Banana Erucherry

Ingredients:
6 raw bananas, peeled, cut into long pieces
8 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 red chillies
salt to taste
3 green chillies, sliced
2 cups coconut scrapings
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp coconut oil

Method:
1. Mix banana pieces with turmeric and salt and cook till soft.
2. Mash slightly.
3. Grind 1 cup coconut, 1 red chilli and cumin to a fine paste.
4. Add to banana mash. Reserve.
5. Heat oil.
6. Add mustard seeds, green chillies, curry leaves and red chilli pieces.
7. Add one cup coconut scrapings and fry till golden.
8. Add the banana mash and mix well.
9. Serve hot.

Kuzhal Puttu

Ingredients:
1 kg raw rice
1 cup coconut gratings
salt to taste
a little water

Method:
1. Clean and soak for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Drain all the water, spread the rice on a cloth for water to get absorbed.
2. When rice is quite dry, powder it in the dry grinder or the mixi.
3. Sieve the flour, remove the grit, put this back again, grind and sieve.
4. Repeat the process till all the rice has been made into flour.
5. Take 2 cups of the sieved flour, lightly roast on a low flame. See that there are no lumps while roasting. Remove from fire, cool.
6. Add salt to 3 tbsp of water mix and add this to the flour and mix the flour to resemble bread crumbs. Keep this aside for half an hour.
7. Use a puttu kuzhal, fill it up with the mix like below.
8. Spead some coconut gratings at the base, put it some flour, coconut gratings and again flour. Repeat the process ending with coconut. Close the kuzhal and keep it in a vessel of boiling water. Cover the vessel and boil for a while till steam comes out of the kuzhal. Remove the kuzhal from boiling water.
9. Place the kuzhal on a plate, open both ends and with a stick or a ladle, gently push the cooked puttu out.
It will be cylindrical in shape. Cut this into thick slices.

Serve hot with kadalai curry or sugar and banana.

Plantain Chips

Ingredients
Raw (Green) Plantains
Oil
Salt
Water

Method
Mix salt with water to make a salt solution. Skin the plantains.
Boil the oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is boiling, slice the skinned plantains to about 1/16" thick, directly into the oil.
Control the heat so that the plantains are not burned.
Once the plantains are about half fried (the color starts to change), sprinkle the salt solution into the oil as needed.
Fry the plantains to a crispy stage. Remove the fried plantains from oil and drain them in paper towels.
Once the fried plantains are at room temperature, keep them in closed container.