Vazhakkai podi

Vazhakkai (raw banana) podi is one of the not-so-common recipes, but features every now & then in my mom 's kitchen. Though it looks like a curry, it actually serves as a rice mix (podi). For me, this is an extended version of paruppu podi (sort of, because of the toor dal). Podi tastes great when mixed with hot rice & a dash of ghee and makes a great combo with morkuzhambu / kootu / sutta (fire-roasted) appalam on the side.

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium
Prep time - 20 - 30 mins (includes cooking raw banana)
Cook time - 15 - 20 mins
Serves - 2-3

Ingredients

Raw banana - 3 nos

Toor dal - 3/4 cup

Whole urid dal - 1/4 cup

Hing - 1 small piece

Dry red chillies - 2 nos

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

Method

Heat a tsp of oil and fry hing until roasted & crisp. Add toor dal, whole urid dal and fry until golden brown. Add dry red chillies and stir for couple of mins until they are crisp & fragrant. Set aside to cool.

Use a mixer and grind cooled dal mixture into a fine powder (without adding water).

Roast raw bananas directly on the stove in medium flame until the sides are completely charred & black and the inner flesh is all cooked. Set aside to cool and then, peel the outer layer and chop the raw-bananas into 1/2 inch cubes.

Add the freshly-ground spice powder, salt and mix well, so that the spice powder coats each and every piece of raw banana.

Mix it with hot rice & ghee and enjoy!

Note:

• The same recipe works good for making potato podi too! Just boil, peel and mash the potatoes and mix it with the ground powder and enjoy!
• You can also mash / grate the cooked raw banana instead of chopping.
• You can also pressure cook the vegetable (for 2 whistles) and use it to make podi.
• The podi is good for 1 to 2 days.