Stuffed Banana Roast

Ingredients

Ripe banana (kerala banana) - 2
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Water -3 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Maida (plain flour) -1 cup

Preparation

Make a slit on the banana (ethapazham) with the skin on.
Steam it in a steamer till it turns soft.
Peel and remove the outer strings and inner seed strings.
Mash the bananas without any lumps.
Do not use very ripe bananas.

In a wok on medium flame, add sugar and water .
Stir till you get sugar syrup. To this, add grated coconut
and cardamom powder.

Make six balls of the mashed banana and stuff it with
the sweet coconut mixture. Roll this in flour and
deep fry in oil on medium flame.
Try to retain its golden yellow colour.
Serve hot with tea.

This recipe takes me back to an instance years back.
Banana roast or unnakaya famous in Malabar, was not much
known in southern and central part of Kerala at that time.
Just married and very young, I had to take charge of the kitchen
for some days, as my in–laws were not in station.
Message came, my in-law’s aunt, a grand old lady
and her two daughters were arriving for tea in an hour.
Though I had no experience in cooking, I decided
to serve this banana roast for tea. Our maid
tried to dissuade me saying time was limited
and that she has also never tried this before.
My first attempt came out successfull and
Well appreciated by the guests.
Later my mother-in-law was surprised to hear from her
aunt “ the banana fritters your daughter-in-law
made was great!”
Thereafter, at our home this snack is known
‘marumode vazhkapam’.
These nutritious bananas (ethapazham /nentrapazham)
are mainly grown in Kerala and in parts of Tamilnadu.
Unlike other small bananas, this banana is a food in itself