Banana Flowerets Pakoda

 

This was eaten on a road side shack in Chennai where our friend took us to. I just loved it managed to get the recipe.

Ingredients

-          2 cups banana flowerets

-          Oil for frying

For the batter

-          ½ cup besan

-          ½ cup rice flower

-          Salt to taste

-          ¼ tsp red chilli powder

-          Water

Instruction

-          Take the besan, rice flower, salt and chilli powder, slowly add water and mix well to make a thick batter

-          Heat oil in a pan. When it starts smoking, reduce the flame to medium and slowly put the flowerets Smeared with the batter.

-          Turn them and let cook till golden color.

-          Drain and serve with tomato ketchup for evening tea. Enjoy!

Banana Flower Thoran

 

Ingredients

-          One Banana flower

-          Salt to taste

-          ½ cup dried lobia soaked overnight and pressure cooked with ¾ cup water for 4 minutes

To grind

-          1 cup grated coconut

-          1/3 tsp turmeric powder

-          1/2 tsp cumin seeds

-          A few flakes of garlic

-          ¼ tsp red chilli powder

To temper

-          1 tbsp oil

-          ¼ tsp mustard seeds

-          2 red chillies broken

-          1 tbsp finely cut onion

-          A few curry leaves

Instruction

-          Peel off the outer layers of the banana flower till you see light colored skin. Now cut into very small pieces

-          Heat oil, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add broken red chillies, cut onion,  and curry leaves

-          When the onions brown, add the cut banana flower, stir well, sprinkle some water, close and let cook for about five minutes. Open and check in between whether it needs more water.

-          Add the cooked lobia, and the ground coconut with masala powders.

-          Mix well and remove from fire.

-          Serve with boiled rice and dal.

Buttermilk dosa

 

This is another variation of dosa which has a distinct nice taste. It does not require fermentation.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups Raw rice (for 5 dosas)

1 ½ cups buttermilk

Salt to taste

A pinch of baking soda

½ tsp cumin seeds

Instruction

- Soak the washed and cleaned rice in butter milk for 4 to 6 hours and grind it.

- Add cumin seeds, salt and baking soda, mix well.

- Spread on a hot thava and cook from both sides.

- Serve with coconut chutney

Gluten free Bathua puri recipe

Ingredients

1 cup cooked (with salt, garlic, red chilies), mashed bathua. Do not discard the water in which bathua is cooked

2 cups jowar atta

1/2 cup rice flour

1/4 cup rice rava

3-4 tbsp Tapioca flour (we used 2, stretchiness wasn't enough)

 1 cup water (from cooked bathua)

Jeera Powder

Garam masala

Instruction 

Boil 1 cup water with some oil, add 1 cup atta + tapioca. Once it is cooked, add mashed bathua, rest of flour, mix well. 

Knead well with some oil, can add ajwain. Make puris. Enjoy!

Courtesy recipe :  Dr. Anisha Goel

Yam Fry

 

Yam or suran fry is a great accompaniment for lunch, also it can be a good snack for tea/coffee.

It is very simple to prepare.

Ingredients

2 cups skinned, washed and yam sliced into small thin pieces

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

1/3 tsp red chilli powder

Instruction

-          Heat the oil till it smokes.

-          Slide in the sliced yam pieces, reduce the flame to medium. Keep stirring and let the yam pieces cook and become brownish in color.

-          Drain and put on tissue paper.

-          Sprinkle salt and red chilli powder and mix well .

-          Serve hot

Yam fry served with sago khichdi and salad.

Bature

 

During our post-graduation days in Lucknow, we used to frequent “Mirchu’s shop” on the way to college to have chole bature for breakfast (and on some days ‘bun makhan’). Whenever I make bature at home, it is always compared to ‘Mirchu’s bature’. And I am glad that over the years I have gained expertise that my husband compliments ‘Your batures are better than Mirchu’s’.

Ingredients

4 cups of refined flour

¾ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp salt

1 ½ tbsps sugar powder

1 ½ cups curd beaten

Water as needed

Oil for frying

Instruction

-          Beat the curd with salt and powdered sugar.

-          Sieve the refined flour with baking soda.

-          Pour the curd into the refined flour and start kneading. Slowly add water if needed.

-          Take care the dough is stiff, it is going loosen as we keep it to ferment.

-          After kneading nicely, keep in a large enough vessel that will give space for the dough to rise, and cover it with a plastic wrap or wet cloth.

-          Leave it overnight for fermentation, it will become almost double.

-          Heat oil for frying. Divide the dough into 12 balls.

-          Press each ball with pressure between the palms and flatten them lightly

-          Roll each ball and deep fry.

-          Serve with chole, finely cut onions and lemon.

Boiled Seasoned Tapioca

 Tapioca has always been one of those humble items that quietly reminds me of home. Soft, comforting, and deeply satisfying, it carries the rustic charm of Kerala’s countryside—where fresh tapioca roots are pulled from the earth and transformed into simple, soulful meals. Whether served with fish curry or enjoyed as a warm, buttery stir-fry with coconut chammanthi, tapioca is more than just food; it is nourishment in its purest form. Its gentle flavor, quick energy, and easy digestibility make it a favourite across generations. This recipe celebrates tapioca in its most traditional, wholesome form—simple, hearty, and full of old-world goodness.

Ingredients

3 tapioca roots

1 liter of water to boil tapioca

Salt to taste

 ½ cup grated coconut to garnish in the end

To temper

2 tbsps coconut oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

3 red chillies broken into two

2 tbsps finely cut onion

A few curry leaves

Instruction

-          Peeling the two skins of tapioca is important - the thin outer brown skin and the pink thick inner skin. Watch this video carefully.  

       

I     If you see black color or black lines on the white tapioca, it has to be discarded.

-          Tapioca contains some natural toxins, which has to be removed by proper boiling in a lot of water and discarding that water after the tapioca is cooked soft.

-          After peeling and cutting into large pieces, they are washed at least thrice and put into the pressure cooker with water to which salt is added.

-          Depending on the freshness of tapioca, it may take 4 minutes to 8 minutes of pressure cooking.

-          Let the cooker cool and remove the cooked pieces, discard the water.

-          In a thick bottomed vessel, heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the broken chillies, cut onion, and curry leaves.

-          When the onions brown, toss in the cooked tapioca pieces and mix well.

-          Garnish with grated coconut. Serve with pickle, onion green chilli chutney or dry coconut chutney.

To  my great surprise and satisfaction, I found that breadfruit also can be cooked in large chunks and seasoned, and it tasted like tapioca:

-                                                                                                        Breadfruit with coconut chutney