With Kerala as the theme for September 2018 for the Shh Cooking Secretly Challenge Group (more about the group, later on), there was such a wide variety of recipes to choose from. I had two ingredients to work with, coconut and cumin, and this gave me so much scope! Browsing my cookbooks for Kerala dishes with ingredients that I did not often use, I came across the Erissery that could be made from a variety of vegetables. Vazhakkai / Raw Banana Varutha Erissery was the final choice for the theme, and I hope you love it as much as I did. Its easy, its simple and the addition of roasted grated coconut gives an amazing flavour that glamorises the humble raw banana or green plantain. And, as a bonus, there's a cook book review in this post too!
The recipes in the interesting cookbook: Grains, Greens and Grated Coconuts has roasted coconut as an ingredient in several recipes including for sambar, bitter gourd etc and in this 'Varutha erisseri: Green Plantains in Toasted Coconut and Cumin Sauce'. I have followed this recipe to a large extent, except for not using the cayenne, Serrano or Thai red chili powder suggested. I have not followed the quantities in the recipe either and have used far lesser coconut than it does, so that the banana shines through as the star of the show. Perfect for Onam Sadhya, don't you think? I understand from friends from Kerala that roasted coconut is added to several dishes though not usually to the Raw Banana Varutha Erissery.
My friend Nisha (about whom you will have kept hearing about in my posts) and who is from Kerala, helped in freezing the quantities for the recipe, as well as in tasting the finished product! Her verdict: The dish was tasty but could do with some more cumin and chili!
About the book I referred to above: Grains, Greens and Grated Coconuts is written by Ms Ammini Ramachandran, described in the book as a Texas based food writer with roots in the Indian State of Kerala, born into a Nayar joint family and with both her grandfather and father-in -law being members of the Cochin (Kochi) Royal family.
The book itself sounds delicious, with its many recipes, written simply and clearly, and its anecdotes and glimpses of the History and Heritage of Kerala, more specifically that of Kochi. I would have loved to see some pictures of the food, which could be helpful to a newcomer to understand what the dish finally looks like.The ingredients include those easily available in the USA rather than the corresponding traditional Indian ingredient which would be difficult to obtain outside India.
The book is divided into convenient to use Chapters, such as 'Getting Started: Ingredients, Cooking Methods and Utensils'; 'Sacred Food: Rice and Rituals'; 'Chutneys and Pickles'; 'Breakfasts and Brunches', etc.
I specially liked the chapter on Curries from the Madapilli (Royal Kitchen) and its mouth watering description of lunch at a Royal Palace: " A huge banana leaf, laden with various vegetable dishes...deep fried puffed wafers called pappadams and small piles of salted varuthupperi and sweet sarkara upperi...servings of vegetables - thoran, oolan, aviyal, pachadi, and kaalan -- and a thick brown curry with the distinct fragrance of black sesame seeds and curry leaves..'
There is much more, such tantalising descriptions of food that I want to stop writing and make for myself a fresh vegetable curry and take in the aroma of coconut oil floating in the air. This is one cookbook that I will treasure and will dip into again and again for culinary inspiration, just as I did for this totally delicious Raw Banana Varutha Erissery.
Once a month now I post a recipe according to the theme decided by the Facebook Food Bloggers Group of which I am a member, viz Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge , where presently we are cooking from the different cuisines of the States of India.
My partner for Sep 2018 is Priya Suresh who blogs at Priya's Versatile Recipes. I suggested Pepper and Turmeric for Priya, both being ingredients frequently used in Kerala cuisine and she made this Doodhi Molagoota that is now up on her blog.
Priya's blogsite is both interesting and informative - please do visit and browse the many recipes up there: Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Recipes from around the world. Wouldn't you like to try out her Egg-less Peanut Blossom cookies or her French Strawberry Jam Gingerbread Cake?
Priya suggested coconut and cumin seeds as my two ingredients to incorporate in my recipe, and once I posted a picture of the Raw Banana Varutha Erissery on our group, the other members had to guess what the 2 secret ingredients are. The coconut was easily guessed, though the cumin took time! Its not easy to guess ingredients from just an image!
