Shallow fried plantain chips

The original recipe is from here . This is a pretty easy and yummy recipe to make. To those of you who do not know what a plantain is...its the green banana you see near the vegetables. The Indian variety are small...may be 6-8 inches where as the Mexican or American variety are pretty bug. I used the Indian plantain for this

Shallow fried plantain chips (Shallow fried green plantain with Indian spices)

Shallow fried plantain chips

Ingredients:

1. 2-3 medium plantain
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, sambar powder, salt, mustard seeds, urad dal, fennel seeds, cumin, asafoetida
3. 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4. 2 tbsp oil divided
5. 1 dried red chilli
6. few curry leaves
7. 2 tbsp water

peel the plantain and slice them about 1/8 inch thick coins.

add  turmeric, sambar powder, pepper and  salt and coat the spices on the plantain and set aside.

In a pan heat 2 tbsp oil and add mustard seeds,  urad dal, cumin, fennel, broken red chilli, pinch hing and few curry leaves and let it splutter. Now add the plantain pieces

Stir-fry for 2 minutes till raw banana gets coated well with oil.

Spread the plantain in a single layer in the pan and add the remaining oil.

cover and cook on medium flame for 10 minutes. Abut 7 minutes, add 2 teaspoons water and cover and cook stirring  occasionally.

Uncover and fry for 2-3 more minutes to make them crispy

Serve with Sorrel leaves rice

Aratikaaya Mudda Kura and Khatti Dal

The good old raw banana. When you look at the list of ailments a person has and the list of things they like there will be a direct correlation between the two. if you can tell me what you like, I can tell you what you go to doctor for.
     People who like potato-diabetic
     People who like Plantain-High Cholestrol
     People with a sweet tooth-Obviously Diabetic
     People who don't like drinking plain old water-Kidney Problems (believe me there are such people)

And the list goes on. Anyway I made this particular Plantain curry or fry which is one of my husband's Fav currys'. Now you know what he goes to the doctor for. Anyway, I made khatti dal or my house version of sambar.

Aratikaaya Mudda Kura (Simple Raw banana fry)

Mauz ka tallan

Ingredients:

1. 2 raw banana (plantain, burro banana) peeled and chopped into pieces
2. 2 tablespoons oil
3. 2cloves of garlic chopped fine
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, soaked chana dal, turmeric, salt
5. 2 red chillies broken
6. 1 green chilly chopped
7. Few curry leaves
8. Cilantro for garnishing

In a pressure cooker cook the raw banana pieces with turmeric and 1/4 cup of water for 2 whistles. In a pan heat oil in a pan and fry Num #4 items in the oil for a couple of minutes. Add green chilly and red chilly and curry leaves and garlic and fry for 3-4 minutes. Mash the cooked banana a little bit and add salt to it and add it to the pan. Cover and fry for 5 minutes. Stir well and fry for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Khatti Dal (Lentils with vegetables in Tamarind juice)

Khatti Dal (Sambar)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup toor dal
2. vegetables of your choice (my choice of veggies are few okra, 1 tomato, 1 indian eggplant, 1/4 chopped onions,1 medium carrot chopped)
3. 3 cups juice from a tamarind the size of a medium sized lemon
4. 1 tablespoon oil
5. 1/4 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds
6. 2 red chillies broken
7. 1 green chilly chopped
8. 1 garlic clove chopped fine (optional)
9. few curry leaves
10. Cilantro for garnishing
11. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
12. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt

In a pressure cooker cook the dal for 3-4 whistles with 11/2-2 cups of water and turmeric and chopped tomato. After the steam escapes open the cooker and mash the dal. Add salt and all the vegetables and tamarind juice and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin, mustard seeds and dried red chilly, garlic if using and curry leaves till they start to splutter. Cut the heat and add the dal to the pan or the tempering to the dal. Bring to boil again and boil for further 5-8 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and check if all the vegetables are cooked else simmer covered for a little bit more. Enjoy with plain rice and any kind of fry

Mauz ka talan aur Gujrati besan kadhai

I am running low on idead today. So I had to make something which is different but good. I made raw banana or plankton fry curry or as it is called in Telugu "Mudda arati kura" and the Gujrati besan kadhai. Here's the recipe

Plankton fry (Raw banana boiled and fried)

Ingredients:

1. 2 medium large plankton peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2. 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3. 2 tablespoons oil
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, salt, turmeric
5. 2 red chillies and 1 green chilly cut into pieces
6. few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker, cook the plankton pieces with a cup of water and turmeric for 2 whistles. Let the steam escape. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal for 3 minutes. Add the onion pieces and fry till they become tender. Now add the chilly pieces and fry for a couple of more minutes. Now add tha plankton from the cooker and stir to combine. Fry till a crust forms at the bottom. Scrape it and fry for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot rice and besan kadhai

Gujrati Besan kadhai (Powdered chickpeas cooked in yogurt)

Ingredients:

1. 4 cups of butter milk (1 cup plain yogurt beaten and mixed with 3 cups of water)
2. 3 tablespoons besan (chane ka aata, chick pea flour)
3. 1 tablespoon oil
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, frinely chopped ginger
5. 1 green chilly finely chopped
6. 2 red chillies broken
7. Few curry leaves
8. 3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt as per taste

Mix together the besan and butter milk without any lumps. In a pan heat the oil and fry all the items except besan mix and salt, till they start to splutter. Now reduce the heat to low and add the besan mix to it and stir to combine. Simmer on a very low heat for about 15 minutes. Add salt and garnish with cilantro and enjoy hot.

It is very important that this is heated on a very low flame or heat else the yougurt will cuddle and it will just break apart and float on top separating from the water