Vazhaikkai Podimas (Version 2)

There was a time when I had to travel a great deal to lay my hands on plantains/raw bananas. And I think that it was probably easier for me to go to Madras and have Amma make me some vazhaikkai karumadhu or kaela phodiyo than it was to travel from Gurgaon to CR Park to buy certain vegetables. This time around, I find that vegetables are far easier to come by in Gurgaon. And when the local Mother Dairy/Safal outlet inside my apartment complex sells vegetables that I like, I am certain that this city has come a long way.

I made a version of vazhaikkai podimas sometime back. Once I'd finished making it, I realized that this wasn't close to what I'd eaten growing up. My Mami in Bombay used to make a lot of Tamil dishes. And she didn't stop with sambar and rasam. She'd make things like paruppu usli and podimas. Amma didn't make podimas, but my Mami did. I decided to get her recipe and try it. It turned out to be very tasty. I have made it a couple of times since and it never fails to impress.

2 Raw Bananas/Plantains, steamed, peeled and grated

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1/4 tsp Urad Dal

1.4 tsp Chana Dal

2 Green Chillies, chopped

1 tbsp Coconut, scraped

a Pinch of Turmeric Powder (optional)

Juice of 1 Lime

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal turns light brown, add the mustard seeds and the asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the green chillies, the turmeric, if using, and the grated bananas. Add the salt and take off the heat. Stir in the lime juice and add the coconut. Mix well.

This makes for a great side with a traditional Tamil lunch. Or you could even eat it as a salad like I do. Either way, it is a keeper recipe.

Ripe Plantain Fritters

Tea-time. I've really forgotten about that concept. At my parents' place, we had coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. I had a glass of milk both times. There was always a stock of biscuits at home, and tea time didn't mean snacks of any sort. At almost all my relatives' places, tea-time was a ritual. So, while I can't say the concept is alien to me, I definitely don't relate it to it all the time.

We happened to be home one afternoon and I decided to make tea. I also found a couple of plantains in the fridge that didn't seem that raw to me anymore. I made these fritters that are usually made with Rajali Bananas (Nendrampazham). It didn't taste the same, but I we relished them nonetheless. And I was glad I didn't have to throw the plantains out.

2 Ripe Plantains, peeled

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tbsp Rice Flour

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Cut the plantains in half and slice lengthwise. Add the salt and chilli powder and keep aside for 4-5 minutes.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the rice flour to the plantains and mix well. Drop the plantain slices into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.

Enjoy these with a hot cup of tea. Just make sure the tea is ready when these fritters are. If you make these first and then make the tea, you may not have any left for you by the time you're done making the tea.

Baked Kaela Phodiyo (Baked Banana Fritters)

Don't you all love munching on fried goodies? I do. And fritters of some sort used to be on our Sunday lunch menu. Almost always. Raw banana fritters or Kaela Phodiyo topped the list, in terms of frequency and in terms of favourites. I remember this one time when my parents were in Holland and one of the trees in our banana patch yielded the raw banana variety! Since H and I were left to our own devices, we had raw banana fritters almost every other day. OK, so once in a while, we also had vazhaikkai karumadhu. At that age, I don't think we worried so much about the consumption of oil. I was all of 14, and he, 19.

I've been trying to bake several things that are conventionally fried. I've blogged about the Baked Cashew Onion Pakodas earlier. Since these fritters don't involve dripping batter, I've found that baking instead of frying works.

2 Raw Bananas, cut in half and sliced lengthwise

2 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1 tbsp Rice Flour

2 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

Place the banana slices on a plate and apply the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and asafoetida. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Apply the rice flour to the banana slices so that the released liquid is absorbed. Coat the slices with oil and place them on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Cool these fritters on a rack before you attack them.

I enjoyed this round of guilt free eating while S said the fried ones taste better. Of course they do, there's no denying that. But the deep fried version does not make for guilt free eating. So, eat away.

And here's a gentle reminder to all of you. Please send in your entries to this month's AFAM and make my first blog event hosting experience a huge success.

Avial

Here's one more of those dishes I've developed a taste for over the years. In other words, I hated this stuff initially. Now, I look forward to the rare occasions when I get to eat this stuff.

