Homemade plantain chips

Banana chips / plantain chips / vazhaikkai chips / valai kai chips / yethan kaai chips , however we call it, anyone who has tasted the freshly fried chips of Kerala and Tamilnadu will love it :)
During my mom's era, she would make a tin full of plantain chips and keep it handy to serve as snack for our whole big family for the summer vacation picnics :) Variety rices like lemon rice, tamarind rice prepared for picnics would get a facelift with this crunchy chips always. Whenever I make some plantain chips, I fondly remember those days when my mom's sister, my Gandhi chithi making these plantain chips in a large yellow container for us all , with the green plantain from our backyard. I know , we all love the foods that have created good memories and that is what encouraging us all to cook happily,

Nowadays getting an air filled pack of chips is easier than going to the kitchen. But still I try my best to make chips whenever we want to buy one. In USA, the deep frying oils come in sale many times a year and I love those sales very much (who wouldn't...hi ..hi ). One plantain will always cost about 19 cents and 1 liter of oil can be calculated to $ 1. In less than $2 + 30 minutes we can get a large quantity of fresh chips.
My version of plantain chips is very easy. Just peel, slice and fry them directly.

Note: Amma's achi (Madurai achi ) gave this chips kattai to amma's amma then amma got it from her. I inherited it from my amma. I'm using this mandolin always :) It's made of pala kattai I heard. Happy memories :)

Golden yellow plantain chips , prepared at home.

Fry in small batches only. Do not rush and crowd the chips. Then only we can get crispy chips.

Note:
The success of homemade chips (plantain or potato), lies in the following:
1. the thickness of the chips
2. The quality of vegetable used. (fresh is the best). Yethan kaai (long variety of banana available in Kerala), is the best. Matured and little ripe is also good. We can see them at Aldi and many grocery stores in USA.
3. Use generous quantity of oil to fry. And also do not crowd the chips while frying. If there are a lot of chips getting fried, then they will become soggy by their own moisture instead of getting fried.
4. Lighter oils are best to fry . e.g., coconut oil, corn oil, Canola etc., . The best thing about coconut oil is , we can reuse that oil after frying.  I add some coconut oil in corn oil (as coconut is very expensive here), to bring out that real flavor :)

Ingredients:
Unripe plantain (long variety) - 2 or as per need
oil - 3/4 liter (to deep fry)
turmeric powder - 1 /2 tsp (optional)
salt - 1 tsp
red chilly powder - little for garninshing


Method:
Peel the skin of plantain gently , leaving behind some thick skin on.  If using an adjustable type slicer, then set the screw to make medium thin to thick chips for plantain. Slice the plantains and keep handy.
In the mean time , heat oil in a broad wok. Put little turmeric powder and salt in the oil for color and flavor. This is optional only. Sometimes I add salt and pepper after frying only.
Add approximately 10-15 slices of chips and fry till bubbles settle. Using a slotted spatula, mix / flip the chips and fry evenly. Take out and keep on paper towels to drain oil.
Likewise repeat and fry all the chips.
Put the chips in a container and sprinkle little salt and chilly powder. Shake and mix well.
Keep open to cool completely before putting the lid.
Store at room temperature for more than a week.
Plantain chips is ready.


Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack or side dish with any rice.

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Earlier (before bringing my chips slicer from India), I had tried using this shredded shown below.  This type of slicers are available in walmart. They too come handy, but getting the same thickness as Kerala chips is a bit challenging without the wooden chips slicer. But vazhaikkai bajji cannot be sliced with this, as this makes very thin slices only. So I used to slice manually :)

My hubby dear completely helped me preparing this mega batch of plantain chips (2014)

Mixed vegetable pakoda

Pakoda / pakora / fritters. A pakoda is a deep fried spicy snack.

In Tamilnadu it is common to see the vendors making these crispy pakoras in front of their stalls to attract the crowd in the evening / night. They prepare the pakora's base batter in a big lot and would make various pakoras by dipping and frying the relevant items as per order. There are many variations in making pakora and the dominant ingredient gets the title (mint pakora, tea stall pakora, cashew pakora, onion pakoda etc.,).
Here is a different pakora with mixed vegetables. We can use almost any vegetable here and I am sure deep frying makes it delicious:) If preparing the pakora as tea time snack, I suggest making a little extra, as it makes a wonderful meal with rasam rice for dinner:)

Mixed vegetables I had.

Crispy mixed vegetable pakoda.

Important Ingredients:

Besan flour - 3/4 cup
(Bengal gram flour / kadalai mavu)
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Red onion - 1 (big)
green chilli - 5
ginger - 2 inch
hing - 1/8 tsp
salt - to taste
curry leaves- 1 brig
cilantro - 1/4 bunch
mint leaf - a handful
cilantro - a handful
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
oil - to deep fry (250 ml)

Vegetables :

cabbage - 100 gm
carrot - 1
broccoli / cauliflower - 1 cup
potato - 1
French beans - 10
(Vegetables with more water content are not suitable for this recipe).

