Fried Bananas

Do you have bananas sitting on your countertop?

With a wonderful aroma filling the entire home...these 5 minute recipe of Fried Bananas ....are sure to just melt in your mouth.....& yep!!! empty your countertop too....

Ingredients

Bananas - 2 Nos. (yellow / brownish - yellow)
Ghee - 2 sp

Method

1. Peel the skin of the bananas & slice them into pieces (lengthwise or in rounds)
2. Heat a griddle / frying pan / dosa tawa.
3. Add 2 spoons of ghee.
4. At low heat, add a few banana pieces.
5. Gently fry both the sides (This will take a minute or less)
6. Take out the fried pieces from ghee & carefully place them in a bowl. (Take care 'coz these banana pieces break apart easily)
7. Do so for the remaining pieces.
8. Sinply enjoy with a fork / topped with sugar.

Thakkali (Tomato) Kurma

Ingredients

Oil - 3 sp
Mustard + Urad dhal - 1/4 sp
Curry leaves - 10 Nos.
Coriander leaves - 3 strings
Onion - 1 (medium sized - finely chopped)
Tomato - 2 (large - finely chopped)
Coconut - 1/8 th of a whole coconut
Gram Dhal - 1/ 4 of a handful (Pottu kadalai / Pori kadalai)
Green Chilli - 2
Fennel (Perunjeeragam) - 1/ 2 sp
Coriander powder - 1/2 sp
Red Chilli powder -  1/4 sp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 sp
Salt - To taste

Method

1. Add the coconut, gram dhal, green chilli and fennel in a mixie / blender and grind to a fine paste with required water.
2. In a pan, add oil.
3. When the oil is hot, add the mustard, urad dhal, curry leaves & coriander leaves.
4. Add the chopped onion and fry till the onion become transparent.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes turn mushy.
6. Make sure that the onion & tomatoes combine together and oil starts to separate out. (This step is the secret for this tasty bread / tiffin accompaniment)
7. Now, add the grind masala along with necessary amount of water.
8. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric and salt.
9. Let this boil until the required consistency is reached.
10. This is the best of all the vegetarian bread accompaniments.
11. Serve with chappathi, paratha, dosa or idli.

Mushroom Manchurian

Ingredients

Mushroom - 10 Nos.
Besan Flour - 3 sp
Red chilli Powder - 1/2 sp
Salt - 1/4 sp
Water - 5 sp
Oil - For frying
Oil - 2 sp
Curry leaves - 10 Nos.
Coriander leaves - 5 strings
Chopped Onion - 4 sp
Ginger - 2 ( 1" piece)
Garlic - 6 pods
Soya Sauce - 3 sp
Salt - To taste

Method

1. In a bowl, mix the besan flour, red chilli powder and salt.
2. Add water to make a slightly watery batter.
3. Wash the mushrooms under cold running water .
4. Separate the stem by moving it to & fro. (The stem is also included in the manchurian preparation.)
5. Cut the mushroom into two halves.
6. In a pan, heat the oil for frying.
7. Slightly coat the mushrooms in the batter & fry out in oil till they are nice brown under medium heat.
8. In the meanwhile, grind the ginger & garlic in a mixie / blender to form a paste.
9. In another pan, add oil.
10. When hot, add the curry leaves, coriander leaves & chopped onion. Fry till the onion become transparent.
11. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another 1 min.
12. Add the soya sauce and the oil - fried mushrooms along with the needed salt.
13. Let this cook  for another 2 - 3 min under medium heat with occasional stir.
14. Serve as an appetizer or a side dish.

Potato - Paneer Burrito

Ingredients

Tortillas - 2 (store - bought)
Oil - 2sp
Chopped curry leaves - Few
Chopped coriander leaves - Few
Chopped Onion - 1/2 handful
Potato(medium sized) - 2
Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese)  - 15 (1" cubes)
Red chilli powder - 1/4 sp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Coriander powder - 1/2 sp
Chicken masala / Mutton masala (optional) - 1/4 sp
Tomato - 1 (cut lengthwise)
Ranch Sauce / Sour Cream - 1 sp

Method

1. Boil the potatoes, peel the skin (optional) and mash them.
2. Make paneer crumbles with hand or just grate the paneer & keep aside.
3. In a pan, add oil. When oil is hot, add the curry leaves & coriander leaves.
4. Add the chopped onions and fry for 2 min.
5. Now add the mashed potato and paneer crumbles.
6. Add all the masala powders and fry in a medium heat for about 3 min till everything is well cooked.
7. Take the flour tortillas and cook them as per the cover instructions. Do not overheat them which will result in breaking of the tortilla into pieces.

How to fold the tortilla?

1. Place a cooked tortilla on a flat surface.
2. Place some cooked potato - paneer masala over it.
3. Arrange 2 - 3 tomato slices over the masala.
4. Top with cream / Ranch.
5. First, fold in the two sides of the tortilla over the masala.
6. Now, fold in the side nearer to you & roll once to tuck that side under the masala.
7. Fold in from the opposite side to form a complete roll.
8. Serve as such or cut into two.

Chappathi (Flattened Indian Wheat Bread)

This recipe makes about 8 medium - sized chappathis sufficient for 2 - 3 people.

Ingredients

Wheat flour (Atta) - 2 cups
Salt - To taste
Water - As needed
Wheat flour / All purpose flour - For dusting

Method

Dough Kneading:

1. In a wide bowl, take the wheat flour and add the salt. Mix them together.
2. Add water (generously) to form a soft dough. Do not add water little by little.
3. Place the dough on the countertop & knead for 5 - 10 min, adding little oil / flour, if needed. (REFER pizza dough kneading video in the homemade pizza recipe)
4. This dough can be used immediately or after some hours (close the bowl with a lid & let the dough rest)

Rolling Out:

1. Now, make lemon sized balls out of the dough.
2. Take a dough ball, coat it in the flour and roll out into a thin circular / square / rectangular / oval / shapeless discs (like a tortilla) using a rolling pin.
3. Fold the disc once to form a semi - circular disc.
4. Now, fold again to form a triangular / conical shape.
5. Dust the countertop with little flour & roll out to form a thin triangular disc.

Chappathi Making:

1. Heat a dosa tawa / griddle.
2. When hot, add 2 - 3 drops of oil and place the rolled out chappathi.
3. When the top side of the chappathi starts puffing up, flip it so that the other side gets cooked for about a minute.
4. Once done, place the chappathis in a hot box or cover (roll) them with soft towels to retain the softness.
5. Serve hot with chicken / mutton kurma or any vegetable kurma or paneer masala.

Note

1. Since we fold the dough twice while rolling, the chappathi can be got in layers.
2. Getting the triangular shape is easier compared to the perfect circular disc.
3. Kneading the dough for 5 - 10 min resuts in a very soft chappathi.
4. The cooked chappathis can be put over a very low flame & made to puff - up to get softer chappathis.