A banana is an edible fruit, botanically a berry, produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants. Banana Chips are deep fried or dried slices of Bananas. The word banana is thought to be of West African origin, possibly from the Wolof word banaana, and passed into English via Spanish/ Portuguese
Nutritional/Health Benefits of Banana:
Fried banana chips, usually made in Kerala, and known locally as nenthra-kaayaoopperi or upperi, are fried in coconut oil.Both ripe and unripe bananas are used for this variant. Sometimes they are coated with masala or jaggery to form spicy and sweet variants respectively. It is an integral part of the traditional Kerala meal called ‘Sadya’ served during weddings and traditional festivals such as Onam.
The chips can also be consumed during Fasts so we are choosing Rock salt for the recipe.
Here is my recipe for preparing Banana Chips. Enjoy it folks!
Banana Chips
Ingredients
- One Dozen Raw Banana (KacchaKela). Make sure to check it properly. (Green color is the sign of the Raw Banana).
- Oil for frying.
- Rock Salt (Normal salt can also be used. Too much salt could be harmful to health).
- Black Pepper.
- Optional: Red Chili Powder (if you want to enjoy it Hot!)
How to Make
Estimated Preparation Time: ~35 mins
Take some quantity of Oil for frying in Kadai. Heat it for 5 to 7 minutes.
In the meantime peel off the banana using knife or peeler whichever is suitable to you.
Put one slice of the banana in Oil.[ Make sure that you don’t drop any water in the oil. Stay safe from the hot oil.]
After the oil is hot enough, you need put one teaspoon of Rock Salt in the hot oil.
Here is one important point. Don’t make the slices of the Banana well in advance. This could make the banana slices black in color. You need to make the slices slowly and steadily and directly fry them in the Kadai.
Now slice the banana directly and put them into the oil for frying. You can slice one complete banana in round and fry them
Fry the banana slices for ~3 to 4 minutes on medium to high flame.
Follow the same procedure for the second banana.
One more point you need put rock salt after frying 2 bananas. Rock salt is to be put separately so that each banana slice will get the equal amount of Salt. Don’t put too much salt initially otherwise some banana slices could be get too much salty hampering there taste.
Once all the banana slices are fried. You need to re-fry the banana slices again, so that they can be made crispier. The second step is crucial as the first round of frying may not give the required crispness to the chips.
Now sprinkle some black pepper on the chips and mix it well. You can also use Red Chili pepper if you really want to make it hot! (for someone special! J)
Put the fried chips in an airtight container. This step will prevent the chips from getting moist.
You can serve it with Tea, Coffee, Cold-drinks etc. Enjoy! Chips taste better with a Thanda!