Method:

Cut the vegetables into thin slices of 2 inch length.
Chop the onion into thin slices.
Finely chop the green chilli, ginger, cilantro and mint leaves.
Mix the chopped veggies with the besan flour and rice flour.Add chilli powder, salt and garam masala powder.
Try to knead the flour without adding water.
Heat 2 tbsp oil and add it to the mixture. This makes the pakoda more crispy. Instead of oil we can add a few drops of water also.
The dough consistency should not be like chapathi dough. It should be like a mixture of moistened flour with veggies.
Heat oil in a kadai. Drop small pieces of mixture in to the hot oil. Reduce heat to medium so that the vegetable gets cooked evenly. Flip and fry to get crispy fritters.
Take them out and place over paper towels to remove excess oil.
Crispy mixed vegetable pakoda is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot as an evening snack or as side dish with any variety-rice.
Goes fine with curd rice , rasam or sambar rice

Pani Poori

In Madras, we belong to an area famous for its Gulfi ice,  paani poori manufacturers with the walk ways surrounded by 'chaat item' (a kind of Indian salad mixed with crispies) vendors. You may need a strong willpower to pass these shops without buying one plate of some snack:) Recently we enjoyed this delicacy once again in one of the parties held by hubby's colleague A. After that our trips to Indian grocery stores won't be complete without getting a chaat item.

What is Paani poori?

Paani poori : Small cute fluffy pooris stuffed with lentil, mashed potatoes, salads and filled with hot chutneys as well as sweet tangy tamarind water.

Paani poori is a great fun food when we have some family get-together or friends coming over unexpectedly. It is a very filling snack / starter / a complete meal without much preparation time or skills. There are 'n' number of variations for the stuffing and chutneys. I prepared it by remembering that Madras paani poori stalls' version and their clay-pots filled with those paanis and chutneys.

All we need is just to poke the poori with our thumb, fill the stuffing, pour the chutneys and munch ....munch...munch:) I love the way it is gobbled in one gulp with lots of laughter:) Nothing can beat the different tastes.... spicy to sweet and tangy mixing up in our mouth while our hands uncontrollably stretching for the next poori....unexplainable joy. Isn't it!

Paani poori along with the various stuffings and filling chutneys arranged.

Paani poori stuffed.

Ready to use paani pooris.

Ingredients:

Pani poori - 1 pack
I used the ready to use paani poori available in Indian grocery stores. Preparing the poori needs a lot of patience and skill. The end product should be a very stiff and hole-less pooris. Still I assure you, the home made ones are the best, if we can make them perfectly. You can see the procedure for making them in

Stuffing:

(The following are the popular stuffing, but we can vary them according to availability)
1.Potato - 3
2.Freshly chopped onion - 1 cup
3.channa dhal / whole green gram (cooked)- 2 cup
4.oma podi (Indian mixture snack) - 1/2 cup (optional)
*Cook the potato and remove the skin. Mash it gently along with some salt, cumin powder (1/4 tsp). Place it in a serving bowl.
*chop the onions finely and keep them for serving.
* cook the dhal and keep it in a bowl.

green chutney:

cilantro - 10 stems
mint leaf - 1/2 cup
green chilly - 2
salt - to taste
lemon - 1/8
wash and clean the leaves. Grind them finely together along with green chilly, salt and some water to get a cup of chutney. Squeeze the lemon to get a balanced chutney taste. Keep it in a serving bowl with a spoon.

Tamarind water:

tamarind - a small lemon size
Water - 2 cup
jaggery / sugar - 1 tsp
salt - 1/4 tsp
dry ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
chaat masala - 1/4 tsp
cilantro - a few leaves
dates / raisin - 1/2 cup
Soak the tamarind and extract the juice. Puree the dates / raisin and mix all the above to get a sweetish tangy water. Transfer it to a serving bowl with a spoon.

How to devour it ?

Take a poori. Hold it in your left hand, in the same time make a small opening at the top (by using your thumb), just like we shell the hard boiled eggs.

Put a small scoop of mashed potatoes, cooked dhal, chopped onion one over the other.Sprinkle the oma podi.
Top it with 1/2 a tsp of spicy green chutney. Fill the remaining space with the tamarind sweet chutney.

Immediately gulp it and enjoy:)

Serving suggestions:

The above said quantity is enough to fill almost 40 paani pooris. Increase the tamarind water quantity if necessary. Create your own stuffing to suit your palettes.
This makes a great starter or an early supper.