Vaazhaikai Podi & Rice

     Vaazhaikai Podi is one of the recipes that I had bookmarked to try from Venkatesh Bhat's program in Vijay TV on Plantain special recipes. Though I used two bananas instead of just one banana which was shown in the program & also with the reduced amount of spices, I felt this end product a little hot and spicy. So, I have documented the ingredients with slightly lesser quantity of chillies and coriander seeds to have it less spicy and to suit my taste buds.
     The recipe when watched in the show, looked so very different and yummy. But only after trying it out I realized that it tasted somewhat familiar..  :D Yes.. it had a taste close to the araichu vitta sambar, as the key ingredients for the podi were almost the same :D
     Overall, it tasted good when mixed with rice & coconut oil & also as a side-dish for curd rice :P

Prep Time: 5 mins || Cook Time: 25 mins (pressure cook) + 20 mins || Yields: 3 cups || Category: Ready mix for rice / side-dish

Ingredients:
1. Raw Banana - 2
2. Turmeric Powder - 2tsp
3. Salt - as required
4. Dry red chillies - 6
5. Bengal gram - 3 tbsp
6. Toor dal - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
7. Coriander seeds - 3/4 tbsp
8. Pepper - 1 tsp
9. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
10. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
11. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
12. Urad dal - 3 tsp
13. Curry leaves - a sprig
14. Hing - 2 tsp

Method:
1. Wash the bananas and cut each of them into two or three pieces. Immerse them in water in a pressure pan. Add some turmeric powder and salt to it. Pressure cook for 5-6 whistles. Meanwhile, in a pan add 1 spoon of coconut oil and roast the red chillies and transfer them to a plate.

2. To the same pan, add bengal gram, toor dal & coriander seeds and roast them. Before they are done, add pepper and cumin seeds and roast all the ingredients till golden brown & transfer to a plate to cool down.

3. Once the banana is cooked, drain the hot water and run in some cold water and rinse the bananas. The outer skin can now be easily peeled off from the bananas. Mash all the peeled bananas. Transfer the roasted ingredients to a mixie jar and powder them smoothly.

4. In a pan, add some coconut oil and then temper with mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves & hing. Transfer this tempering to the mashed bananas. Add the ground powder & required amount of salt and mix well. Vaazhaikai Podi is done !!

Suggestions:

• Can adjust the quantity of red chillies, coriander seeds based on one's desired spice level.
• Coconut oil gives a nice aroma. But, any other oil can be used.

Mix with hot cooked rice & hot gingely oil / coconut oil / ghee & enjoy with fryums or any side-dish... Tastes yummyyy even without side-dish !!!