Going Bananas

Bananas Fried In Ghee

Walking through the weekly pasar malam or night market with my daughter I happened to spy some extra large bananas in one of the stalls.  It turned out to be Nendra Bale- a special kind of banana that my Mum used to give us for a snack when we came home hungry from school and college.  It's delicious and that's what I made for my cooking class with Vincenzo  and Jessica from Spain this afternoon.

The Recipe:

2 large very ripe bananas, about 200gms each; brown sugar to taste; Ghee for frying.

Cut  bananas into half, peel and quarter horizontally (Four pieces per banana).  Heat a non stick pan and add 1 tbsp ghee.   Place in pan, lower heat and fry for a few minutes on both sides until golden brown.  Sprinkle with sugar and more ghee ( if desired) and serve hot.

Optional- Sprinkle with cinnamon powder or cardamom 

Instead of frying, they can be steamed and eaten with ghee and brown sugar.

Honey is another option.

TO ATTEND MY HEALTHY FOOD WORKSHOP CLICK HERE

Nothing But Breadfruit

BreadfruitLast week while shopping for vegetables, I was very excited to see a large, green vegetable that looked very familiar.  It turned out to be one of our favourite childhood vegetables - breadfruit -  and so we bought it. The vendor had no clue as to what it was and was quite pleased when we told him the Kannada name for it.  Bread fruit is a smaller cousin to the jack fruit, usually eaten as a vegetable and can be used as a replacement for potato, in curries, cakes and dough nuts and also as a substitute for flour.  However we like it fried or dipped in batter and fried.  A delicious snack for all ages at any time.

The Recipe:     

1 breadfruit; oil for frying

For Batter :        1 cup water; 1/4 cup gram flour; salt to taste; chilli powder to taste; 1 tsp rice flour; 1 tsp cornflour; 1/2 tsp baking powder.  Mix all ingredients to a smooth liquidy batter. 

Cut the breadfruit in half, quarter it and remove the pith in the middle .  Slice into large pieces and soak in salt water for 5 minutes.  

1.  Drain thoroughly and deep fry half of the slices to a golden brown.  Serve hot with sauce  or as it is.

2.  Dip the remaining breadfruit slices in the  batter and deep fry in hot oil  till crisp and brown.  Serve hot with sauce or just as it is.