Raw Banana Cutlets

Today afternoon I made good use of the two raw bananas risking to go stale in my freezer. For some odd reason,the only way my family consumes raw bananas are by thickly slicing them in roundels and frying them, sometimes sprinkled with poppy seeds, served as a side dish with a meal of rice and dal. It is not the same as the ubiquitous Kerala style chips however.They are thinner and crisper and traditionally fried in coconut oil. While they both are quite tasty and easy to make,they also involve a lot of deep frying which apart from the unwanted calories,also ruins most of the nutrition found in the vegetable. There is also a classic bengali entree' where raw bananas are made into fried dumplings and cooked in a rich gravy,called Kanchkolar Kofta (Kanchkola:the Bengali word for raw bananas, Kofta: a fried dumpling common to many Indian cuisines). But that's again a time-consuming affair to be made only for party menus and special occassions. The bottomline is that for a long time I was on the lookout for a raw banana side dish which would be fast,easy to prepare,would not involve deep-frying and most importantly,taste great. Me and my father aren't great fans of the raw banana to be honest,but it is a rich source of iron and my mother makes sure that it's a staple part of the grocery shopping.


I chanced upon this recipe at Mandira's blog sometime back. She calls them cutlets but I made a smaller,flatter version of it which I will prefer to term tikias, the commonly used term for shallow-fried patted down roundels from the seasoned and spiced vegetable dough. It looked tempting,seemed easy to make and called for basic pantry staples.What was unusual about it that apart from the normal spices and flavourings used in most similar dishes,this one calls for sambar powder to be added to the mashed vegetable to make the tikia roundels.That seemed unusual to my bengali sensibilities who although loves her sambar and rasam, had never used the spice mix to make any fried stuff of any kind. I tried the recipe almost word for word,hence the ingredients and measurement are exactly the same as in her recipe but I re-wrote the method in my own word, making only one slight modification.The recipe uses poppy seeds to coat the tikias before frying, whilst I substituted with breadcrumbs which according to the blogger,could be used instead.

KANCHKOLAR TIKIA
(a spicy raw banana patty)
makes 6 medium sized tikias.



Ingredients:
2 Raw Bananas
1 medium onion
1 green chilli
2 teaspoon sambar powder
1 teaspoon lime juice
4 tbsp breadcrumbs
a sprig of cilantro
pinch of turmeric
2-3 teaspoon white oil
salt to taste

Method:
Peel the bananas,chop into 4-5 pieces each and boil them.
4 whistles in a pressure cooker did it for me.
While the banana is being cooked, finely chop the onions, green chilli and cilantro.
Mash the boiled bananas with the sambar powder,salt and turmeric powder.
Add the onion, green chilli & cilantro.
Add the lime juice immediately before making the tikias.
Divide the dough into small balls, put them in the bread crumbs,flatten them and coat both sides well with the breadcrumbs.
If the dough is a bit soggy add some of the crumbs and mix well to dry it up.
Heat a non stick flat pan with oil.
Shallow fry the tikias on medium heat till they are golden brown on both sides.

Serve them hot with tomato ketchup or your choice of chutney/sauce as an appetizer.Or,serve hot as a side dish with a simple meal of daal and rice.We had them topped with ketchup and sandwiched between two slices of bread with tomato slices.It made a rather unusual but delicious cross between a burger and a vada-pav.

Mandira,thanks for the recipe.It is easy-breezy to make,extremely tasty and yes,I love the addition of the sambar powder and how beautifully all the tastes amalgamate to give the final product.Now I will be on the look out for other creative ways to use up my sambar powder,a spice mix I love and always have in my pantry,but sadly do not get to use much.

Part 2 : Malai Kulfi

After that delicious dinner of the Malai Paneer, here comes a much-loved Indian dessert, Malai Kulfi. It is the Indian version of ice-cream,although it differs from the former in that it is never churned and frozen in small moulds,much like popsicle.

a kulfi mould

It is sold through out the subcontinent as a street-food where it is frozen in small earthen pots called matkas or kulhads.It is essentially much more dense than icecream and takes longer to melt as well. Traditional Kulfi-making involved hours and hours of stirring milk with sugar,cream,nuts and flavouring spices so I prefer to use the easier way that I learnt from Nupur di who blogs at onehotstove.blogspot.com. The first few times I made it,I followed her instructions to the tee, but nowadays I make a few changes here and there,and am more relaxed about it on the whole. What I had very nervously approached once as a complex and daunting task has now become a much-loved keeper that I can make any given day and that too without referring to any recipe guidance. The Kulfi is one of the recipes that I will be making time and again, and keep on experimenting with it every time, because it has now really become my own.

