Kaayatholi /Banana Peel Thoran

For Onam, when I planned to make banana chips, it was two recipes in one shot. The left over banana peel is made into a thoran. Frankly I was more interested in the peel than the chips. It has been a long time since I had the thoran with the peel. Back in Kerala, we can get banana peels from any of the shops frying the chips.  The peel of the nenthran variety is very thick and tastes good. I usually pair it with black eyed beans/vellapayar. This time, I didn't have it in my pantry and used whole moong. It also tasted delicious. It is a simple preparation that goes well as a side for rice with sambhar/morkootan.

You need

• Banana peel of 4 bananas
• Whole moong - 1/4 cup
• Green chilly -1 
• Coconut - 2 tblspn
• Turmeric a pinch
• Salt to taste

To temper

• Oil - 1 tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Dried red chilli - 1 nos
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method

Chop the peel into bite sized pieces. Soak it for few minutes, in water with a tablespoon of buttermilk added to it. This will help to remove the stickiness and avoid discoloration. Drain and add washed whole moong, turmeric and salt. Add enough water just to cover it. I usually pressure cook for 2 whistles. The peel doesn't turn mushy.  Pulse the coconut and green chilly. Don't add water. It should be coarsely ground.

Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the red chilli, broken into two and curry leaves. Add the cooked peel and moong. Give a gentle stir. Add the ground coconut-green chilly. Cover and cook for a minute.  Remove from fire.

Capsicum Zunka

Zunka is a besan dominated side dish. I understand this can be prepared with out any vegetable ie. besan fried along with spices. Capcisum, methi and cabbage are the common veggies used in the preparation. I learnt this dish from my husband's periamma/aunt. I don't remember if she told any particular name to this. She had visited us and I had planned methi dal to serve with rotis. Periamma is a great cook and she enjoys preparing for the visisting relatives or friends. Knowing my interest in learning new recipes, she taught me this. She  mentioned capsicum can be used in place of methi.  Later when I started blogging, I got to know that it is a popular marathi dish and is called Zunka. And saw few recipes where cabbage is cooked the same way. 

Besan is the main ingredient and the flavor is enhanced with the addition of red chilli powder, cumin and the veggie added. Its a quite an easy dish and gets done very quickly. Here is I how I make it.

You need

• Capsicum - 2 nos, big
• Besan/Kadalamavu - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Cumin - 1 tspn
• Turmeric - 1/4 tspn
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Hing - 1/4 tspn
• Salt to taste

Method

Wash and dice the capsicum into cubes. Take besan in a bowl. Add turmeric,red chilli powder, hing and 1/4 tspn of salt. Mix well. Keep it aside.

Heat a kadai with 2 tablespoon of oil. When hot, add cumin. When the seeds starts browning, add the chopped capsicum. Add salt, just enough for the capsicum. We have added some salt to the besan mix. Saute till it is half cooked.  Add the besan mix in parts. After each addition, keep stirring so that the besan gets cooked and not turn lumpy. After the last addition, continue to saute for 5 minutes. Make sure the besan doesn't get burnt. Remove and serve as a side dish for roti.

Check out the blogging marathon page to know what my friends have cooked for the day.

Chakkakuru Podimas/Jackfruit Seeds Stir Fry

Come summer, the most abundant fruits are mango and jack fruit. In Kerala, almost all houses used to have atleast one tree each of these.  Mango and jack fruit will invariable make an appearance in any of the gravy or side dish for the lunch, during the summer months.  There is a saying in Malayalam “Aaru maasam chakkayum maangayum, Aaru maasam anganeyum inganeyum ".   This means Keralites can live with mangoes and jackfruits for 6 months and for the rest of the year with this and that. This tells the importance of both mango and jack fruit. This may not hold true for the present day. And in the olden days, they never got bored of the daily dose of these two. Jack fruit which is just matured and beginning to ripe is generally prepared into a molagushyam or chakka curry. 

You can find more dishes based on jack fruit here

Now coming to the recipe of the post, its with the jack fruit seeds. I love roasted  seeds especially the ones roasted in the traditional chulah. These seed are usually paired with other veggies in gravies or stir fries. I generally add one or two to mezhukuparatti or molagootal. Once in a while I make this podimas.

The seeds are washed and dried for a day. Drying them helps to remove the skin easily. I use a pestle to smash the seeds lightly so that the skin comes out with minimal effort. You could also cook with the seeds on and can be peeled later. And you could chop into cubes. But I haven't tried this way.

You need

• Jack fruit seeds - 20 nos
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric a pinch
• Red chilly powder -1/2 tspn

For Seasoning

• Oil - 1 tblspn
• Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
• Urad dal - 1 tspn
• Red chilly - 1 no
• Curry leaves - few

Method

De-skin the seeds. Pressure cook with enough water to cover them. Add a pinch of turmeric and cook for 3 whistles. When the pressure is released fully, drain the water and keep the seeds aside.

Heat a wok/kadai with oil. When the oil heats up, add mustard seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add urad dal, red chilly split into two and the curry leaves. When the dal start browning, add the cooked jack fruit seeds. Mix in salt  and red chilly powder. Cover and cook till it the spices blend in. I love this when it is seasoned in a iron kadai and let it cook over slow heat. The bottom part will turn crisp.I can just eat this podimas as a snack by itself.

Vazhakkai Podimas ~ Cooked and grated plantain stir fry

Vazhakkai /raw plantain is a regular vegetable at home. It is usually made into a thoran (stir fry seasoned with coconut and green chilly)or a mezhukuperatti ( a medley of veggies cooked and sauted in oil). Its after marriage, I was introduced to this podimas. I guess this is a tamil way of cooking. I learnt this from my MIL. According to MIL, the ponthan variety of vazhakkai is usually used for this and it gives the best results. And I have not tried with any other kind. May be other varieties might also give good results. The ponthan variety is generally used for making bajjis. Though the preparation of podimas is simple, the taste is marvellous. This is a favorite of my husband and I make it often. It goes very well with sambhar/ vethakozhambu or any tangy gravy.

You need



Vazhakkai/Raw plantain - 2 nos

Salt

To season

Oil - a tblspn

mustard seeds - 1 tspn

chana dal - 1 tblspn

red chilly- 1 nos

green chilly - 3 nos

curry leaves

hing - 1/2 tspn


To garnish

 Grated coconut - 2 tblspn


Method

Chop both the ends of the bananas. Cut them into two or three pieces depending on the size with the skin on. Cook them in enough water with salt in it. Its done when you can see cracks on the skin. Drain the water. Cool. Remove the skin. Grate the cooked bananas. Be gentle when u grate so that it doesn't turn mushy.

Matured bananas are used for this so that it retains shape when grated.

Heat a kadai with oil. Add mustard seeds. When seeds crackle, add chana dal, broken red chilly, slit green chillies, curry leaves and hing. slowly add the grated banana and give a gentle stir to mix everything. Check the salt and cook for a minute or two for the flavors to steep in. Garnish with grated coconut.

Some prefer to add turmeric to get a yellow color and also a tablespoon for lemon juice for a tangy taste.