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How to make vazhaikkai podi
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Vazhakkai Podi | Raw Banana Podi | South Indian Lunch #11

Vazhakkai podi, a spicy condiment made of raw banana, lentils and spices. A condiment that can be mixed with rice and ghee and also as a garnish.
Course Condiments, Main Course
Cuisine South-Indian
Keyword Easy vazhaikkai podi recipe, How to make rice mix podi, Podi sadham, raw banana rice mix powder, Spicy rice mix powder
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 25 servings
Calories 62kcal

Equipment

  • Indian style mixie or any heavy blender

Ingredients

  • 2 fat & firm raw bananas , plantain I have made this with both the Indian variety and Sri Lankan variety we get in the markets, here.
  • ¾ cup urad dal/black gram dal/Uluntham paruppuu
  • ½ cup chana dal/gram dal/Kadalai paruppu
  • 2 tablespoon coriander seeds/dhaniya
  • ½ teaspoon hing/asafoetida
  • 15-20 round red chilies
  • 25 grams raw tamarind size of a small Indian gooseberry
  • 1-1.5 teaspoon salt
  • 2-3 sprigs of curry leaves

Instructions

  • Measure and keep all ingredients ready. Peel the raw banana and chop them into cubes and keep it immersed in water until use.

Roasting the Dal and spices

  • Heat a wide pan with 2-3 drops of oil. Add urad dal first, roast in a medium flame until it turns golden brown. Remove it to a flat plate.
  • To the same pan, add another 2-3 drops of oil. Add chana dal, roast in a medium flame until it turns golden brown. Remove it to the same plate as urad dal.
  • In the same pan, add coriander seeds and roast it until aromatic and remove it to same plate as dals.
  • Turn of the stove, add curry leaves and tamarind to the hot pan. Let the curry leaves, dry and curl up. Remove them both to the plate of dals and coriander seeds.
  • finally to the hot pan, add curry leaves and roast them in the reside heat and transfer to the dal plate. To the roasted ingredients plate now add hing and let this all cool down completely.

Let us cook the Raw banana

  • Heat a wide pan with 1-2 tablespoon of oil. When hot, drain the raw banana from water and add it to the hot pan.
  • Reduce the flame to simmer, keep a small bowl of water in the pan. Cover and cook for 5-8 minutes.
  • The bowl of water, creates a steam and helps cooking faster without burning the banana.
  • Remove the cover and check, the bananas will be fork tender. Remove the cover and let it be in the hot pan for another 10 minutes for it to brown and crisp a bit.
  • Once it browns, remove it to a flat plate and let it cool down completely.

Let us Grind it all together

  • First take the dals, coriander seeds, tamarind, hing, curry leaves and salt mix into the grinder jar and grind it to a coarse powder. Remove the dal mix to a flat plate.
  • Now divide the dal mix into 3 equal portions. Divide the cooked banana into 2 portions.
  • Take one portion of the dal mix along with one portion of cooked banana into the mixer and pulse grind. It will resemble a clumped coarse paste.
  • Remove the coarse paste to a flat plate. Take another portion of dal and final portion of banana into the mixer and pulse grind again to a coarse paste.
  • Now take both the clumped paste into the mixer along with the final portion of dal and pulse grind again. This will make the final spice powder nice and airy and separate.
  • Remove this to a flat plate and let it cool down completely. Even after cooling down and dry, if you still feel there are lumps in the spice powder, worry not, take it in a spice grinder and pulse 2-3 times, it will become flowy and airy with no lumps.
  • Store this in an air-tight container, preferably in the refrigerator. As this contains cooked vegetable, there is a chance of it to become bad if kept on the kitchen counter.

To make Mixed Rice with Vazhaikkai Podi

  • Spread the 1 cup steaming hot rice, on a flat plate, add 1-2 teaspoon of ghee or gingely oil. Top it with 2-3 tablespoon of vazhaikkai podi to this. Mix well. If necessary add another tablespoon of podi to the rice and mix.
  • Check taste and adjust salt if needed. To add tempering, heat 1 -2 teaspoon of oil in a tadka pan, splutter mustard seeds, add 1 or 2 broken red chilies, curry leaves . Add 1 teaspoon of urad dal or peanuts to hot oil. once the dal turns golden brown, add it to the rice and enjoy it warm.

Video

Notes

Points to remember

  1. Always keep the stove flame medium to simmer while roasting the ingredients to avoid burning.
  2. While grinding the dal first, make sure to grind it coarse. 
  3. Grind the cooked raw banana and dal in batches. Make sure you divide them into 3 batches of dal mix and 2 batches of banana. 
  4. Remember just to pulse grind and not to run the mixer continuously. This will end up in baby food and not coarse spice mix. 
  5. The final grind with just dal, helps to aerate the vazhaikkai podi nicely and helps it to become a homogeneous mix. 
  6. If even after air drying the spice powder, you still feel it is lumpy, take it in a mixer jar and pulse it once or twice. This will break the lumps and aerate the spice powder well. 
  7. Store this raw banana rice mix powder in refrigerator to prolong the shelf life the vazhaikkai podi. 

Nutrition

Calories: 62kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 0.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.02g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 97mg | Potassium: 168mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 420IU | Vitamin C: 42mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg