Recipe: Manisha's Raw Banana Fry

When the downpours get freakish and the chilly, damp weather is keeping you indoors, it's time to get the stove fired up and a kadhai sizzling with oil in it, to make a round of fried chatpata snacks.

This is a recipe just right for the enterprise because Manisha Kotian's Raw Banana Fritters are homemade, use less oil and you actually know what's going into the dish, unlike the store-bought chips or French fries from restaurants and fast food eateries.

There's nothing intricate about this delicious recipe and it can be put together in under 30 minutes and enjoyed with ketchup on a rainy day, post school, when your children are bored and can't step out to play. It makes for an exciting tea-time snack, but Manisha suggests you also consider serving it along with a dal-rice combo on a weekday as well.

Raw Banana Fry

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 4 raw bananas
• 1 neebu or lime
• 1-2 tsp red chilly powder
• 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
• 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• Salt to taste, around 1 tsp
• 1 cup rice flour
• ½ cup rava or semolina 
• Oil for shallow frying
• Ketchup, to serve

Method

• Peel each banana and then slice each vertically into 4-5 long pieces.
  Sprinkle little salt and squeeze a little lemon on it.
  Keep aside to marinate for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Drain any excess water and then sprinkle the red chilly powder, turmeric powder over the pieces.
  Add the ginger-garlic paste and using your hands, carefully mix the sliced bananas so they are well-coated with the masala.
  Keep aside for 15 minutes.
• In a bowl, combine the rice flour and rava without water.
  Keep aside.
• Heat oil for shallow frying the banana fritters in a kadhai or frying pan over medium heat.
  Dip the sliced banana into the rice flour-rava mixture and fry in the pan.
  Shallow fry until golden brown, flip and let the pieces fry on the other side too.
  Take off heat and transfer onto a paper towel or tissue-lined plate.
  Serve hot with ketchup as a tea-time snack or as a side with dal and rice for lunch or dinner.

Editor's Note: For a Jain version, omit the ginger-garlic paste, and along with the haldi and red chilly powder, sprinkle 1 tsp saunth or dried ginger powder.

Manisha Deshpande Kotian works for Rediff.com, curating editorial photo features. She is also an expert in the kitchen.
Her Mangalore-Style Chicken Curry, CKP-Style Chicken Curry, Chicken Fry, Masoor Curry and Pulao, CKP-Style Valache Birde (from sprouted mung), Mung Dal Bhaji, Veg/Non-Veg Fried Rice, Suran Fry, Bhendi (Okra) Fry, and more, are much appreciated by her family and friends.

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