Plantain Vadai/ Plantain Fritters

This place has been dead for a while. Life has been very hectic and busy and it has been a real challenge to find some time to post new recipes. But I love blogging and I'm going to try posting atleast a few recipes every month from now on.

It has been snowning all day today and I was in a mood to have some hot and spicy deep fried snack. I love dal vadais/ fritters and always try experimenting adding new veggies to the vadais. I had couple of plantains in my refrigerator that had to be used up. The key here is to use slightly ripe plantains which give these vadais a nice sweet flavor. These vadais tasted heavenly!

Ingredients -
1/2 cup channa dal
2 plantains/ raw bananas
3-4 dried red chillies
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 green chillies
10-12 curry leaves finely chopped (optional)
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method -
1. Soak channa dal in water overnight or for 4-5 hrs.
2. Cook the plantains/ raw bananas in a pressure cooker.
3. Drain all the water from the dal and grind the dal along with the dried red chillies and cumin seeds into a coarse paste in the food processor/ blender.
4. Peel the skin off the plantains and mash them making sure there are no lumps.
5. In a bowl, take the dal mixture and add the mashed plantains, onions, green chillies, curry leaves, cilantro, ginger and salt and mix well.
6. Heat oil in a pan or kadhai.
7. Make small flat patties of the mixture and deep fry in the hot oil on both sides till they turn golden brown and crisp.