 2 ripe
jaggery / sarkkara 2 or more blocks
coconut milk thin 1 1/2 cups
coconut milk thick 1/2 cup
ghee 2 tsp
cardomam powder 2 pinches or
dry ginger powder
coconut pieces roasted in ghee 2 tsp



How to prepare
Boil bananas. Peel and remove the black seeds in the center.
Mash them well.(or grind)
Melt jaggery with 1/4 cup water and remove impurities by straining.
Add mashed banana into this and cook them on a medium flame stirring continuously.
When they form thick and remove from the pan, add ghee on it. Remove from fire and keep lid closed.
Boil this with thin coconut milk when you make pradhaman. When the mixture is thick add the thick coconut milk , mix well and remove from fire.
Sprinkle cardamom or dry ginger powder and ghee roasted coconut pieces on it. Or do garnishing with cashews or raisins.
Adding much jaggery will give more color to the dish, I used only little since we didn't like much sweetness.

Pazham nirachathu / Banana stuffed with a sweet mixture of coconut,egg and sugar is another Malabar dish, usually served during iftar (nombu thurakkal / breaking time of Ramadan fasting) or for guests. Preparing this dish was a challenge for me all the time. Making slits on the banana (4 or 2 ) without cutting the ends , stuffing them and deep frying the whole banana in oil was little bit difficult. I always ended up, making only 1 or 2 slits(it is enough ) and shallow fried.. :)



Pazham nirachathu / Stuffed bananas Ingredients
Bananas ripe 2
egg 1
cashew nuts few
raisins few
coconut grated 1 Tbsp
sugar 1 Tbsp
maida 2 Tbsps
cardomam powder 1 pinch optional
water

Ingredients
Vazhappindi / banana stem 1
horse gram / muthira or red cow peas 1 cup
dried red chillies 3 or more
small onions / shallots 1/2 cup peeled
garlic cloves 2 big
mustard seeds
curry leaves
coconut oil
salt

Method
Remove the outer coverings of the stem and take out the edible part. Cut them into rings. Then again chop them into small pieces. Remove the fibers (naaru). (You can remove them while cutting into rings.)

Wash and cook vanpayar or muthira. when it is nearly cooked, add chopped pindi pieces. Cook till done. Add salt while cooking.Reduce water.

Crush dry red chillies, small onions, garlic cloves together. Heat coconut oil, splutter mustard seeds, saute the crushed ingredients with few curry leaves. Satue until the raw smell of the ingredients go, and about to get a little brown color. Add the above cooked mixture and check for salt. Mix very well. The banana stem / pindi I used was about a forearm length. You can prepare this using coconut also. Will post it later insha Allah.



A simple and delicious green peas saagu from Asha. Please visit foodies hope for the recipe..

Banana fritters / Pazham Pori
Bananas - ripe / nenthrappazham 2
atta / whole wheat powder 3/4 cup
rice powder 1/4 cup
egg 1 optional
sugar 2 tsp
water
oil

Cut banana into three equal pieces. Chop each piece ( length wise ) into three equal pieces. Make a thick batter mixing all the ingredients above. Dip banana pieces in this and shallow fry in oil.



Dates fritters / Eithappazham Porichathu
Dates / eithappazham 15
cashew nuts or almonds 15
atta / wheat flour 3/4 cup
rice powder 1/4 cup
sugar 2 teaspoons
water
oil

Roast cashew nuts in little ghee. Or apply little ghee on cashew nuts and microwave it for few seconds.

Make a slit on one side of the date. Remove the seed through that. Replace a cashew nut or badam instead of the seed. Join the side by pressing gently. Do this for all the dates and cashews. Make a thick batter using water, atta, rice flour and sugar.
Heat oil. Dip the dates in the batter and deep fry them. you can fry 4 or 5 together. Let them not to stick to one another.
You can use maida instead of atta. Adding egg will make the banana fritters more crispy. I haven't tried egg for frying dates.
Submitted to RCI Kerala hosted by Currybazar

How to prepare
Banana 1
ghee 1 table spoon
sugar little

Chop banana into thin pieces.Heat ghee in a pan. Fry banana pieces in this till golden brown. Flip over and fry the other side too.Remove from fire, sprinkle little sugar and serve hot.



For making this, chop bananas into small pieces and fry in ghee. Break an egg after the sides of banana slices are fried well. Stir well till the egg is cooked. Sprinkle little sugar and cardamom powder over it. Remove from fire. Serve hot.

Ingredients
Banana flower chopped finely - 1 1/2 cups
Chana dal 1 cup
Onion chopped 1
Green chillies 3 or 4
Ginger chopped 1 inch piece
Curry leaves few chopped
Coriander leaves few chopped
Asafoetida a pinch optional
Salt
Oil



How to prepare
Soak chana dal in water for one hour. Grind it-don't make a smooth paste. Mix with all the ingredients except oil. Make small, thin vadas. Deep fry in oil.(You can grind ginger and garlic to make a paste to add in this. But I haven't tried it yet.)

Submitted to Aahar for JFI Banana

Ingredients
Banana flower 1
Onion 2
Potatoes 3 medium size
Ginger 1 inch piece
Green chilly 3
Pepper powder 2 tsp
Curry leaves few
Coriander leaves few chopped
Garam masala 1 tsp
Salt
Egg 1
Bread crumbs
oil for frying



How to prepare
Remove outer leaves 3 or 4 of banana flower. Chop them finely. Wash. Cook with salt, little turmeric powder in water. Take little water to cook this.Reduce water.

Boil and peel potatoes. Mash them.

Heat little oil and sauté onion. When it is transparent, sauté chopped green chillies , ginger and curry leaves with it for few seconds till the smell of ginger comes out. Then add coriander leaves. Stir. Add garam masala, pepper powder , salt , cooked banana flower in to this . Stir well. Add mashed potatoes too. Let it cool . Take little from this and make cutlets in the desired shapes. (See the procedure for making meat cutlets) Dip sides in egg and let it spread over the cutlets with palms. Roll in bread crumbs. Keep aside. Deep fry. Vegetarians can use Maida instead of egg.

Vazhappoo / Banana flower is also known as Maani/Vazhakkoombu. We would make thoran and vadas also with this. Try washing this in butter milk water to avoid staining on hands. You can apply little coconut oil on palms also.

Ingredients
Bananas (ripe) 3 medium
Coconut grated 3 table spoons
Cashew nuts few
Raisins few
Ghee 2 tsp
Cardamom powder ¼ tsp
Sugar 1 table spoon
Oil for frying

How to prepare
Cook banana in little water or steam cook it. Let it cool. Peel, remove black seeds. Mash it very well .

Heat ghee, fry cashew nuts and raisins. Add coconut, cardamom powder and sugar. Stir for a while. Remove from fire.

Apply little oil on palms. Take a little from the mashed banana and make a ball. Press between palms. Put 2 teaspoons of the above ghee fried preparation in this.(It depends on the amount of banana you take). Close it by joining edges. Roll in the shape of unnakkai with hands. Deep fry in oil. You can fry them after you shaped all the unnaikkais. Don’t choose over ripe bananas for this.