pazham pori ( sweet plaintain fritters)

Discovered this Pazham pori during our train journey from Secunderabad to Ernakulam on Sabari express. My daughter who was around 9 then took an instant liking to this and the kerala family which was travelling with us gave me the recipe. It is made with a particular variety of banana called Nenthram pazham which is sweet and has tiny black seeds. It is the same banana in its raw form which is used to make the famous  plaintain chips of coimbatore and kerala. Even the ripened ones are used to make chips. My perimma was an expert in making this.  Steaming this banana is another form of consuming this. This is called pazham puzhunginathu( steamed fruit) and is a dish by itself as it is satiating and filling. There was a time this variety was not available near my home but with the mushrooming of a few kerala stores in the city, it is easily available especially on weekends when it comes from Kerala on Friday. This is my daughter's favorite.

Ingredients for making Pazham pori

Nendrampazham - 2 nos

Cooking oil for frying.

for batter
Maida - 2 tablespoon
Rice flour - 1 table spoon ( or even slightly less)
sugar - 1 teaspoon
salt - a pinch
orange food color( optional)

Method:

Mix all the batter ingredients and make a thick batter.

Chop the banana into two, peel them and slice them horizontally.

Dip them in the batter and fry them in cooking medium till done. drain the excess oil on an kitchen absorbent paper.

 Needs no accompaniment, tastes good by itself.