Tag Archives: vegan

All Posts, Desserts

Banana in Coconut & Rice

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One of my fondest memories in Vietnam is walking down a road, hungry and looking for a restaurant that served decent veg food (I do eat a bit of non veg, but then we entered a restaurant, saw glass cases with snakes, frogs and other creatures and just ran out, traumatized… this on a hungry stomach!) and then finding a cart full of something interesting-looking. We gingerly approached the seller, afraid of what we might suddenly find, only to stare in disbelief – this was vegetarian!

We tried a few things but one of them won our hearts – banana steamed in a coating of rice and coconut, subsequently grilled on charcoal. We were delighted to find that when we ordered it, the seller placed it in a bowl and topped it up with with sago pudding!

It was one of the most divine things we’d tasted, probably enhanced by the fact that we were starving. I still love making this, especially when I have to finish over-ripe bananas.

Time taken: 30 min
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 small bananas (or 2 big ones cut in half)
1 ½ cups cooked rice
½ cup rice flour
½ cup grated coconut
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp sesame seeds
Banana leaves/ Pandan leaves or Turmeric leaves (optional)
Sesame oil for shallow/ deep frying

For the Sago Pudding:

½ cup sago (tapioca pearls), soaked in water overnight
250 ml coconut milk
⅓ cup sugar (brown or palm sugar can also be used)
a pinch of salt

Instructions

Grind the cooked rice in a bender until it is a bit pasty. You can add a little water if it is too sticky.

Mix in the coconut and enough rice flour to bring it to a consistency of a coarse dough.

Coat each banana with this rice dough, roll in sesame seeds, cover with a leaf if you have any, and place it in a steamer.

After 10 minutes, turn the bananas over and let cook for another 5 minutes or so or until they look done.

They can be served as it, or grilled, or shallow or deep fried in sesame oil before serving.

Sago Pudding

Boil the sago with coconut milk, sugar and salt, stirring continuously for a few minutes and then cooking covered until transparent, about 10 minutes. If you haven’t soaked the sago, it may take 15 min to cook.

To Serve

Slice the banana into 4-5 pieces, pour the sago pudding on top and serve warm

Note: The dish in the top-most picture is a quicker version. It isn’t roasted or fried, and is served with a very quick coconut sauce made by boiling coconut milk with a little sugar and a pinch of salt.

All Posts, Breakfast, Mains

Appam

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Almost every Keralite away from home craves appams and puttu. And why not? Who can deny the charm of this magical dish, especially when combined with an exciting stew or kadala curry?

2 cups Rice (for 8 no.s)
½ cup Coconut water
5 tsp Sugar
A pinch of Baking soda
½ cup Grated coconut
Water
A pinch of Salt
Sesame oil for cooking

Method

  • Soak rice for about 4 hours.
  • Add 2 tsp sugar to the coconut water and keep for about 10 hrs to allow fermentation.
  • Grind the soaked rice
  • Take one heaped tsp of this mix, add 5 tsp water and cook it on slow fire till it thickens. Let it cool.
  • Grind this and the soaked rice with coconut and the fermented coconut water to a very smooth paste. Keep aside for 12 hrs.
  • Add a pinch of baking soda, salt and rest of the sugar, and make a somewhat thick batter by adding enough water.
  • Heat an iron karahi, smear evenly with oil, add a ladleful of the batter, swirl to spread into a circle and cover with a lid.
  • Cook on a low flame until it comes off easily.
  • Serve with kadala (black channa) curry or vegetable stew.

Variation: Immediately after spreading the batter, break an egg into the center of the appam. Cover and cook on a low flame until the egg reaches the desired consistency.

Note: Another way of making appams is by using yeast. Instead of coconut water, soak a quarter teaspoon dry yeast in a half cup of lukewarm water for 10 min. Then mix it in along with sugar and ground rice and let sit for about 4-5 hours. Continue as mentioned.