The Raw Banana Varutha Erissery tasted so good with my favourite Tomato Rasam from homemade rasam powder and fried appalam/ papad with steaming hot rice.
Try it out and see!
Other Recipes you may like to try from this blog:
Kothavarangai Paruppu Usili / Cluster Beans curry in Dal Paste
Murungai Keerai Morekuzhambu / Easy Yogurt stew with Moringa leaves
Simple Beans Poriyal with Coconut (Purple or Green French beans)
Raw Banana Varutha Erissery: Vazhakkai Roasted Coconut Curry
Ingredients
For Cooking the Plantain/Raw banana
- 2 cups raw green banana sliced - 2 plantains/ banana/ vazhakkai
- ½ teaspoon salt - or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 cup water - or enough water to just cover the top of the plantain slices
For the Roasted Coconut
- 1 cup fresh grated coconut
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
For the Coconut Paste
- ¾ cup roasted coconut - From the 1 cup roasted as above
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds - jeera seeds
- 1 green chili
- ¼ cup water - or minimum required for grinding to a paste
For Tempering the Curry
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 1 dry red chili
- a few curry leaves - about 10
For Garnish
- ¼ cup roasted coconut - from the 1 cup roasted as above
Instructions
To Cook the Raw Banana/ Vazhakkai / Plantain
- Pare/ Peel the thick outer skin of the banana. Dice the banana into small cubes, about 2 cm square. When exposed to the air, the raw banana turns grey/ black, hence put the slices immediately into a bowl of water, to reduce discolouration.
- Drain and place the slices in a pan on the stove, add salt and turmeric powder as in the ingredients list.
Add water to just about cover the surface of the banana slices.
Bring to a brisk boil (about 2 minutes) and then reduce the heat and let the bananas simmer till cooked and tender (about 7 minutes) If there is water remaining in the pan, increase the heat and continue to cook till the water disappears. This is a dry curry, hence you need to ensure the water evaporates completely.
To Roast the Coconut and prepare Paste
- Heat a small frying pan and add the coconut oil. Add the grated coconut (or desiccated coconut if fresh is not available).
Roast the coconut on medium to high heat, stirring constantly as it tends to catch at the bottom of the pan and char.
Roast the coconut till it turns a yellow brown, and begins to turn rust in colour. (about 2 minutes) I know that cookbooks and recipes always talk about a golden colour, which I somehow have never been able to achieve when Im roasting or sautéing anything! - Remove the roasted coconut from the pan.
Take ¾ cup of the roasted coconut and grind to a paste along with cumin seeds, green chili and a little water - i.e. just sufficient water to grind the coconut into a soft paste. - Set aside the remaining ¼ cup of roasted coconut for garnish.
To make the Raw Banana Varutha Erissery Curry
- Add the coconut paste to the pan of cooked raw banana. Stir it in well and allow the curry to cook for about 3 minutes so that the raw taste of the chilli in the coconut paste goes away.
Transfer the vazhakkai erissery to a serving dish. - In a small pan heat the coconut oil (as in the ingredients for tempering), add mustard seeds.
Once the mustard crackles, add the dry red chili. Turn the chili after a few seconds so that both sides are fried.
Add the curry leaves (I usually shred them before adding so that there are more chances of their being eaten than discarded on the side of the plate). - Pour the tempering of mustard and chili onto the curry. Garnish with the reserved roasted coconut. Serve the curry hot, with boiled (Kerala) rice and other vegetables.
Love your cookbook collection di ! I have tried using raw plantain in curry only once in avial. I thoroughly loved the distinct coconut flavors in it. This recipe sounds similar and I would give it a try for sure. Love the roasted coconut paste flavors in curries. They make the dish so creamy.
Thank you Poonam! Yes the roasted coconut gives an amazing flavour to the curry!
I can't help but drool. One it is one of my favorites, two you have picked it from a classic authour. Love you for this.
Thank you Seema, Im glad you liked the post!
I love raw banana, need to try this one sometime. I am sure they will like at home. Nice share.
Thank you Jayashree! Hope you like it as much as I did!
