Unnakaaye-Stuffed Plantain Pods.....

Unnakaaye is a Ramadan specialty made on the fasting days as one of the quick bites to break the fast with. The ladies sat around in the evening assembling it to distract the mind from the last leg of the fasting hours. Well... it's really a quick one to get gobbled up and so is needed in large quantities for a joint family. But now just like any other palaharams/ delicacies, it has become commonplace and is available year round at restaurants and even bakeries.



Unnakaaye with coconut filling......

So what is it? Unnakaaye, despite its exotic name, is just mashed plantains stuffed with a egg filling or a coconut filling, shaped into pods and then deep fried.
The name "unnakaaye" comes from its appearance.. that of a unna meaning "cotton" and kaaye meaning "buds or pods" i.e. the fruit of a cotton tree.

Has anyone seen the pods hanging from a Cotton Tree.? They are tapered at the edges and bulging in the middle and have a smooth skin while green. As they slowly dry up, the outer smooth skin withers to a dry brown and finally splits open, dispersing the cotton inside with a million seeds. You must have caught some stray ones flying and played with them if you had a tree in your neighborhood, making a wish as they fly away. My aunt's house had a cotton tree. And she used to harvest the pods early and dry it and remove the cotton inside. That is used to make stuffing.....for pillows,cushions, beds etc.

Unnakaaye has to be made with plantains which are not fully ripe. For a long time, I couldn't figure out how ripe it should be while buying, so I would buy them when they were hard and yellow, forget about making these pods and then after 3-4 days, when they ripen fully, end up making fritters out of them! Now I think I got it right.. they should be a little soft when pressed, a good bright yellow outside with slight brown dots and then they are good for this recipe.

You Will Need:
Plantains-1
Oil for frying.
Filling Ingredients Specified Below.
Preparation:
Steam the bananas using a steamer for 5-10 minutes. It is cooked when the peel separates slightly at the edges.Don't boil it in water. Sometimes for a small quantity, I use the microwave to cook it as per the microwave's instructions. Just wash it, cut it two pieces (with the peel) and then lay it on a plate and microwave it for 2-3 minutes.
After it cools down for 3 minutes, peel it and cut it along the center. Carefully cut out the central spine and seeds. Using a potato masher or the base of a glass, mash it into a smooth dough without adding any water. It should be free of lumps and evenly cooked. Keep covered till the filling is ready.
After the filling has cooled, oil your hands and divide the dough into equal sized balls. Some make it big, some make it bite sized.. so whatever size you are comfortable with. I could make 4 pods with one plantain's dough. So the filling and dough quantities are approximate. Take care not to over fill the plantain or it will collapse while frying.

Knead one of the portions and flatten it on your cupped palm as a small round. Put about 1-2 tsp of filling( depends on your size of dough)in the middle and close the edges to cover it. Take care not to have any holes or tears. Only if the dough is smooth, will you be able to cover it completely. Roll the pods with your hands applying slight pressure, till it becomes smooth and pod shaped.
Heat oil and deep fry it till it turns a nice golden brown. Drain onto paper towels and serve hot. You could shallow fry it in enough oil to cover it halfway, but it needs more care and patience as it has to be turned to ensure even browning.

Unnakaaye with egg filling...
Egg Filling:(for 4 pods) Beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon milk and 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar till the sugar is melted in. Heat ghee in a pan, scramble the eggs quickly and then add 1 teaspoon of finely chopped cashews/almonds, raisins and a good pinch of cardamom powder. Mix and keep aside. The cardamom masks the eggi-ness of the eggs so its important to add the spice.

Coconut Filling: (for 4 pods) Heat a cast-iron pan and add 1/2 cup of grated fresh coconut and 1-2 tablespoon of sugar. Stir well on medium heat till the sugar melts and sweetens the coconut. Add the nuts, raisins(optional) and cardamom powder and remove from the heat. You may have leftover filling if your pods are too small.

Kaya- Payar Mezhukkuparatti/ Plantain w/ Long Beans

I am still on my veggie kick so here is another easy to make vegetable which is a lighter form of the traditional mezhukkuparatti or stirfry. I guess it would take a whole sadya(a Kerala veg meal) to satisfy me now, but with my mom on the other side of the country,(on vacation there now) have to settle for a single dish.
Mezhukkuparatti literally means coated with oil, wheras thoran is any vegetable cooked with crushed coconut in it. We used to call all our dry vegetable side dishes as upperi, but in other parts of Kerala it is distinguished as mezhukkuparatti and thoran based on the type of preparation. And they define upperi as chips. Upperi is prepared from various things like raw bananas (kaaya), yam (chena), jack fruit (chakka), bitter gourd (pavayka) and egg plant fruit (vazhuthanga). Slices of the ingredient are fried in coconut oil to a crisp condition. Yum!Yum!

