Raw Banana Podimas | Vazhakkai Podimas | Grated Plantain Curry

Vazhakkai podimas – A simple dry curry or poriyal with grated plantain or vazhakkai spiced with paruppu podi or spiced toor dal powder. Check out how to make this easy-peasy raw banana podimas with detailed step-wise pictures.

Today, I will share a very simple raw banana curry or vazhakkai podimas with a small twist. Usually, for podimas, we spice it up with green chilies or with red chili powder. Instead, I went with paruppu podi or the spiced toor dal powder that we use for rice. Also, I did not add any coconut.

During the initial shelter-in-place, we were going only to Costco, and along with milk and yogurt, we were buying vegetables also. We got plantains as well, so for a few weeks, we were using plantains left and right in our cooking. :-)

During that time, I made this recipe quickly, and it was a big hit and made it for the amavasai thali again and took pictures.

The only time-consuming part here is cooking the raw bananas. Once you have the raw bananas ready, it’s easy to put this together. You need 5 minutes to finish it off.

Here are the steps-

1. You cook the plantain and let it cool and grate
2. Then add the spice powders and mix. No need to cook again.
3. Finally, do the tempering.

That’s it. It’s as simple as that.

Now let’s see how to make this vazhakkai podimas with detailed step-wise pictures.

How to make Vazhakkai Podimas without Coconut-

• Trim the plantain’s edges and cut into three or four chunks and boil it in your preferred way without peeling. I went with the open-pot method and cooked the plantain in the soapstone vessel until they are soft and tender. Please make sure they are firm and tender. Do not overcook the plantains. 
•  Let it cool and peel off the skin and grate it. After cooking, it is easy to peel off the skin without a peeler.
• Now add the salt, pepper powder, turmeric powder, and paruppu podi. Mix everything—no need to keep it on the stove.
• In a separate tempering pan, add coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, asafoetida, and chopped ginger. Let the mustard seeds splutter and add this tempering to the grated plantain and mix. That’s all. 

• Just before serving, add some lemon juice and serve it with rice.

Recipe Notes-

• As I mentioned in the post, depending upon how spicy your paruppu podi is, adjust the amount accordingly. The same goes for salt as well. 
• For a spicier version, add extra pepper powder or add one or two slit green chilies while tempering.
• I highly recommend coconut oil for tempering as it adds more flavor to this recipe.
• If you are making this on an amavasai day and follow a no onion no garlic diet on amavasai, make sure to use paruppu podi without garlic. 
• I did not add any coconut to this recipe. You can add one or two tbsps of grated coconut. 

Vazhakkai Podimas without paruppu podi-

• Alternatively, you can use red chili powder also. In that case, do the tempering in a pan and after the mustard seeds splutter, add the grated plantain. Then add salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder, and pepper powder. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes so that the red chili powder’s raw smell goes away. Add lemon juice before serving.

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5 from 3 votes

Raw Banana Podimas | Vazhakkai Podimas | Grated Plantain Curry

Vazhakkai podimas – A simple dry curry or poriyal with grated plantain or vazhakkai spiced with paruppu podi or spiced toor dal powder.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Plantain Cooling Time10 minutes mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: South Indian, Tamil Nadu

Servings: 6

Calories: 62kcal

Author: Srividhya G

Equipment

• Saucepan or kadai

Ingredients

Measurement Details: 1 cup=240ml; 1 tbsp=15ml; 1tsp=5ml;

• ▢ 1 plantain/raw banana after cooking and grating, I got 2 cups
• ▢ 2 to 3 cups water
• ▢ 1 tsp salt or to taste
• ▢ ½ tsp ground black pepper
• ▢ ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• ▢ 1 tbsp paruppu podi spiced lentils powder

To Temper-

• ▢ 1 tbsp coconut oil
• ▢ 1 tsp mustard seeds
• ▢ 1 tsp urad dal
• ▢ 2 tsps ginger chopped
• ▢ 5 curry leaves
• ▢ ¼ tsp asafoetida
• ▢ 2 tsps lemon juice or to taste. Lime juice can be used as well.

Instructions

• Trim the plantain’s edges and cut into three or four chunks and boil it in your preferred without peeling. I went with the open-pot method and cooked the plantain in the soapstone vessel until they are soft and tender. Please make sure they are firm and tender. Do not overcook the plantains.
• Let it cool and peel off the skin and grate it. After cooking, it is easy to peel off the skin without a peeler.
• Now add the salt, pepper powder, turmeric powder, and paruppu podi. Mix everything—no need to keep it on the stove.
• In a separate tempering pan, add coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, asafoetida, and chopped ginger. Let the mustard seeds splutter and add this tempering to the grated plantain and mix. That’s all.
• Just before serving, add some lemon juice and serve it with rice.

Notes

• As I mentioned in the post, depending upon how spicy your paruppu podi is, adjust the amount accordingly. The same goes for salt as well.
• For a spicier version, add extra pepper powder or add one or two slit green chilies while tempering.
• I highly recommend coconut oil for tempering as it adds more flavor to this recipe. If you are making this on an amavasai day and follow a no onion no garlic diet on amavasai, make sure to use paruppu podi without garlic.
• I did not add any coconut to this recipe. You can add one or two tbsps of grated coconut.
• Vazhakkai Podimas without paruppu podi– Alternatively, you can use red chili powder also. In that case, do the tempering in a pan and after the mustard seeds splutter, add the grated plantain. Then add salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder, and pepper powder. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes so that the red chili powder’s raw smell goes away. Add lemon juice before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 62kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 393mg | Potassium: 149mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 368IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 1mg

I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.

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