PAZHAMPORI (RIPE BANANA FRY) Dearfriends,
Todaymy posting is about ripe banana fry. I read elsewhere to a question of aTamilnadu person about Pazhampori, a Keralite replied-What is bajji (Monthanplantain fry) to Tamilnadu people, pazhampori to a Keralites. Some nostalgic memoriesand information about pazhampori.This posting is a time pass reading. Gopalakrishnan22-11-2023 1. Pazhampori Evenin my college days, pazhampori was a snack item in the evening in the local Brahminhotel at my native. An Udupi hotel at Kottarakkara was famous for pazhampori.Tea shops usually have pazhampori as a snack item. Now with vegetarian hotelsin Kerala run by Tamilnadu Pillai’s banana fry is limited to tea shops. Somevegetarian stalls in railway stations in Kerala and IRCTC also preparepazhampori nowadays. But limited up to Kerala Tamilnadu border. Till 2004, thevegetarian stall in Trivandrum railway station had pazhampori as an eveningsnack. NowadaysKerala Brahmin homes prepare pazhampori once a while or guests are expected. Mywife prepares pazhampori at least once in two months. Mostly guests areexpected on those days. 2 How pazhampori is prepared. Pazhamporiis prepared from not fully ripe bananas. The skin is removed, it is sliced in toeither two or three pieces, dipped in Maida batter added with very littleturmeric powder, it is then added to boiling coconut oil in a pan. Fried for ashort period. While boilingand colour changes to lightyellow with brown spots at some places, it is taken out of the pan and servedhot. Very tasty. Even warm ones are tasty. If fully ripe bananas are used, thepazhampori will be sweeter and may slightly sag. Diabetics have to be carefulwhile eating fully ripe banana fry. 3 Pazhanurukku- bananas boiled and fried in ghee. Pazhanurukkuis a srardha item in central Kerala. Fully ripe banana cut to pieces, skinremoved, jaggery added and fried in ghee and served warm. No Maida or oil is used. 4 Ripe Banana boiled Ripebanana boiled with skin cleaned and ends cut, either as a single piece or cut horizontallyinto 2 or three pieces is a morning Tiffin item in Udupi and selected vegetarianhotels in Kerala. In buffet morning breakfast, mostly banana boiled will be anitem in lodgings with restaurant. 5 Banana fry at railway stall. Aboutten years back or so, I was in Chengannurrailway station with my wife, daughter and grandson for my journey back toTrivandrum. My grand- son was after his pilgrimage to sabarimalai with his father(my son in law returned back to Dubai after pilgrimage). The stall in chargetold me they will prepare banana fry before 15 minutes of my train’s arrival. I waited, when it was 5 minutes to train’sarrival, they packed and gave to me very hot banana fry. I was afraid whether train will arrivewhile I was waiting for banana fry. I changed hands to carry the very hot pack and reached my coachin time. Without telling all relished the banana fry after entering the trainand settled in seats. 6 Chithappa- innu pazhampori illa. (Today no bananafry-chitthappa). WhileI was constructing my home in 1981, I used to take my elder brother’s two sonsalong with me for refreshment to a nearby teashop in the evening. They werestudying in high school. On the way to home, they will look whether banana fry is heaped in glassalmirah. Ifbanana fry is missing, just entering home, both will announce - Chithappa- innu pazhamporiilla. Their interest will be very less or I had to drop my program. Even papadfry was secondary considering banana fry. Nowtoo while they talk, the conversation will end with a discussion aboutpazhampori. My home constructed was given later to my elder brother during myretirement time, in the younger son’sname as desired. 7. Intermittent rain. My co-brother with sister in law was here inChennai with me to attend a function recently (two days back). He had broughtbananas, banana chips, Kerala papad etc. Today it is intermittent raining. Mywife said, we may have banana fry as evening snack. Maida, was not in store, Ipurchased from a nearby shop when rain stopped a while. While enjoying hotbanana fries, nostalgic memories came to me, which I thought for sharing withyou for a time pass reading. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1458504510.4048479.1700663322718%40mail.yahoo.com.
