Raw Banana Fry/ Vazhaikkai Varuval

I have been making this recipe countless times post my marriage as Kundan is so very fond of it. While people with diabetes are generally advised to avoid ripe bananas, raw bananas are quite beneficial to them; also as it is rich in fibre it is a preferred vegetable for weight loss. This might seem like a simple and silly to post recipe; but the reason I do it is because I see people adapt different techniques and each have its own set back. I have arrived at few steps to make a tasty-less oil-quick way to make Vazhaikkai Varuval/ raw banana fry; it is more a compilation of tips than the recipe itself (For people who already do it this way this might be a redundancy).

Serves:  3

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Raw Banana – 2

2.    Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

3.    Gram flour – 2 tbsp

4.    Curry powder (sambar milagai podi) – 1 tbsp

5.     Salt to taste

6.    Asafoetida – 2 pinches

7.     Rice flour or corn flour – 1 tbsp (optional)

8.    Gingelly oil – 1 tbsp

9.    Refined oil – 1 tsp

10.            Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

Method:

Step 1: Wash, peel (avoid peeling if you can eat it with peel, it is good for health) and slice into 2-3 mm thickness. Collect the slices in a wide bowl.

Step 2: Add all dry ingredients except mustard seeds and toss well to coat the slices with spices. Then drizzle oil and toss again, rest for 5 minutes if possible. Taste and adjust spices.

Step 3: Heat a tsp of oil in a thick bottomed kadai or non-stick pan and splutter mustard seeds in it. Add the marinated raw banana slices to it.

Step 4: Mix with light hand to coat the slices with tempered oil; spread them in single layer or as thin as possible, sprinkle just 2 tbsp of water and cook closed for 5 minutes in simmered heat. Beware you don’t overcook them even a tad bit; else they tend to break while tossing or flipping.

Step 5: Open the lid, toss or flip slices with dosa ladle and cook for another 10 minutes by flipping once or twice in between for 10 more minutes in medium heat.

Step 6: Finish frying it the way you want: very crisp – stirring for 3 minutes in high heat; slightly crisp – stirring for 1 minute in high heat (Avoid corn flour/ rice flour or add a little) and for completely soft just turn off heat (Avoid corn flour/ rice flour).

Step 7: Serve with any variety rice or sambar/ rasam/ dal rice.

TIPS:

*Choosing the right vegetable is must: too young ones (small in size and thin ones) or too mature ones (ones that are spongy or turning yellow) are not the right choices for this recipe. It should be nice green, firm and matured.

*Immersing sliced raw banana in water (which people do to prevent it from getting black) will make it broken while frying. Marinating once you slice them is enough to prevent oxidation.

*Alternatively, you can mix all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and marinate the vegetable using some oil. Setting them aside for 5 minutes helps the marinade to seep into the vegetable.

*If we do not marinate and directly start adding spices to the kadai/ pan, the oil absorption would be too high; 1 tbsp + 1 tsp oil is bare minimum for a crusty banana fry.

*Cooking with lid closed with sprinkled water lets the vegetable cook well and later we fry open to get the crisp; this way the vegetable is soft inside and crisp outside. Starting to fry them from the beginning without cooking will cause the fry to be chewy but uncooked.

*For fresh serving I prefer crisp ones and for lunch pack I prefer soft or slight crisp ones as crispy ones become soggy.

Risotto With Idly Rice

Last Friday, I tried this risotto recipe with the idly rice (Earlier I had tried my ‘Humble Risotto’ with brown rice). Though this is not as creamy as Arborio rice, I would consider it a closer variety we’ve in India. I also experimented in substituting cucumber for zucchini, which both of us didn’t appreciate very much but it can be just skipped if zucchini is unavailable. I’ve not used cream in this recipe, Italians do not use them at all; the creamy texture of risotto is rendered by the starch released by Arborio rice and slow cooking is another imperative process in risotto making.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Idly rice – 1 ¼ cup

2.    Butter – 1 tbsp

3.    Zucchini (I used cucumber) – 1

4.    Carrot – 1

5.     Bush beans – 5

6.    Tomato – 1

7.     Onion – 1

8.    Garlic – 4 cloves

9.    Italian seasoning – 2 pinches

10. Salt to taste

11.  Pepper crushed – ½ tsp

12. Olive/ shaved parmesan cheese for garnishing (optional)

13.Vegetable stock or hot water – 3 ½ cups approx

Method:

Step 1: Clean and chop all vegetables into small chunks and mince garlic.

Step 2: Hand pick the rice to clean it as we are not going to wash it.

Step 3: Melt butter in a pot and sauté ginger and onion in it for a minute and then add carrot and beans.

Step 4: When the veggies are half done add the rice and fry for a couple of minutes.

Step 5: Add ½ cup stock or water and cook it open in low heat, once the liquid is fully absorbed add another ladle water/ stock repeat this ladle by ladle.

Step 6: When the rice is half cooked add required salt, cumber and then tomato and repeat adding stock/ water.

Step 7: The right way of making risotto is cooking it until there is just a light crisp in the centre of the rice grain though some prefer to cook it completely soft and gooey.

Step 8: Sprinkle crushed pepper and Italian seasoning and adjust salt and spices as required.

Step 9: Garnish with shaved parmesan cheese or olive.

Bread Semolina Toast

Making breakfast is a very challenging task me for I get up late; so I always choose stuff that are easy to prepare and are good to eat. Bread sooji toast along with a glass of milk will make a complete breakfast quickly and easily. This toast with ketchup, I don’t think any of us will have distaste for this. A couple of slices of bread was quite filling and it is definitely another bread recipe to try out.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Resting Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time:  10 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Bread – 4 slices

2.    Semolina/ Sooji – 5 tbsp

3.    Whisked Curds – ½ cup

4.    Salt to taste

5.     Onion – 1

6.    Green chili – 1 big

7.     Capsicum – ½ optional

8.    Coriander chopped - fistful

Method:

Step 1: Chop the onion, chili and capsicum finely. Add to the whisked curds all the ingredients except bread. Rest the mixture for 15 minutes.

Step 2: We need the semolina mix in bread spread consistency after resting. Now apply the semolina spread onto one side of the bread.

Step 3: Heat a dosa tawa, grease some butter and carefully place the spread side on the tawa and roast in medium temperature so that the semolina is well cooked and is crisp & brown. While roasting, apply the semolina spread on the top side of the bread slice.

Step 4: Flip the bread to uncooked side, grease some butter around and roast this side also.

Step 5: Serve hot with tomato ketchup for an easy and filling breakfast.

TIPS:

*Making the spread too thin will make the bread soggy and may be difficult to handle as the spread will stick to the tawa.

*On the other hand lack of moisture in the spread will make it fall apart will roasting.