Yes, Ammini Ramachadran's book is a treasure. I love raw banana and next to the Thoran and another version we make with a mustard flavoring, this Erissery is my favourite. I eschew making this often in deference to my weight, but still give in to temptation ever so often.
Lovely cookbooks, so many authentic preparations!
Raw banana is such a favourite at home, and am sure my folks will love this.. such a lovely pick Sujata... I am also eyeing that cookbook presented there. and Chef Suvir is a family friend , I should check out that book....
Thank you, Kalyani! It’s a very interesting book with lots of easy recipes.
Sujata I'm falling in love with your collection of cook books. I wish I had access to some good cook books where authors narrate about their lives and share recipes. Coming to the erissery, it looks so delicious and tempting. I would to try it as I get both raw banana and coconut in abundance here.
Thank you Mayuri. The roasted coconut does add that touch of enhanced flavour to the erissery!
erissery looks super delicious and they taste best with roasted coconut. Also i enjoyed reading your writeup.
Thank you for taking time to read the post, Anu!
Love your curry and book. Use of raw bananas is simply delicious.
Thank you, Renu!
Thanks for the delicious and flavourful recipe. Seems you have a huge collection of cook books. Loved your pictures as you use books as a prop. I always forget the books while clicking. Always click in a hurry. Learning a lot from you all. And loved this Kerala theme. Learnt some new recipes which I never heard. Bookmaking it to try soon.
Thank you Sujata Roy! I’ve been getting cookbooks for each of the Indian States as there are many whose cuisine I’m not familiar with, and I want to try out and post authentic recipes.
Wow, what a lovely collections of cookbooks, wish i could have as much as yours.. Am very poor in having cookbooks you know. And trust me, this erissery looks absolutely inviting, with prefect texture and beautiful aroma definitely. Cant resist to this delightful flavourful dish.Happy to be your parter of this month's challenge.
Thank you Priya! The erissery was delicious! And cookbooks: I’ve been collecting them for a while and love to browse through the books and try out different recipes.
loved your erissery reci coconut. .love the aroma of roasted..yumm
I just love Erissery! Its reminiscent of my visits to my ancestral village in Kerala. When we children got up the beautiful aroma of Emissary used to permeate the air as my great grandma used to perform her ritual of chop,grate and grind to feed the family of 10 plus people who used to visit her in the vacations! You have bought out the nostalgia so well! Thank you!
Thank you Amrita! The raw banana erissery tasted delicious and was fragrant with the roasted coconut!
Kerala curries with roasted coconut taste so delicious. Even my dish was similar but a dry version.
That’s lovely Shobha! Mine is dry too! The image may be showing it differently because of the coconut oil of the tempering flowing on the surface!
Raw banana is a vegetable that isn't used very often in our kitchen. With this dish, you tempt me to use more of it. Beautiful recipe and lovely capture! 🙂
Thank you Priya! I also made it after many years!
Firstly, as always, I adore your collection of books. The Cookbook sounds really interesting and I can see from the recipe that it has flavours of Kerala and uses the spice mixes thoroughly. Kerala cuisine relies heavily on coconut, spices and cumin for the gravies especially and when it comes to Eriserry, the flavour of cumin has to really shine through. Being a Keralite myself, I adore this dish and rasam is a wonderful combination to pair it with. Raw Bananas are my ultimate favourite and ironically, I am actually steaming them currently for a poriyal as I write this comment on your blog. Cheers!
Thank you Vidya! The recipes in the book are authentic and well written and there is a large variety to choose from. I hope to try several of them soon!
I love the crunchy roasted coconut topping. My dish also was similar.
It was very tasty, Shobha!
I love erissery made with raw banana, always delicious. I do find it off when I read recipes that are traditional, but using ingredients like paprika, cayenne, etc. which are so foreign. True, it is more of adaptation, but as time passes, the actual ingredients get forgotten - I always feel it apt to mention that traditionally, this is used and so on... maybe I am thinking too much... 🙂 The book sounds interesting...
I agree with you Rafeeda. When we use ingredients that are not traditional, it is good to write clearly that these are adapted to availability or taste, so that it is clear as to what the authentic recipe would have had!