Vazhakkai varuval recipe with step by step pics. Spicy and slightly crisp is this raw banana roast recipe and goes very well as a side dish with rasam, sambar, kuzhambu and dal.
I often make plantain stir fries in different ways – from a simple stir fry with minimal spices or with some fresh coconut or a spicy version. The word varuval means “fried” in tamil language. it can be deep fried as well as shallow fried or stir fried.
Making vazhakkai varuval does not take much time. the banana cubes are added raw and then slowly fried over a low flame with frequent stirrings. As a result the bananas get slightly crisp with the spices coating them and tastes good.
In my weekly groceries raw unripe banana is a must and every week I make one or two dishes with them. Some of these I have already shared below:
- Vazhakkai fry
- Raw banana fry (Kerala style)
- Vazhakkai poriyal
I have added pearl onions (small sambar onions) in this vazhakkai varuval recipe. You can substitute regular red onions with pearl onions. Onions can also be skipped if you want.
You can make vazhakkai varuval As a side dish to along with any South Indian meal.
Few more tasty recipes for you!
Vazhakkai Varuval
Ingredients
to be crushed coarsely
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds - crushed or ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper - crushed
other ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ¼ cup thickly sliced pearl onions (shallots or small onions) or ¼ cup chopped onions
- 1 green chili - chopped or slit
- 6 to 7 curry leaves
- 2 medium unripe bananas or plantains, chopped in small cubes
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder (ground coriander)
- ½ teaspoon fennel powder
- salt as required
Instructions
preparation
- Take ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and ½ teaspoon black pepper in a mortar-pestle. Crush coarsely and keep aside.
- Peel, rinse and chop 4 to 5 pearl onions in thick slices.
- Chop 2 medium bananas in small cubes just before you start cooking. If you chop them earlier then they darken. Thus you need to soak them in water to avoid darkening.
making vazhakkai varuval
- Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil. Instead of coconut oil you can use peanut oil or sunflower oil also.
- Keep flame to a low or medium-low and add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds. let them splutter.
- Then add ¼ cup thickly sliced pearl onions, 1 green chili (chopped or slit) and 6 to 7 curry leaves.
- Sauté for about 2 minutes on a low flame. then add chopped banana cubes and mix well.
- On a low flame begin to sauté bananas.
- Do keep a check and stir after every 2 to 3 minutes.
- Sauté bananas till they are half done or half cooked on a low flame.
- Then add crushed cumin seeds and black pepper.
- Next add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder, ½ teaspoon coriander powder and ½ teaspoon fennel powder. Also add salt as per taste.
- Mix the spice powders very well.
- Continue to sauté till bananas are cooked.
- Stir regularly at intervals so that the bananas are cooked evenly or else the bottom layer gets too browned. So frequent stirrings are required.
- Sauté till bananas are slightly crisp and cooked well.
- Serve vazhakkai varuval hot or warm as a side dish with any south indian meal. You can even garnish it with some chopped coriander leaves if you want.
Nutrition Info (approximate values)
Preparation to make vazhakkai roast or vazhakkai varuval
1. Take ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and ½ teaspoon black pepper in a mortar-pestle. Crush coarsely and keep aside.
2. Peel, rinse and chop 4 to 5 pearl onions in thick slices. chop 2 medium bananas in small cubes just before you start cooking. If you chop them earlier then they darken. Thus you need to soak them in water to avoid darkening.
Making vazhakkai varuval
3. Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil. Instead of coconut oil you can use peanut oil or sunflower oil also.
4. Keep flame to a low or medium-low and add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds.
5. Let them splutter.
6. Then add ¼ cup thickly sliced pearl onions (shallots or small onions), 1 green chili (chopped or slit) and 6 to 7 curry leaves. You can add ¼ cup chopped onions instead of pearl onions.
7. Sauté for about 2 minutes on a low flame.
8. Then add chopped banana cubes.
9. Mix well.
10. On a low flame begin to sauté bananas (vazhakkai).
11. Do keep a check and stir after every 2 to 3 minutes.
12. Sauté bananas till they are half done or half cooked.
13. Then add crushed cumin seeds and black pepper.
14. Next add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder, ½ teaspoon coriander powder and ½ teaspoon fennel powder. Also add salt as per taste.
15. Mix the spice powders very well.
16. On a low flame continue to sauté till bananas (vazhakkai) are cooked.
17. Stir regularly at intervals so that the bananas are cooked evenly or else the bottom layer gets too browned. So frequent stirrings are required. Sauté till bananas (vazhakkai) are slightly crisp and cooked well.
18. Serve vazhakkai varuval hot or warm as a side dish with any South Indian meal. You can even garnish vazhakkai varuval with some chopped coriander leaves if you want.
Hi dassana
Ur cooking blog is excellent.
Today i discovered ur blog on spirituality. Its really a wonderful blog dassana with easy precise english words.
Not with all oxford dictionary words which we find in other sites.
Im inclined towards spirituality.
And ur blog is simply superb
Hats off dassana iam soo happy that u have som much knowledge on spirituality. God bless you
Thanks Chandana for your positive feedback. May I know the blog name you checked and how you found it ?. We have one such blog but no way we have mentioned about it on vegrecipesofindia or any where else. So wondering how you found it.
I was checking recipes randomly on ur site , and if i have time i also read comment section . sadly i cant remember which recipe, but in comments one of ur reader has praised ur cooking skills ☺ and also mentioned she has depression and asked u some suggestion.
So, in reply u gave her the link to ur spiritual site ☺.
www.thespiritualindian.com
And its ur name down there ????
‘Amit ‘ . below each topic!!
So thats how i found u☺
Thanks Chandana. I didn’t remember that we have shared this link before. Yes this is our website only and but we don’t work on it now because of lack of time. Glad to know that you like the articles posted.