So anyway, my intention was not to sidetrack and cause tidal waves of salivation. This recipe is the way some vegetables are made at my house. Not stirfried, and not with crushed coconut. The vegetables are steamed/boiled with a little water and tossed with a seasoned oil, which acts as a dressing. Its quite similar to the tossed green salads, at some restaurants, seasoned with a hot spicy oil poured over greens to wilt it. Probably this was done to retain most of the nutrients of the vegetables and to balance the rich preparations of the meat dishes. Though made as a side dish with rice, I end up eating it in lieu of salad or a mid day snack.

You will need:
Raw Green Plantains – 1
Yard Long Beans-1/2 bunch
Whole red chilies-2
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder- 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves- One sprig
Salt – to taste
Oil(preferable coconut oil) -1 tbsp

Preparation:
Peel the green plantains with a peeler, removing only one layer. Cut into 4 chunk pieces and then further cut each piece into 8-10 thin long segments. Soak the pieces in a bowl of water with a pinch of turmeric for about 5 minutes and then rinse it well and drain.

Cut the yard long beans (payar) into similar size long pieces. Cook the plantains and the beans in 1/4 cup water with the rest of the turmeric, red chili powder and salt. This should be done covered on low heat for the first 5 minutes and then another 5-7 minutes open. When the plantains are cooked, turn off the flame and check for salt and spice.

Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil and add the red chilies torn into pieces and curry leaves. Pour this oil over the cooked vegetables and toss to combine. Serve with rice.

No frying, no further sauting.. vegetables the Malabar way.

Plantain Pinwheels

I love the traditional appetiser(almost an entree)of Pazham Nirachathu..., plantain filled with coconut, nuts and raisins, sealed with maida and then deep fried in oil. It is one of the items on the Ramazan Iftar menu. I was always on the eating end of this particular preparation and never really learnt how to make it from scratch. My last few attempts with the willful plantains available here turned out to be disasters with the filling coming out, the bananas breaking up and so forth. If anyone has a foolproof method of making it, do send me the recipe.

Meanwhile, my friend was recently at a party in Calicut where she had this eclectic presentation of the plantain filled, and she suggested I try making it. It seemed simple enough from her description and had everything from the traditional recipe in its ingredients.
So I did and was thrilled to get all the flavors of the original recipe in a much more bite sized and low fat morsel. It works well as an appetiser as well as a delicious dessert with cinnamon icecream. Even as a weekend breakfast!


You will need:
1 Medium ripe Plantains
Coconut Grated-1/2 cup
Sugar- 1 tbsp( more or less as per sweetness required)
Cardamom Powder-1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts-2 tbsp chopped
Raisins- 1 tbsp
Ghee or oil-2 tbsp

Preparation:
1. Saute the coconut,nuts and raisins on slow heat till it gives out its aroma and is slightly toasted. Add the sugar and cardamom powder and mix well till the sugar is blended in.

...If the banana is too ripe, it breaks down fast while cooking, and then you cannot roll it up easily...

2. Peel the bananas and cut into half. Now cut each half into about three thick slices along its length. Heat a non stick pan, reduce the heat to medium low and add the ghee or oil. Gently saute the slices for about 30 seconds on each side or till it turns golden yellow, which is an indicator that it is cooked. It is very important that the banana be just ripe. If the banana is too ripe, it breaks down fast(as you can see in my photo, some were just a bit too ripe.),and then you cannot roll it easily. It has to be just a bit unripe for the perfect texture.

3. Drain each slice onto paper towels. When it cools, spread a thin layer of the sticky coconut filling on each slice and roll it up carefully, securing it with a toothpick. Thats it, keep doing that for all the slices and serve hot or cold.

Plantain Pancakes.

I am on my plantain craze. I keep buying them when I see them, nostalgically thinking of all the wonderful Kerala dishes I can conjure up but then they are not ripe enough or get too ripe by the time I find time to cook. Visions of a whole bunch of bananas with the bottom half ripening, hanging in the shops in Calicut dances before my eyes as I pick them from an assorted bunch of ripe and unripe ones here.
I buy them when they are yellow with a little green streaks outside and firm to the touch and let it ripen on my sunny window side. They are ripe for cooking when the ends turn black and dried up. As they get blacker on the outside they are still good for eating but cook too fast and breakdown.

