Khatta MeetHa Teekha Nendrabale Kele (Kerala Banana) Gojju.

"Khatta MeetHa Teekha Nendrabale Kele Gojju / Sweet Ripe Kerala Banana Dish." ... A delicious dish that can be relished with poori or parathas ... A recipe of my own which I tried some years back to finish off the excess Nendrabale kele (Sweet cooking south Indian bananas) at home and got hooked to its awesome taste ... Yummilicious .....  

** Nendrabale Kele / Nandrabale Kele / South Indian Sweet Cooking Bananas / Kerala cooking Bananas or Sweet Cooking Bananas are a favorite among Konkani Saraswats. There are many dishes prepared with this banana both while ripe and when raw. Banana wafers / chips is a snack that is relished all round the world which is by and large prepared using these bananas in raw stage. Very Ripe bananas are most sought after for preparation of Halwa / Nandrabale kele Halwo which is again the most famous halwa from Mangalore. People from Mangalore always either prepare them at home or buy it from famous stores and keep them at home to serve when guest arrive. This toffee like sweet banana halwa is a favorite and almost every amchi loves rolling it in mouth till done. Children never stop till they have had more than a few pieces of the same. Serving them steamed is another way of relishing this banana as it is consider indigestible if had just like other banans. It is necessary to cook this banana and is always done so before serving. Gojju is another dish prepared with very ripe ones, again a semi cooked form of halwa that goes very well both as dessert or side dish for roti / chapati / poori or even dosa. I posted a few dishes before in the blog on them. 

** Ubbati / Puran Poli / Roti stuffed with sweet fillings is also prepared using these as puran / stuffing inside the polies / roti. Banana fritters is another famous and favorite dish in our home were just ripe ones and used by deep frying them crisp after coating them in maida batter. Again there are many more dishes that are prepared like bajias etc. using these bananas. This versatile sweet ripe banana can be adapted into many dishes and I always make it a point to buy them whenever I visit the main market or malls as they are not available in my vicinity. As most of the time only south Indians use them, fruit vendors bring them only if we ask them to do so, that too without giving us the assurance. In malls I have always found them available so I choose just ripe one’s and bring them so that they remain good for a few days. Two decades back when I used to stay near the market place, I could access both ripe and raw one’s any time, but nowadays somehow I never find the raw one’s for making of chips. I am eagerly waiting to have my chance to catch hold of the raw one’s so that I can blog the chips here and share them with all of you. 

** Coming to this dish, decades back I once happened to purchase these bananas and somehow could not come round to preparing them soon enough as I was very busy with other commitments. This led the bananas to get over ripe and I could now only have prepared halwa out of the same or gojju which was the other only option left for me. My husband chanced upon entering the kitchen and asked me what I intended to do, as I was in no mood to keep stirring for an hour for preparation of the halwa, yes it takes approximately that much time, I said I had only the option of preparing the sweet gojju a sort of dessert. Now hubby does not like sweet dishes much, though he does polish them off. But he is always more of wanting dishes to be khatta meetHa teekha and just said why don’t you just add some spice too. That set my mind rolling, I sat down to think and remembered the karela / bitter gourd dish I had prepared a few days back which was how hubby liked, so decided on trying out the same with these over ripe bananas. The more I though about it, the more confident I was that the dish would definitely turn out great. Rest is history, now this dish is prepared once in few months over decades in my home and we love it with poori or chapati. 

** Here is the simple Recipe to "Khatta MeetHa Teekha Nendrabale Kele Gojju" …. 

** Ingredients : 

Nendrabale Kele / Kerala Cooking Bananas: 2 large sized over ripe one’s. 

Urad Dal / Black Gram Dal : 1 tsp 

Mustard / Sasam / Rai Seeds : 1 tsp 

Methi / Fenugreek Seeds : ¼ tsp 

Jeera / Cumin Seeds : 1 tsp 

Coriander / Dhania / Kothimbir Seeds : 2 tsp 

Curry Leaves / Kadipatta / Karbev : 10-12 fresh one’s 

Red Kashmir Chilly Powder : 3-4 tblsp (Depending upon individual taste) 

Haldi / Turmeric Powder : ½ tsp 

Black Pepper / Miri Powder : ½ tsp Coarsely ground 

Hing / Asafoetida Powder : 1 tsp 

Dry Ginger Powder / Shunti powder : 1 tblsp 

Tamarind / Imli / Chinchama paste : 1 tsp 

Jaggery / Goda / Gud : 100-150 gms (Depending upon individual taste) 

Salt / Namak / Meeta : ½ tsp 

Ghee : 2 tblsp 

Oil : 1 tblsp 

** Peel off the outer skin of the over ripe bananas and cut them into small pieces. The bananas for this gojju should be very ripe or else you will neither get the texture nor the taste. Keep it ready aside. 

** Put the coriander seeds in a thick bottomed vessel or wooden bowl and pound it coarsely. You should get slightly crushed coriander, sort of 4-5 pieces of each texture. Keep this also ready aside. 

** Grate or cut the jaggery into small pieces if they are large in size and keep them also ready aside. If using whole tamarind soak them in warm water and squeeze out to get the thick paste and keep it ready. Also keep all the powders ready before you start the cooking procedure. 

** In a thick bottomed kadai / pan add in the ghee and oil together and bring to heat, when hot lower the heat to medium and add in urad dal, when it turns slightly brown add in the mustard seeds, when they begin to splutter immediately add in methi, jeera, coarsely crushed coriander and the curry leaves and fry for a few seconds. 

** Now add in all the powder, ie hing, haldi, chilly, pepper and continue frying for a few seconds. Now add in the banana piece, tamarind paste, jaggery and approximately about 2 cups of water. Mix well, raise the heat and bring to a boil. When it starts boiling, lower the heat to medium and cook stirring often till the gojju starts thickening. 

** Keep slightly crushing the bananas with the spatula so that they get slightly mushy / crushed. Now add in the salt and mix well. Lower the heat to minimum, cover and cook till the banana gojju turns really thick and there is no trace of water leaving from the sides. Remove from fire and keep it covered aside for a good hour or too, till it cools down completely. 

** "Khatta MeetHa Teekha Nendrabale Kele Gojju / Sweet Banana" is done and ready to be served ... A delicious dish that can be relished with poori or parathas, I served them with Maida Poori (Luchi) and they were simply awesome. Do try this dish out and enjoy with your family and friends. Also please do give me feedback via mail or drop in a comment please. 

** You can use the search option for "Poori and Banana" where you will get many more dishes prepared using it. Do try out various types of dishes to relish with dosa / Idly / roti etc. or with dal-chawal too. Enjoy the dishes with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible. 

** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of similar type in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. You can also go to my page (add on the left side of blog) and leave a message and I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible … Thank you.