I like to think of Vazhakkai also known as Raw Banana or Green Plaintain as the unsweetened cousin of Banana. Plaintains and Kerala are almost synonomous thanks to the fanatical devotedness of people to munching on Kerala’s various plaintain delicacies. Yet this aint a recipe from Kerala but Tamil Nadu, the other state where Plaintains are cooked up and served in all kinds of forms.
Vazhakkai Podi or a mix of grated raw banana/unripe plaintain with a powder and is typically served with Rice. Me thinks this will make a superb combination with More Kuzhambu. For a change I used them to make Parathas.
Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 20 minutes, Serves 3 – 4
Ingredients
For Vazhakkai Podi (Powder)
- Raw Banana/ Green Plaintain * 1
- Channa Dal 1 1/2 tbsp (Bengal Gram Dal)
- Urad Dal 1 1/2 tbsp
- Red Chillies 2
- Hing/ Asafoetida – a small piece
- Salt to taste
- Oil
*Update: Vazhakkai are Plaintains that are unripe or Green in colour not the sweet Bananas that are not yet ripe. Raw Bananas is a colloquial reference used in Madras which also appears on the bill when you pick a bunch of these green plaintains. The term “Raw” is used to refer to the “paccha” or “raw” taste of these as compared to a normal Banana. Since there seems to be some kind of confusion, I have updated to avoid misinterpretation.
For Parathas
- Whole wheat flour 2 cups
- Water to Knead
- Salt
- Ghee
Method
For Vazhakkai Podi
1. Wash and trim the ends of the Green Plaintain/ Vazhakkai. Cut into two and steam in a Microwave for 3 to 4 minutes along with the skin. The Green Plaintain/ Vazhakkai should be cooked about 3/4 and not very mushy. Remove and set aside for cooling.
2. Roast Channa Dal, Urad Dal and Red chillies with a drop of oil. Set aside for cooling. Make sure that you don’t add too much oil for roasting, when ground this must be dry.
3. When the parboiled Plaintain is cool, grate it finely along with the skin. Please don’t discard the skin, it is edible and very nutritious. Ensure that the banana is completely cool, else the gratings may be very mushy.
4. In a blender grind the roasted Channa Dal, Urad Dal and Red Chillies along with Hing and Salt to a fine powder.
5. Mix the grated Green Plaintain/ Vazhakkai with the ground powder. Transfer to a Bowl.
For Parathas
1. Knead the Wheat flour with water and salt into a firm elastic dough, add a drop of ghee towards the end to finish. Set aside for 20 minutes. Divide the dough into round balls. Set aside some flour to dust while rolling.
2. Roll out one ball into a round of 4 inch diameter using a belan or rolling pin using some flour to dust. Ensure that the center is thick while the sides are rolled out thin.
3. Fill in 1 1/2 tbsp of filling in the center, bring the sides together from 5 to 6 points. Press gently. This should give you a flat round with filling inside.
4. Dust both sides of this flat stuffed round with some flour and roll out into a round of 5 inch diameter.
5. Cook both sides on a tawa on medium heat until brown spots. This makes one paratha stuffed with the Raw Banana/ Vazhakkai Podi.
6. Proceed similarly with the rest of the dough.
Parathas stuffed with Vazhakkai Podi for JFI: Banana hosted by Mandira from Ahaar.
Wow, what a unique recipe. Nice idea to make raw banana parathas. Am sure they taste yummy too.
this is really amazing…didn’t know we can make this…thanks for sharing…will try this out sometime…
looks lovely:) parathas with banana sounds great! nice entry too
Yay, I just got vazhakkai yesterday – they’re very tender, but that should be ok, right? I’m going to make this podi with a few, and vazhakkai kootu with the remaining. Really looking fwd to this, because I get vazhakkai so rarely! I feel so thrilled 🙂
i just love all yur recipes here…. plaintain podi paranthas are new to me, and i love yur dry fruit ladoos, they look so yum… after i delivered my baby… i had tons of these :), maddur vaddes are looking great too. kozhukattais are looking so delicious too…. gosh im hungry…
Looks yum Lakshmi,love the Parathas too.I made Plantain dish for JFI too!:))
yummy post lakshmi..:D …and got to know what “vazhakkai” is ..thanks for sharing..:)
Wonderful recipe! Was thinking a similar kind last week but had no time to try them out. This looks very yummy!
Nice recipe. I tried out your rava idli recipe and have blogged about it.
that’s a great idea. i can eat plantains for every single meal. just love them in any form.
Good entry
Nice Entree. Loved it 🙂 v creative and unique.
I love vazhakkai podi. Never knew I could stuff this in a paratha!
Great entry. Looks yum… Thanks for sharing.
lakshmi..i was thinking to make the same thing…but not south-indian stuffing..but north..u did beat me to it…looks yummy!
Lakshmi – this looks wonderful. Thank you for this great entry for JFI 🙂 – Mandira
Hey this is very interesting. Superb !
Awesome…..such novel recipes!