Banana Chips, a delicious snack made from raw plantain. In India, we use the special variety of raw banana known as "nethram palam" to make the chips. But here in Canada, i can't source them, so i went with the available plantain that i got from Walmart. 

Few times, i have tasted the banana chips that are available in Walmart/ any local grocery store here, guess they are made with this plantain, though it won't taste like Nethram chips, it's good on its own, so instead of buying the ready to eat chips, i have tried my hands on making some at home.

Now coming to the recipe, it's so easy to make them, all you need is raw plantain, some oil to fry, salt and some good slicer. The key to get tasty chips is how thinly you slice the banana. If you have slicer/bajji kattai, then it would be very easy to make them. 

Currently I don't have slicer with me, the problem of moving frequently, you often forget to pack the key utensils or you don't have enough space in your luggage to carry with you. But i learned to cook with the kitchen utensils that i have packed in 2 suitcases that i carried with me here., this is me who have recently moved to two different countries in the past 6 months talking, check me with one year later, i will pile up kitchen utensils again 😜 

Ok, enough with my stories, back to slicer, if you don't have one, use a sharp knife to cut as thin as possible like I did here. Obviously you end up  with some thick slices unless you're a pro in knife skills. Once fried, thick slices tend to get soggy when sitting over the counter for a  long time , so suggest to eat them first😊, now let's check out the recipe.

Related : How to make Spring Roll 

Vazhakkai Chips | Banana Chips | Plantain Chips

Preparation Time : 5 minsr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2-3 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Vazhakkai Chips, Banana Chips, Plantain Chips Banana Chips, a delicious snack made from raw plantain.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Plantain/Raw Banana/Vazhakkai -1
Oil - for frying
Salt & pepper - to taste

Procedure

First take the banana, peel and them make a thin slices.

The slices should be thin to get that crispy texture. Heat the oil for frying(if you like coconut flavor or kerala chips, then use coconut oil for frying) and add the sliced banana in batch.

Keep the heat on medium low and cook till "Shh" sounds and the bubble stops completely. Drain from the oil and place it on tissue paper.

Then immediately transfer into the bowl and add salt & pepper. Toss them well so that the seasoning coats them well.

Tada, yummy home made Plantain/Banana Chips are ready.

Related : How to make Masala Vada 

Notes:

• Make sure the banana slices are thin, otherwise the chips became soggy easily.
• For great flavor, you can use coconut oil for frying. I have used flavorless oil only here. But in the past, made this chips with coconut oil and the flavor was amazing.
• Add the seasoning when the chips are warm itself, so that it coats on them well.
• Instead of pepper powder, you can use red chili powder also for more heat.
• The flame should be medium low for even cooking, otherwise the corners get burnt easily and left the inside chewy.
  

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Bajji | Vazhakkai Bajji | Raw Plantain Bajji | Diwali Recipe

Vazhakkai Bajji, a delicious deep fried snack made from the raw plantain / raw banana. It's one of the common snack that you can see across the tea stalls in South India. It's super easy to make and taste awesome with tea or as it is ! 

A week before deepavali itself, in our home, we started to prepare all those sweets and savories which we can keep it for more than 10 days to snack on. In addition to that, on the day of deepavali morning, we usually make uzhuntha vadai,paruppu vadai,susiyam, bajji and rava maida appam along with breakfast which we also offer these as prasadam for the deepavali pooja. 

Although i make bajji very often at home, i keep on forgetting to post it here. So last weekend, when i had prepared this vazhakkai bajji for our evening tea, i took few photos to post here. Is there any combination better than bajji & hot tea on rainy evening?Never, right. 

Bajji tastes absolutely fantastic with coconut chutney and tea/cofee. Here i have shared few tips that i have learned on how to make crispy bajji !!!

I remembered on one incident while editing this post today(Oct 2022). When we were in Houston, one of my friend visited me casually on the week end. Her husband was planned to pick her up on the evening while back home from the office. 

So in the evening, ST returned home with two of his collegues(who are my friend's husband and they all worked together) . As ST informed me earlier, i made bajji along with the tea to offer them.  All of them liked the bajji so much and raved about how good they are !  

The next day, the other friend(one who was not there the previous evening and only her husband was there) called me and asked me the recipe for the bajji and even told that her husband was talking all about the bajjis and  how good they are ! 

I was so happy to hear that and shared her the recipe.  The proportion of the rice flour and the besan is the key to get the crispy bajji and also well balanced seasoning makes all the difference !

Now let's check out on how to make delicious vazhakkai bajji.

Vazhakkai Bajji

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 3 to 4 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Vazhakkai/Raw Plantain - 1 
Besan - 3/4 cup
Rice flour - 3 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Ghee - 1/2 tsp
Water - as needed
Oil - for deep frying 

Procedure

In a bowl, add besan,rice flour,red chili powder, turmeric powder,baking soda & salt, mix it well, then add ghee and give a good mix, pour water little by little and make a thick paste.

The batter should be neither too thick not too thin. Set it aside. Peel the skin of the raw plantain and cut into desired length as per your liking.

Cut into thin slices and put it in water until use. Heat the oil for frying.

Take a slice of raw plantain from the water,gently tap it on tissue paper to remove the dripping water,then dip it in the besan batter well and gently drop it in hot oil.

Cook on both sides on medium flame until they are crispy. Remove from the flame and place it on tissue paper.

Tada, Quick and tasty Vazhakkai Bajji is ready. Serve it with coconut chutney.

Notes:

• Keep the sliced raw plantain in the water helps to avoid the color changing.
• Don't pour all water at once in the besan, add little by little and mix it. This helps to avoid forming lumps in the batter.
• You can use either slicer or knife to slice the raw plantain
• Cook the bajji in medium flame to ensure that the inside also cooked well.
  

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Vazhakkai Varuval | Raw Plantain Fry | Accompaniment

Vazhakkai Varuval, a simple stir fry made from raw plantain. Usually i make vazhakkai puttu along with sambar or kara kuzhambu for our lunch and it's our favorite side dish made from raw plantain. 

Next to that, i prefer to make this simple varuval with raw plantain, it goes well with almost any south indian kulambu varieties.

 

There is nothing fancy here, slice the plantain, marinate with basic indian spices and tava fry it. That's it, delicious vazhakkai varuval will be ready in few minutes apart from the marination time. So let's check out how to make this yummy varuval.

Vazhakkai Varuval

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Vazhakkai Varuval, Raw Plantain Stir fry, Vazhakkai Fry Vazhakkai Varuval, a simple stir fry made from raw plantain.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Raw Banana - 1 
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala  - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1/2 tsp + 1tsp

Procedure

Cut the edges of the raw banana and peel the skin of it and cut into thin slices.

Immediately put the sliced banana into water,it helps to prevent the color change. Drain the water from raw banana and place it on another bowl and add all the spices(turmeric,chili,coriander, garam masala powder) & salt.

Add 1/2 tsp of oil into it and mix it well such that all the pieces are coated well with the spices. Cover it and let it aside for 30 mins.

Heat the pan with the remaining oil and place each piece of raw banana separately on the pan and cook till the bottom side becomes brown, flip each pieces and cook on other side too.

Tada, Tasty and crispy Vazhakkai Varuval is ready.

Related : How to make Vazhakkai Podimas 

Related : More Curries & Veggies

Notes:

• Slice it thin helps to cook fast.
• Keep the flame in medium so that bottom doesn't get burnt.
• Some times instead of garam masala, i use cumin powder , that too tastes good. 
  

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