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A stir fry with Raw Banana. This needs less oil and the ingredients enhance the taste.
There are many varieties of banana or plantain. And in Tamilnadu raw banana recipe particularly denotes to Monthan varieity. Bajjis, curries, side dishes are based on this Monthan variety. This variety in raw state is firm rigid and when cooked never turns too mushy unlike it’s cousins 🙂 Usually Monthan, Karpuravalli, Rasthaali are the common backyard plantains grown in home gardens. These three varieties are always at my parents and inlaws parents’ backyard always at service providing leaves making a simple meal scrumptious.
Usually monthan is consumed as raw, not sure why it isn’t left to the fruiting process, Seldom I had a Monthan fruit, but the taste wasn’t appreciable. When the whole bunch of Monthan is harvested, usually they get distributed to our relatives and friends. So hardly we have a hand for home use, that’s more than enough. Later a day or two, the “thandu” stem gets harvested again distributed to nears and dears 🙂 . This is a common scenario at our homes as we do receive in turns 🙂
When I was in Chennai, there was an interesting story in our neighbour’s backyard. They had a Monthan plantain in their backyard. As our window was facing towards to the plantain plant, we witnessed its growth on a daily basis. The start was with the wide span of leaves then, the Inflorescence, the flowering stage, appearance of fingers, the blooming of male flowers at the lower part of the ranchis and later the flower was harvested for cooking. When the fruits developed, we had a glance of how many hands it had, that’s out of mere curiosity. Now the essence of the story. They didn’t harvest the fruit in a stretch, instead they cut the fruits one by one from the top most. Finally it was the ranchis which shared the secret behind the harvest 🙂 A good idea where there is no chance of wastage. To till date whenver I happen to see the Monthan plant, my memories travel back and make me to titter 🙂
Servings: 2
Time : 20 Minutes
Ingredients
1 Raw banana
1 cup chopped Onion
2 tbsp grated coconut
½ tsp turmeric Powder
To grind
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp black Pepper corns
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1 Red Dry Chilli
Tempering
1tsp of Oil
Mustard seeds and Blackgram – ½ tsp each
Method
1. Dice the raw banana and put it in water till it goes into the pan.
2. Grind garlic, pepper corns, cumin seeds, dry chilly to coarse powder without adding water.
3. In a tawa add oil and temper with mustard and black gram, after spluttering of mustard seeds add the ground powder to it, give a stir for a couple of minutes then add onions.
4. Immediately add diced banana and turmeric powder, required salt and give a stir so that the spices get evenly mixed with the vegetable.
5. On a low heat lid the tawa and allow it to cook for 5 mins.
6. No water is added as the moisture in the raw banana is enough for cooking.
7. Add grated coconut for garnishing and optional the grated coconut can be dry roasted for an extra taste and fragrance.
Jotting
The Onions shouldn’t be overcooked, it should bit crunchy with a sweet punch when munched with the soft banana pieces.