MALAI KULFI

(Frozen Kulfi flavoured with fresh cream)

Serves:6

Ingredients:

Milk: 500 ml/2 cups

Sweetened condensed milk: half cup/8 tbsp

Fresh Cream: 3 tbsp

Green Cardamoms: 6

Cornflour: 2 tsp dissolved in 2 tbsp of milk,from the 2 cups of milk

A handful of raisins/chooped almonds/pistachios: optional

Sugar to taste. I used a bar of dairy milk instead ( Yes,that's my twist!)

How I made it:

Pour the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and add the condensed milk to it and mix well.

Add the cardamom seeds .

Bring the mixture to a boil.

For the next 20 minutes, constantly stir the mixture,on a medium flame,

taking care to scrape all the milk solids back into the pan.

Add the cream and stir very well at this point with a beater.

There should be no lumps,hence the beating is essential.

Cook for a few minutes and now add the dissolved cornflour into the milk.

Cook for 3-4 minutes to cook the cornflour.At this point the mixture should have become quite thick.Sprinkle the dry fruits if using.Take the vessel off the flame.

Pour carefully in a plastic container and chill for a couple of hours.Don't freeze now.

After the mixture cools down substantially, pour in Kulfi moulds,screw the lids tight and freeze them overnight or for 6-8 hrs.Serve Cold.

The Kulfi is served at weddings and dinner parties with Falooda ( vermicelli noodles) and rose syrup.I haven't yet learnt to make Falooda,but plan to learn sometime soon.Till then, we'll just make do with the Kulfi. It tastes unbelievably good on it's own,especially after a spicy,hot dish.It is as much a palate-cleanser as it's a melt-in-the-mouth gorgeous dessert, a perfect end to a sumptuous weekend meal.

A creamy comeback! Part 1

What with lots of academic pressures and other social activities clouding my days, my cooking schedules became so erratic over the past few months that I somehow just didn't feel like blogging for some time.But thankfully,that phase is now over,and I plan to religiously chronicle my adventures in my little kitchen from now onwards.Thanks to dear friend S, for that much-needed push.

Our family is leaving base for 2 whole weeks come the month of October for a much deserved family vacation after ages.Whilst we all are looking forward to that,I personally face a new dilemma.I have this habit of stocking up my fridge with stuff that I don't use for ages,and by that I mean spice pastes,frozen food,condiments and so on.Not the fresh vegetables,they always get used up,thankfully!

So now I face the daunting prospect of cooking up my fridge full of supplies in the next 2 weeks,because after that the refrigerator is going to be switched off for a fortnight. Food wastage is a big no-n0 in my house,we are always giving away extra food to friends,neighbours and neighbourhood birds.Therefore I have taken up the challenge of adjusting and scheduling my day so that everyday I make something with my pantry excess.I will be blogging side by side about the dishes which turn out blog-worthy as well.

First of all,I started with the small pack of fresh cream I had bought ages ago to make icecream.That didn't materialise somehow, so last weekend I made two tasty dishes with the cream. Firstly,a staple favourite of Indians for lunch/dinner, Malai Paneer and a classic Indian dessert,the Malai Kulfi. Needless to say,whimsical that I am,there were twists to both the items. Since they both turned out to be great,here is chronicling both of them.


MALAI MAKAI PANEER
(Cottage Cheese cubes and juicy niblets of Corn in a rich tomato-puree and fresh cream gravy)

Serves:3





ingredients:
300 gms paneer/cottage cheese
2 onions chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
1/2 capsicum cut into long strips
4 tbsp tomato puree
a fist full of sweet corn kernels,frozen will do
3-4 green chillies slit lengthwise
4 tbsp fresh cream
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilly powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
3 tbsp white oil

procedure:
heat oil in a pan.temper with cumin seeds.fry onions till they turn soft n pale.add capsicum and tomato and fry for a few minutes.add tomato puree,turmeric,red chilly, cumin powder.mix well and cook for 2-3 mins.add the paneer pieces.stir to coat well with the sauce.add salt to taste.add a cup of water and bring to boil.add corn and let it cook for 4-5 minutes.beat the cream with sugar.add to the pan.stir well so that no lumps are formed.lower the temperature,cover and cook for a few minutes till the gravy thickens to your desired consistency. serve hot with any Indian bread.



The overall combination of the tangy tomato puree with the sweet cream was a rich yet light,subtly beautiful curry that left everyone at the table licking their fingers and craving for more. We had it with homemade rotis but it would work great with tandoori roti or naan as well. The corn is always optional but I had a big bag of frozen corn to finish off and hence the addition.Normally one can use frozen green peas in the same way. Peas and Paneer are a match made in culinary heaven,they always work beautifully with each other.