Perfect crunchy Plantain chips in Airfryer

Plantain chips and Kerala are much associated. Anyone who visits there would buy definitely buy these chips. There they fry the plantain slices in coconut oil and the elevates the chips to a whole new level.

I usually fry the chips in peanut oil or corn oil before buying the airfryer. Click to see my fried traditional plantain chips. 

I tried baking the chips in cookie sheets, but it takes much time and also the quality differs. But if you want to bake it more perfectly , use a copper wire basket. 

I used to have another airfryer (Bella brand) and it was good too. But we could do in small batches only. Recently we bought this Ninja foodie 6 in 1 indoor grill during Thanksgiving from Kohls. After that airfrying has become more easier because of that large surface area.  We donated our previous airfyer and started using the Ninja grill regularly. 

Instead of the regular mandalin  (see below my mom's grandmas's chips kattai, which I am keeping as treasure. It's made of palakattai - jackfruit tree wood, I heard), I have used cuisinart food processor slicer attachment.  This food processor comes really handy and saves much time and it's one of my most favorites. 

I won't say that the airfried chips tastes exactly the same as fried kerala chips, but still this tastes super crunchy and delicious. Nowadays we love and prefer airfrying better than deep fried ones :) 

Perfect crunchy plantain chips in airfryer

Slightly remove the skin of plantain

Plantain chips sliced in cuisinart food processor

Amma's Achi's bajji / chips slicing mandalin

 

Mix salt, oil , turmeric powder

Note how I arranged them in 2 layers. 

Chips made at 330 (tastes perfect but needs more color, so we slightly rise the heat)

Increase the heat to get crunchy perfect colored chips

Perfect crunchy plantain chips in airfryer

Repeat !

Ingredients:
Unripe plantain (long variety) - 1 or as per need
coconut oil or olive oil (any oil) - 1 tbsp
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 , preheat the airfryer . Set the temperature to 330 C and 10 minutes. 

Add salt, turmeric powder, oil to the sliced plantain and mix gently.
After the preheating is done , it will show 'ADD FOOD'. Then open the top and arrange the chips in single layer. After covering the entire tray, arrange another layer in zig zag fashion over the first layer. Never dump all chopped slices in a hurry. This may take some time, but still worth it.

Close the hood and wait till 3 minutes is left. Open and check. Toss using a tongs and increase to 345 C , to get a pretty color. 

Take out and gather the chips in a bowl (don't close it with lid).

Likewise repeat and airfry 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.
Plantain chips is ready.


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

Note:
The success of homemade chips (plantain or potato), lies in the following:
1. the thickness of the chips - For deep frying - medium thin to thick chips

                                            For Air frying - slice them thin (not wafer thin)
2. The quality of vegetable used. (fresh is the best). Yethan kaai (Plantain) is the best. Matured and little ripe is also good. We can see them at Aldi and many American grocery stores in USA.
3. Arrange the chips one by one in single layer and then arrange another layer over it. Do not crowd or dump on fryer basket (they will definitely stick with each other).  
 

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)