Vazhakkai Varuval or Vazhakkai Fry is a spicy and slightly crisp stir fried dish made with raw unripe green skinned plantains. This South Indian plantain preparation pairs well as a side dish with rasam, sambar, and dal.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Cuisine: South Indian, Tamil Nadu

Ingredients

  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (- crushed or ½ teaspoon cumin powder)
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper (- crushed)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil (or any preferred oil)
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ¼ cup pearl onions (- thickly sliced, (or 4 to 5 pearl onions or ¼ cup sliced shallots or small onions or ¼ cup chopped onions)
  • 1 green chilli (- chopped or slit)
  • 6 to 7 curry leaves
  • 2 plantains (- medium -sized or green unripe banana, chopped in small cubes)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ¼ teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder
  • ¼ teaspoon garam masala
  • ½ teaspoon coriander powder ((ground coriander))
  • ½ teaspoon fennel powder
  • salt (as required)

Method

Preparation

  1. Take cumin seeds and black pepper in a mortar-pestle. Crush coarsely and keep aside.
  2. Peel, rinse and chop the pearl onions in thick slices.
  3. Peel and chop the plantains in small cubes just before you start cooking. If you chop them earlier then they darken. Thus you need to soak them in water to avoid darkening.

Making vazhakkai varuval

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil. Instead of coconut oil you can use peanut oil or sunflower oil also.
  2. Keep heat to a low or medium-low and add mustard seeds. Let them splutter.
  3. Then add the thickly sliced pearl onions, chopped or slit green chili and curry leaves.
  4. Sauté for about 2 minutes on a low heat. Next add the chopped plantain cubes and mix well.
  5. On a low heat begin to sauté plantain.
  6. Do keep a check and stir after every 2 to 3 minutes.
  7. Sauté plantain till they are half done or half cooked on a low heat.
  8. Then add crushed cumin seeds and black pepper.
  9. Next add turmeric powder, kashmiri red chili powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and fennel powder. Also add salt as per taste.
  10. Mix the spice powders very well with the plantains.
  11. Continue to sauté till plantains are cooked and tender.
  12. Stir regularly at intervals so that the plantains are cooked evenly or else the bottom layer gets too browned. So frequent stirrings are required.
  13. Sauté till plantains are slightly crisp and cooked tender.
  14. Serve Vazhakkai Fry hot or warm as a side dish with any South Indian meal. You can even garnish Vazhakkai Varuval with some chopped coriander leaves if you like.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.