Kehra Na Reveya/Green Banana Satay Recipe with Kaushy Patel's Prashad Cookbook Review and A Giveaway

Learn how to make Kehra Na Reveya ~ Raw Green Banana Satay (with spicy peanut paste stuffing)

Apart from family and friends, what one misses the most when they move from their home country? Someone asked me in this question in the first month when I moved from India to UK and I didn’t even blink before saying it’s the Food which I miss the most! Yes, it was the delicious and aromatic food from my vibrant country that I missed a lot; from my mother’s comfort meals to tantalising Indian street foods, from quick breakfasts at Darshini hotels to elaborate north and south Indian Thali meals, from very casual Punjabi Dhaba foods to sophisticated high end restaurants and many more like that!

Banana 65 Recipe | Deep Fried Raw Banana/Plantain in Creamy Tomato Gravy

Deep fried plantain in creamy tomato gravy ~ Banana 65

Last evening I decided to walk back to home from work. It’s not exactly a long walk as our cosy little nest is just over 3 miles from my work place and at my leisurely pace it takes around 40 minutes to reach home with some dozen plus traffic signals dotted around. Winter is at its peak right now. I noticed just a few people walking beside me.

Balekai-Batate Palya | Plantain & Potato Stir Fry Recipe

Balekai-Batate Palya

What do you do when you are in no mood to follow a recipe (which happens most of the time) and bored of eating something you have already tried? Of course you wear a cap of recipe developer or recipe creator! Or dining out or ordering a takeaway is another option.

Plantain Kababs

This time when I was in India the very common veggie used by my Amma and Atte was Plantain. I had plantain Palya (Subji), Sambar, Huli, Chips, Stir fry, Kofta, Bhajia and ultimately Plantain Kabab. I know it’s a long list but I never got bored of eating them. Every dish cooked has its own taste and texture. They excel one another in different way. I loved my culinary adventure with this humble yet versatile veggie. Here is a recipe for making Kababs using plantain.

Plantain Kababs

Ingredients:
2-3 Raw Plantains, peeled, cooked and roughly mashed
1 large Onion, finely chopped
3-4 Green chillies, finely chopped
½ inch ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp Red Chilly Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Powder
½ tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala
1 tsp Garam Masala
2 tbsp Corn flour
1 Lemon Juice
2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped finely
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Plantain Kababs

Method:
Take a pan and heat 2 tbsp of oil.
To this add chopped onion, chillies and ginger. Sauté them till onion turn transparent.
Add mashed plantain, salt, chopped coriander, corn flour and the entire masalas one after the other and mix well.
Switch off the gas and keep the mixture aside to cool down.
Take lemon sized balls of mixture and give them a desired shape.
Deep fry them in oil till they turn golden brown colour.
Serve them hot with tomato ketchup or any sauce/chutney of your choice.

Plantain Kababs

Tip:
Try to avoid adding water while mixing the mixture. The plantain when cooked well has enough moisture to bind all the ingredients together.
You can coat the kababs with very thin coat of corn flour paste before deep frying.

Plantain Kababs

Balekai Palya (Plantain Subji/Curry)

Painting of Plantain

In Mangalore, my native, you will always find one or more Banana plants growing in backyard. Plantain is the one which you will find in everyday use, be in its leaves, flower or fruit. There must be some hundreds of recipies for cooking plantain and everytime you will stumble on more recipes. For me its a best substitue for Potatoes(except when it comes to peeling its skin). In my cooking espcially South Indian recipes I use them quite a lot. Yesterday I made Avial and Balekai Palya for dinner. They taste heaven with rice and ghee.

Balekai Palya

Ingredients:
2 cups of Plantain, peeled and cut into cubes
1/2 cup of grated coconut
1 big Onion, sliced thinly
Few Coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp Tarmaric powder
Salt to taste
1 tbls Oil

To Grind to Smooth Paste
1 tblsp Jeera/Cumin seeds
2-3 Green chillies (According to taste
2-3 garlic cloves
1 small Onion

For Seasoning:
1 tsp Mustard
1 tsp Urad dal
1 Dry red chilli
2-3 Galric cloves, chopped
1 tbls Oil

Balekai Palya

Method:
Cook diced Plantain in a cup of water with salt and tarmaric powder till it becomes tender.
In a mixi grind all the ingredients mentioned above to smooth paste with as little water as possible.
In a kadai season all the ingredients till they splutter.
To this add sliced onions and garlic pieces and fry tillthey turn golden yellow.
Add cooked plantain to this and ground paste.
Mix them well and cook in medium flame till all water is absorbed.
Garnish them with coriander leaves before serving.
Serve hot with chapaties or rice.

Balekai Palya served with Rice