Part of many traditional feasts, I simply love eating this during the Padinettam Perukku and Pongal festivals when Kalanda Saadam (Mixed Rice - Puliyodarai, Coconut Rice, Lemon Rice etc) is part of the menu. My favourite way to eat avial is with Coconut Rice. (Yeah, I am a Mangalorean all right! I can manage overdoses of coconut.) Usually, however, we eat this with rice a yelai paruppu (plain dal).

I made this for the first time last week and was thrilled with the results.

2 cups Mixed Boiled Vegetables (I used Carrot, Beans, Ash Gourd, Raw Banana, Peas, Potatoes)

1/4 cup Coconut, scraped

1 cup Curd, beaten

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

3 Green Chillies, slit

1 tsp Oil

Salt to taste

For the seasoning:

1 tsp Coconut Oil

7-8 Curry Leaves

Heat the oil in a small frying pan and add the cumin seeds along with the green chillies. When the cumin seeds crackle, turn off the flame and add the coconut. Grind this mixture to a paste.

Take the beaten curd in a vessel and add the mixed vegetables along with the paste. Add the salt and bring to a boil while stirring constantly.

Heat the coconut oil in a frying ladle and add the curry leaves. Add this to the avial.

The way we relished it was with some rice and yelai paruppu (plain dal). I also made some rasam and some raw banana curry. With curd and papad, it was a complete meal.

Vazhaikkai Podimas

Bananas. One of those fruits people love or hate, but can't ignore. I have a funny relationship with the banana. And I haven't given it a name yet. I am not fond of the small yellow bananas and love the green ones. But the green ones give me acidity, so I don;'t know what to do. The yelakki variety that I got in Bangalore I absolutely love. And can eat those without thinking twice.

As a raw vegetable, the possibilities are endless. Raw banana fritters made this way, vazhakkai karumadhu and chips of course. But all these are oil intensive and there are times when I want my fill of banana without the fat. And it is at such times that I crave podimas.

This recipe is adapted from Samaithu Paar.

2 Raw Bananas, steamed and peeled

2 Red Chillies

2 tbsp Urad Dal

2 tbsp Chana Dal

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

Salt to Taste

a few drops Oil

Heat the oil and roast the urad and chana dals. Add the red chillies and the asafoetida. Cool completely and grind to a powder.

Place the powder on a large plate and mash the bananas onto the powder. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Enjoy this with hot rice or as a side dish with rice and sambar.

Off this goes to Mandira of Ahaar for her JFI - Banana Event.

Nags had asked all of us to show her our cookbooks. I have so many cookbooks now that it is difficult to pick one and showcase that as a favourite. There are cookbooks that I'd consider favourites which I've left behind when I was moving here. They wait patiently for my return. But since the entire month of September was dedicated to amchi cuisine, I am showcasing the book that I referred to the most in this month.

Written by Ambabai Samshi, this book would classify as the Bhagvad Gita for anyone who is looking to learn Chitrapur Saraswat cooking. I have to reduce the spices a great deal, but when I follow a recipe, I can be certain that it will taste just like the food Amma or my aunts prepare.

Drumstick Sambar and Raw Banana Curry

So many things that I have posted are one dish meals. But Mallugirl’s post made me think. Amma always made a full breakfast and a full lunch before leaving for work. In fact, at dinner time, all we had to do was make fresh rice. Nothing is as difficult as we make it out to be. We live in better times to some extent than our mothers did. We have access to hygienically packed, processed foods. Although we had a food processor and a cooking range at home, a microwave came only ten years ago into Amma's kitchen. I remember Amma making paruppu usli by grinding the soaked dal on an ammi made of stone. I have trouble bringing my Ultra Grind out and Amma made Idli and Dosa batter on a stone kal oral. Then she got a wet grinder. For all its automation, it was still what I'd consider cumbersome.


A lot of people ask me why I don't hire a cook or just eat out. A friend asked me about a month ago, "Why are you so bullish about cooking your own food? I leave all that to my maid. Stop being so adamant and finicky about cooking. You're a working woman. Learn to enjoy life."