This is for one of those mornings when the kids are having their pancakes and you crave something a little different. It doesn't taste like fritters (Pazham Pori) but it doesn't taste like pancakes anymore. The rice flour and the black sesame seeds gives it a Kerala taste. This same mix can be used for dipping and deep frying the plantains but it soaks up a lot of oil unlike the original fritter's recipe. It tastes very crunchy though. Yum!! So spreading some oil on top and bottom lets it crisp up and cooks the banana too. Use bananas that are ripe but not too ripe.
Use store bought pancake mix (yes, I know it has preservatives but still it is easier to use that on a weekday rushed morning) or make the pancake batter from scratch using this recipe. For those who don't like messing with their Plantain Fritters (Pazham Pori)try the original Plantain Fritter recipe.
You will need: For about 6 pancakes
Fully ripe plantains-1
Pancake Mix-1 cup
Rice flour- 1 tbsp
Sugar -1tbsp
Black sesame seeds- 1/4 tsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Oil /Butter
Preparation:
Peel and cut the banana into diagonal slices of about half inch thickness.
Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add water slowly while whisking to make a smooth thick paste. It should be lump free and not too watery. If it does become watery, add a little more flour.
Heat the pancake griddle and spread a bit of oil or butter. Lower the heat to a medium and pour the mix as you would for pancakes and place one or two slices of the plantain on it, taking care to let the banana slices sink into the batter. Cover the banana slice with a thin layer of batter.
Cover the pancake with a lid for half a minute. When the first side is cooked, bubbles would cover the pancake surface and begin to pop. Spread a tsp of oil or butter on this side and flip the pancake over and after it gets cooked, remove onto plate. Serve with the syrup of choice or eat it plain.
This definitely doesn't taste good after some time so serve it hot.


Stuffed Pancakes, Pancakes, Food Blog, Plantain, Breakfast

A Travel Recovery Lunch

It was a wonderful holiday week spent visiting family and friends in San Francisco, doing what families do best when they get together-talking all together and eating! We drove around the country side, taking in the vineyards, redwood forests, Coit Towers and hot footed through the San Francisco city of ups and downs, strolling through China town and waterfronts. The sights and smells of the water front may be yucky to some, but to me, it brought a whiff of good old Kerala. More on those photos later.

It feels a little empty to be just us again after being amidst so much conversation and laughter. My son is walking around a little lost, not ready to get back into the daily routine, and we both are still yawning, caught between time zones. The house felt silent and cold yesterday, but today after the cutting and cooking started up, I felt much more comfortably enconsed in my space.

We were craving some really light food and had not much to work with as the refirgertor has not been restocked as yet. No tomatoes or vegetables, just a couple of plantains I picked up from the Indian store along with milk. And hmm…the freezer had shrimps. So the menu consisted of plain steamed rice, lentil curry (Parippu/ Dal), plantain stir fry(Kaya Meyukkuperatti),Carrot thoran and spicy shrimps(Chemmeen Varatiyathu) to balance the blandness.

There is something therapeutic about a basic rice meal without any coconut, coconut milk, cream or any other rich ingredient. It soothes the travel weary stomach and sleep deprived mind. Comfort food at its best.


The Dal Recipe:
Tuvar Gram(Thuvaraparippu) - 1 ½ cup
Onion – 1/2 sliced finely
Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder- 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 4 nos (slit lengthwise)
Garlic-1 clove chopped
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeerakam)- 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida- A pinch
Curry leaves- One sprig
Salt - 1/2 tsp or to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

Cook the lentils with the green chilies, turmeric, 2 cups water and salt till the lentils are cooked. You could pressure cook it for one whistle or slow cook it in a saute pan. Heat oil in a pan and lower the heat while adding the mustard seeds and cover. When they splutter, add the cumin seeds,curry leaves and then asafoetida, garlic and sliced onions and fry for a couple of minutes.
Add the red chili powder and stir once and then add the lentils and enough water for gravy. Let it simmer for at least 5-8 minutes to get rid of the boiled lentil taste. Adjust the seasoning as required. Add a dash of lemon juice and fresh cut cilantro leaves.

Kaya Meyukkuperatti


You will need:
Raw Green Plantains – 1
Shallots /Pearl Onions – 5
Whole red chilies-2
Garlic-1 clove
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder- 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves- One sprig
Salt – to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp

Preparation:
1.Peel the green plantains with a peeler, removing only one layer. Cut into 4 chunk pieces and then further cut each piece into 8-10 thin long segments. Soak the pieces in a bowl of water with ¼ tsp turmeric for about 5 minutes and then rinse it well and drain. Cook the plantains in 1 ½ cup water (or enough to submerge it) with the rest of the turmeric, red chili powder and salt. This should take about 7-10 minutes.
2. When the plantains are almost cooked (it should not get fully cooked), drain the excess liquid and keep aside. Ideally, the plantains should be cooked in just enough water, but I use a little more to avoid it getting mushy. This nutrient rich liquid can be added to the lentils or any vegetable curry if you do not want to throw it.
3. Meanwhile, peel the shallots and tear the red chilies. Crush the shallots, red chilies, and garlic in a mortar-pestle till it is combined. Heat oil in a pan and lower the heat. Add the curry leaves, the shallot mixture and sauté for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the cooked plantains and stir fry on medium heat for about 8-10 minutes or till the pieces start looking slightly crisp. If you are using a non stick pan, you may not need any more oil, but add a little bit more oil if they start sticking. Adjust the seasoning as required.

