Banana chips are a very popular snack. We grow many varieties of bananas in our garden. Some of these are consumed ripe and some are mainly used for cooking (also called plantains). As my children liked them, I used to prepare them on large scale and store them in big tin containers. They loved to eat hot chips just out of oil. While my son and husband loved the spicy ones, my daughter liked plain chips.
I usually fried them in coconut oil as we were not diet conscious in those days. Chips fried in coconut oil last for more days. Any types of raw bananas (fully grown only) can be used for this purpose. I normally use a local variety called ‘Anabale’ in Konkani. Another popular variety used is called ‘Nendrabale’.
Ingredients: Raw bananas Oil SSlt Turmeric powder Red chilly powder/pepper powder (optional)
Method: Put longitudinal cuts on the external surface of bananas with knife and peel off the skin. Apply little oil to palms (to avoid palms becoming sticky and black). Immerse the peeled bananas in water for about thirty minutes. This removes the gum from bananas. Cut the bananas into thin circular chips and spread them on a cotton cloth and allow them to dry for about thirty minutes. Mix 1-2 tea spn salt and 1/4 tea spn turmeric powder in 1/4 cup of water and keep it aside. Heat oil and deep fry the dried banana chips in it. When they are almost done (Take the spoon and mix the chips, if you can hear the sound of chips, then they are almost done) pour 1-2 tea spn salt and turmeric water in it. Take care to avoid splashing of hot oil when you add salt water to the oil. Frying is almost over when the splashing and the sound ceases. Take off the chips from the oil. You can sprinkle the red chilly powder or pepper powder over the fried chips per your taste.
You can store these chips in a container when they cool. Remember to reduce the amount of salt water for subsequent batches as the oil in the pan absorb some amount of salt.
Note: Instead of adding normal salt, you can also sprinkle some rock salt on top to introduce unique taste.
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For last couple of days, I wanted to try it out again, thanks to a cookbook I was reading at that time. So this week, I again tried it and we loved the taste. This lemony Quinoa and a hearty soup was our lunchbox yesterday. I think I am going to try this again soon and also try some more recipes with Quinoa in near future.
(I have no idea if this is available in India or what is it called in any other languages).
Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups Quinoa 1/4 cup sliced onion 1 tbl spn black olives 1/4 tea spn pepper powder Little butter 1/4 cup chopped capsicum (bellpepper) 1/4 cup corn 1 tea spn chopped jalapeños 1-2 tbl spns lemon juice Salt
Method: Cook Quinoa according to package instructions in water or vegetable stock or chicken stock. Add salt while cooking. As the Quinoa I had did not come in package, I just cooked in salted water 1:2 (quinoa to water) ratio for about 10mins (covered). In a separate pan, melt butter and add onion, capsicum. When they are slightly cooked, add corn, salt and cook till corn is done. I used frozen corn which took just about 1 min to cook. But if you are using fresh ones that take long time to cook, separately cook it and add to onion-capsicum mixture. Now add olives, pepper powder, jalapeños cooked Quinoa and mix well. Add lemon juice, mix well and take off heat. Serve hot.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins
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