Enjoy. The word can convey so many feelings at once. I don't like dancing and I've been told I don't know how to enjoy life. What is this thing about doing a particular thing in order to enjoy life? Should it not be about doing what I want? I've been a full time working woman for 8 years now. Eight complete years as of today. And in all this time I've cooked my own meals. I have a LOT of support from Amma. I get ready made sambar and rasam powders, tamarind paste, scraped coconut, vangi bhat masala, bisi bele bhat masala, ginger, chilli and garlic pastes, paruppu podi, thengai podi, yellu podi, karuveppilai podi, milagai podi, yennai katrikkai podi, pitti chitni and loads of other things from her. No kidding! And with so much that she untiringly does for me, what I do with the things she lovingly makes for me is almost nothing. But what is more important to me is the fact that I enjoy cooking.

My lunchbox during my school days used to be an elaborate 4 container tiffin carrier. Top most for the vegetable, then sambar-rice, rasam-rice and curd-rice. Amma was a working woman. Yet, she didn't make the kind of stuff that I do (put everything in a cooker and forget it!) She didn't have the luxury of frozen cut vegetables or ready made ginger-garlic pastes. Yet she dished out one healthy meal after another for as long as I've known her. And she continues to do so.

This morning's meal, I owe entirely to her (as I do almost everything.) It is during such rushed mornings that I am especially thankful for the 5 cookers I have received as gifts from her over the years. There is no waiting for the pressure to release so you can cook the next item.

A trip to the I.N.A. market allows you to not only buy exotic ingredients, but ordinary things that you crave. Drumsticks, raw bananas, shallots, sweet potatoes, amaranth leaves, taro leaves... the list is endless. Our trip on Sunday was successful. We brought back a lot of much missed vegetables.


Today being a working day, our meal had to be ready in 30 minutes. And it was. So, this is a totally unplanned entry to Mallugirl’s Express Cooking challenge. The picture was taken just when I sat down to lunch. (I am working from home for the moment.)


The meal comprised:


Drumstick Sambar (Murungakkai Sambar)
Raw Banana Curry (Vazhaikkai Karumadhu)
Rice
Curd
Papad


Ingredients:


Drumstick Sambar:




1/2 cup Toor Dal
1 tbsp Sambar Powder
1 Drumstick, cut into 3-inch long pieces
3 Onions, sliced
2 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves
1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 Green Chilli, slit
1 Red Chilli
4 tbsp Tamarind Paste
Salt to Taste


Rice:

1 cup Ponni Rice
3 cups Water


Raw Banana Curry (Vazhaikkai Karumadhu):



4 large or 6 medium Raw Bananas, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves
1/2 tsp Urad Dal
1/2 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Sambar Powder
Salt to taste


How do you put it all together in 30 minutes?

Get the bananas out and peel and chop them.

Cook the rice and dal in a pressure cooker using 2 vessels. Add 3 cups of water to the rice and 1 cup of water to the dal.



When the rice and dal are getting cooked, proceed with the sambar.



Heat oil in a pressure pan. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, red and green chillies and fry for a minute. Add the onions and fry for a minute and then add the drumstick pieces. Add the sambar powder and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add a little water and cover and cook with the weight for 1 whistle. When the pressure is released, add the tamarind paste and salt and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the cooked dal and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

When the drumstick is getting cooked, you can get the raw banana curry going.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal begins to change colour, add the mustard and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves and the raw banana pieces. Add the chilli, turmeric and sambar powders. Mix well and cover. Allow to cook for 5-10 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the pieces to crispen on all sides.

To proceed, place 2 appalams (papads) in the microwave on high for 40 seconds. Bring out the curd from the fridge. Set everything on the counter or the table. Then bring the appalams out. Eat like there is no tomorrow. Just kidding.

So, this goes to Mallugirl’s Express Cooking challenge as my final entry. My earlier entries to this event have been

Taro-Rice Balls and Yogurt Dip

Kabuli Pulao and Raita

Achari Aloo

Usal Pav

Among my 100+ entries so far, a significant number would be quick meals. Maybe it is a sign of the times we live in, maybe it is a sign of my laziness. Here's a list of quick meals on The Singing Chef that didn't become a part of Mallugirl’s Express Cooking challenge:

Macaroni and Vegetables in White Sauce

Kothu Roti

French Bread Pizza

Muttai Dosai

Mixed Vegetable Semia Upma

Mixed Vegetable Upma

Paneer Paratha

Aloo Paratha

Macaroni in Tomato Basil Sauce

Conchiglie Mushroom Saute

Fusilli with stir fried Vegetables

Eggless Masala French Toast

Corn Vegetable Salad