Kaya Chemmeen Kootan/ Green Banana Curry with Shrimps.

With the lentil (parippu) prices going up here, suddenly I had to do some lateral thinking to come up with non lentil curries. That’s when I came across this recipe hurriedly scribbled in my recipe book, from my in-laws last visit.
Umma had made this curry in the spur of the moment, seemingly without any effort, just tossing in a handful of shrimps into a pan of simmering raw bananas. It reminded me of the old story of the soldier and the stone soup. It is amazing how our mothers can pull off variations spontaneously. Such a simple recipe and the end result was a scrumptiously rich curry thickened by the banana’s starch. I added a very small dash of coconut milk to seal the Malabar flavor and hold the banana and shrimp together.
To entice you to try it, let me tell you that the closest approximation of the taste is of Tapioca (kappa) with fish curry. So the combination works very well. It goes well with rice and accordingly to my spouse , goes well with parathas too.

You will need:
Shrimp- 1 cup peeled (about 20)
Green banana (plantain or regular)-2 medium sized ones.
Green chilies- 2 vertically slit
Red chili powder-1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric- 3/4 tsp
Fennel Seed/Saunfperunjeerakam)-1/4tsp
Salt to taste
Coconut Milk Powder- 1 tbsp(Optional)
For seasoning:
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Shallots or small onions- 2
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Coconut oil-1 ½ tbsp

Preparation:
1.Chop the shallots finely and keep aside with the curry leaves.
2.Peel the green banana and quarter them into ½” inch long cubes. Soak them in water with a pinch of turmeric and salt for 10 minutes. Marinate the washed shrimps in ½ tsp chili powder, salt and ¼ tsp turmeric. Cut the shrimps into 2-3 pieces if they are very big.
3. Rinse the bananas and put them in the sauce pan with1 ½ cup water on a medium flame. Add the green chilies, salt, aniseed and the rest of the chili powder and turmeric.
4. Add ½ cup more water as the bananas start getting cooked. Add the shrimps to the bananas after 10 minutes. It will take about 10- 15 minutes for the bananas to be cooked to a point where it starts breaking down. The bananas have to turn starchy and the water should look clouded.
5. Check the salt and liquidity of the curry and add more salt and water if needed. Stir in 1 tbsp coconut milk powder (blended with 2 tbsp water) and let it come to a full boil and take it off the flame.
6. Seasoning: Heat the oil in a small wok/pan and as it heats up, add mustard seeds and cover till it tops sputtering. Add the curry leaves and shallots and fry till the edges of the shallots turn brown. Pour the flavored oil over the curry.

Plantain Fritters / Pazham Mukki Porichathu/ Pazham Pori

This is a standard item on the menu in any restaurant in Kerala, from thattukadas (dhabhas/streetside cafes) to resorts. The only difference is that thattukada serves it cold (sometimes it is hot)and the antiquity of the oil used in frying it determines the condition of our stomachs. I used to love buying it at the railway stations, enticed by their hot smell. Back home, it's the quickest tea snack when there are impromptu guests. Here, with the bananas not so readily available in their correct state of ripeness, it is a preordained dessert.
Annita has described how to find and ripen the bananas we get in US. My workshop also has posted a similar recipe. This is the Mappila version of the fry, hence the slight differences. You could even squish or mash the bananas into the batter if it is too ripe to slice and fry lumps of it.

You will need:
Fully ripe plantains-2
Enriched Flour (Maida)-1 cup
Rice flour (optional)- 2 tbsp
Sugar -1tbsp
Black sesame seeds- 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Salt -a very small pinch.
Oil - for frying

Preparation Method:
1. Peel and cut the banana into 2 sections.Then cut them lengthwise into 4 pieces of equal thickness.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add water slowly while stirring to make a smooth paste. It should be lump free and not too watery. If it does become watery, add a little more flour.
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. Dip each banana slice in the batter to coat it on both sides and slide it into the oil.You could fry 4 or 5 at a time based on the size of your pan. Deep fry on medium heat till it turns a golden brown. Drain onto paper towels and serve.
Just don't burn your tongue.