Raw Banana | Healthy cooking with Mitha

I get many messages from my readers about which place I really belong to, as I keep mentioning both Kerala and Karnataka in my write ups. Actually I am from a beautiful village named Katapady near Udupi. When I was 9 years old, we shifted to Ernakulam and thus started my life as a Keralite. After shifting many rental houses, we bought our own house in a place called Elamakkara. It was in midst of many temples and we loved the area very much. That house still brings back many beautiful memories as I did my schooling and college life, spent my pregnancies and days with my newborn babies in that house. Many nostalgic memories to cherish forever. ❤️

My parents shifted back to Udupi two years back and are enjoying themselves in their dream flat which is in midst of nature. You can see so many varieties of birds and butterflies there with every morning welcomed by their chirping. I love chatting with Amma lying on her bed looking at the beautiful birds. Right now I am in Qatar (settled here after marriage since 9 years) and honestly, it feels really homesick not being able to travel even if I want to (not risking with the present situation). Hope next year brings more happiness. ❤️

Coming back to this recipe (got emotionally carried away like always 😅), I had shared a recipe of Sprouted moong methi sukke earlier which I had learned from the Konkani community in Elamakkara. Many of my readers and relatives had tried and loved it so much. So here’s sharing one more recipe which is commonly made by them. They actually use banana stem and whole moong but I replace with raw bananas as stem is not available here.

Hope you all try it and love it too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients: { The below measurements serve 5 to 6 people, so halve the quantity of moong and raw banana and adjust chillies if making for 2 people }

2 medium sized Raw Bananas

1 Cup dried whole moong/ green gram

Salt to taste

For the ground masala:

1 Cup Coconut

1 tsp Jeera or Cumin seeds

4 to 5 Green chillies or to taste

1/2 inch Ginger piece

For seasoning:

1 Tbsp Coconut oil

1 tsp Mustard seeds

A sprig of Curry leaves

2 long red chillies

Step by step recipe:

1. * Soak dried moong in atleast double the water overnight or for atleast 8 hours. Drain the water completely. Wash well. Pressure cook with water a little above it’s level for 2 whistles (or as per your cooking range) till it turns soft.

* Also chop both ends of raw Banana. Peel the skin off and finely chop the raw Banana and add to water.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and red chillies. Now add raw bananas and fry for few minutes till it cooks halfway.

3. Now grind coconut, green chillies, Jeera and ginger along with about 1/4 Cup water to a coarse paste. Don’t make a smooth paste.

4. Now add this paste along with salt, cooked moong to the raw bananas and cook together till the raw bananas turn soft. Also add water as needed. This a thick gravy.

5. Serve hot with rice meals.

Notes:

* This curry thickens as you keep it. So add water as much as you like it. We prefer it dry as we eat with matta rice gruel for dinner. Adjust thickness using water.

* You can substitute raw bananas with Banana stem (gabbo) too. That’s how it’s made among Kerala Konkani people.

* Do remember to grind the coconut mixture to a coarse paste to get the best flavour.

* Also add couple of more green chillies if you like spicy curries.

* If you want to make the curry in less quantity, soak only 1/2 Cup moong and use 1 raw Banana in the curry. This will serve 2 people for 1 meal.

* I make Easy Raw Banana tawa fry as an accompaniment with this curry along with rice. The meal turns out very tasty.

* You can also try this Sprouted moong methi sukke. Tastes Amazing!

My mother suffers from muscular dystrophy in her legs since many years and can’t walk. After years of using walker to support her, now she has to use wheel chair for movement. Even then, she does whatever household chores she can, sitting in the wheelchair like washing dishes, cleaning the house and bathrooms. I really admire her mental strength and I am very much proud of her.

She dedicates her time towards devotion to God by singing bhajans, reading slokas, reading The Bhagavad Gita apart from video calling with us. Whatever good things I have learnt in my life is from her. She’s my best friend, my first and true love and my greatest support. ❤️

I am sharing about her today because this raw banana tawa fry is what she used to make for me as a kid. I used to get amazed by the beauty of this flower shaped dosa and used to stand beside her to see how it comes out.

Now whenever I make this dosa, I remember her a lot. Amma, this post of dedicated to you. Though I may not say it often, I love you a lot. 😘😘

Hope you all try and love this too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients: {To make 2 flower shaped dosas}

1 medium sized Raw Banana

2 Tbsp Rice flour / rice powder

1/2 tsp Red chilli powder or to taste

1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder/ Hing

Salt to taste

Oil to cook the dosa

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash well and peel the raw bananas. Cut in circles which are not too thick nor too thin, in medium thickness as shown. Immediately put them in water so that they don’t turn black.

Note: I have also finely chopped the rest of the raw bananas to make stir fry or Upkari. Recipe in notes at the end.

2. Now make a thick paste with rice powder, red chilli powder, hing, salt and little water.

Note: Don’t make it thin as it won’t coat the raw bananas. Add only a Tbsp of water at a time.

3. Now heat a dosa pan. Drain all water from raw bananas. Dip the raw bananas one by one in the batter and place on the pan together in a flower shape.

4. Drizzle oil over it. Cover and cook till the surface cooks well. Do this on medium flame. It will take some time but still raw bananas cook quicker than potatoes. Flip and cook till it cooks completely.

5. Serve hot with rice meals or munch on as an evening snack.

Notes:

* Be careful to not cut the raw bananas too thick as it won’t cook well if done so.

* The batter should be thick or else it won’t coat the bananas well.

* Red chilli powder is to taste. I add less to accommodate my kids’ tastebuds.

* For the raw banana Upkari, heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds. Add hing and broken red chillies. Add finely chopped raw bananas with very little water. Add salt and cook till the bananas turn soft. Garnish with freshly grated coconut. Remove from flame.